Author Affiliations: Coastal Carolina University A review of "Altered States: Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality in America" by Douglas Osto. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016, 328 pages, ISBN 9780231177306 (hardback), U.S. $35.00.
摘要
This book offers a wide array of information about the use of psychedelics in America for spiritual or mind-expanding purposes in general and in Buddhism in particular. It places focus on the views and reported experiences of American converts to Buddhism interviewed by the author. The initial chapters provide statistical information about this topic before turning to a narrative history of psychedelic spirituality in the U.S. and then chronicling psychedelic use in American Buddhism. Afterward, the book reports on interviews conducted by the author with twenty-nine primary informants who responded to an online survey he posted.
