Altered States

Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality in America
Erscheinungsjahr 2016
ISBN: 978-0-231-17730-6
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 328 Seiten, Format (B × H): 162 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 591 g

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Osto, Douglas

Osto, D. E.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Buddhismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionssoziologie und -psychologie, Spiritualität, Mystik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Buddhism and the Psychedelic Connection2. The Psychedelic Revolution3. The Buddhist Revolution4. Opening the Door: Psychedelics as a Gateway to Buddhist Practice5. Closing the Door: The Fifth Precept and Graduating from Psychedelics6. Keeping the Door Open: Psychedelics as an Adjunct to Buddhist Practice7. Are Psychedelics "the True Dharma"?: Debates, Presuppositions, and Philosophical IssuesConclusionsPostscriptNotesBibliographyIndex

Über Autor(innen)

Douglas Osto is senior lecturer in the philosophy and Asian studies programs and program coordinator of the Asian studies program in the School of Humanities at Massey University. He is the author of Power, Wealth, and Women in Indian Mahayana Buddhism and has published articles in Journal of Indian Philosophy, Journal of Religious History, Buddhist Studies Review, and the New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies.