Altered states : Buddhism and psychedelic spirituality in America / Douglas Osto.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Osto, Douglas, 1967- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hallucinogenic drugs and religious experience--United States.

Hallucinogenic drugs and religious experience.

Buddhism--United States.

Buddhism.

United States.

Physical Description:

xxvi, 300 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [2016]

Summary:

In the 1950s and 1960s, Americans combined psychedelics with Buddhist meditation to achieve direct experience through altered states of consciousness. As some practitioners became more committed to Buddhism, they abandoned the use of psychedelics in favor of stricter mental discipline, but others carried on with the experiment, advancing a fascinating alchemy called psychedelic Buddhism. Many think exploration with psychedelics and Buddhism faded with the revolutionary spirit of the sixties, but the underground practice has evolved into a brand of religiosity as eclectic and challenging as the era that created it. Altered States combines interviews with well-known figures in American Buddhism and psychedelic spirituality--including Lama Surya Das, Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Sensei, Rick Strassman, Charles Tart, and Erik Davis--and personal stories of everyday practitioners to define a distinctly American religious phenomenon. The nuanced perspective that emerges, grounded in a detailed history of psychedelic religious experience, adds critical depth to debates over the controlled use of psychedelics and drug-induced mysticism. The book also opens new paths of inquiry into such issues as re-enchantment, the limits of rationality, the biochemical and psychosocial basis of altered states of consciousness, and the nature of subjectivity.

Contents:

Buddhism and the psychedelic connection

The psychedelic revolution

The Buddhist revolution

Opening the door: psychedelics as a gateway to Buddhist practice

Closing the door: the fifth precept and graduating from psychedelics

Keeping the door open: psychedelics as an adjunct to Buddhist practice

Are psychedelics the true Dharma.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-292) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Osto, Douglas, 1967- author. Altered states.

ISBN:

9780231177306

0231177305

OCLC:

930681688