Editorial Reviews - From Amazon.com
The use of
psychedelic drugs is that dark little secret behind the popular origins
of Eastern spirituality in America, but if they really open the mind in
the same ways meditative experiences do, why shouldn't they be legitimated
and brought out into the open? In Allan Hunt Badiner and Alex Grey's Zig
Zag Zen authors, artists, priests, and scientists are brought together
to discuss this question. Opinions fall on all sides. Ram Dass, for instance,
discusses the benefits as well as the limitations. Rick Strassman outlines
his work in the first federally funded psychedelic study in two-and-a-half
decades. Rick Fields sets the historical scene. China Galland offers a
wrenching personal experience. Robert Jesse introduces the varieties of
entheogens, drugs that engender mystical states. Lama Surya Das tells
of his early drug years. And a roundtable discussion with Ram Dass, Robert
Aitken, Richard Baker, and Joan Halifax caps it all.
Interspersed throughout are stunning full-page, full-color images of spiritual
art by the likes of Robert Beer, Bernard Maisner, and, of course, Alex
Gray. A fascinating look at a complex topic, Zig Zag Zen is worth appreciating
and pondering. --Brian Bruya
Mark Epstein, M.D., author of Thoughts without a Thinker
"Zig Zag Zen is a treasure trove... inspiring, frightening, powerful,
funny, and eye-opening."
David Steindl-Rast, OSB, author of
"Zig Zag Zen shines by its fairness: it faces the Zig and the Zag.
That's Zen at its best."
Bob Thurman, Chair of Indo-Tibetan studies at Columbia Univ.
"Zig Zag Zen is a must read for anyone who is concerned about the
future of Buddhist practice."
Laura Huxley, Founder of Children Our Ultimate Investment
"Zig Zag Zen touches all the high points... it is an important book."
Douglas Rushkoff, author, Ecstasy Club, Exit Strategy, Playing the
Future, and Coercion
"Zig Zag Zen challenges Buddhists to acknowledge their psychedelic
legacies, while confronting the duality undermining any chemically dependent
spiritual path."
Book Description
Buddhism and psychedelic experimentation share a common concern: the liberation
of the mind. Zig Zag Zen launches the first serious inquiry into the moral,
ethical, doctrinal, and transcendental considerations created by the intersection
of Buddhism and psychedelics. With a foreword by renowned Buddhist scholar
Stephen Batchelor and a preface by historian of religion Huston Smith,
along with numerous essays and interviews, Zig Zag Zen is a provocative
and thoughtful exploration of altered states of consciousness and the
potential for transformation. Accompanying each essay is a work of visionary
art selected by artist Alex Grey, such as a vividly graphic work by Robert
Venosa, a contemporary thangka painting by Robert Beer, and an exercise
in emptiness in the form of an enso by a 17th-century Zen abbot. Packed
with enlightening entries and art that lie outside the scope of mainstream
anthologies, Zig Zag Zen offers eye-opening insights into alternate methods
of inner exploration.
About the Author
Allan Hunt Badiner is a student of Buddhism and a contributing editor
at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. He lives in Big Sur, California.
Alex Grey’s paintings have been exhibited throughout the world and
are collected in the book Sacred Mirrors: The Visionary Art of Alex Grey.
Zig Zag
Zen
- Buddhism and Psychedelics -
Two paths that both join and diverge. These essays (and artworks) provide
various views of their intersection, concrescense, and lessons, the three
sections of this book. Many Western buddhists started with the entheogens;
their glimpse of enlightenment led them to embrace Eastern spirituality.
But not all agree these materials are still useful in their quest.
Preface by Huston Smith; artwork selected by Alex Grey.
Allan Hunt Badiner & Alex Grey 2002; Chronicle 0-8118-3286-4,
240 pg hb, #ZZZ 24.95