Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics [Hardcover]

Allan Hunt Badiner (Editor), Alex Grey (Editor), Huston Smith (Preface), Stephen Batchelor (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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

Review

"Zig Zag Zen challenges Buddhists to acknowledge their psychedelic legacies, while confronting the duality undermining any chemically dependent spiritual path." -- Douglas Rushkoff, author, Ecstasy Club, Exit Strategy, Playing the Future, and Coercion

"Zig Zag Zen is a must read for anyone who is concerned about the future of Buddhist practice." -- Bob Thurman, Chair of Indo-Tibetan studies at Columbia Univ.

"Zig Zag Zen is a treasure trove... inspiring, frightening, powerful, funny, and eye-opening." -- Mark Epstein, M.D., author of Thoughts without a Thinker

"Zig Zag Zen shines by its fairness: it faces the Zig and the Zag. That's Zen at its best." -- David Steindl-Rast, OSB, author of

"Zig Zag Zen touches all the high points... it is an important book." -- Laura Huxley, Founder of Children Our Ultimate Investment

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811832864
• ISBN-13: 978-0811832861
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,072,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars web of mind, February 21, 2003

By 

Author Brian Wallace (Mind Transmission, Inc.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics (Hardcover)

a beautifully designed and arranged collection of articles that expose the intelligent and creative uses of psychoactive chemicals.

While the "spiritual purists" may balk at the contention that chemicals seriously open up levels of consciousness and awareness, one comes away with deeper appreciation of various traditional methods of enlightenment (with and without chemicals).

This work effectively counteracts the anti-drug propaganda that has shamefully denigrated certainly respectable uses of treasured substances.

Zig Zag Zen does the universe proud.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Elephant in the Room, December 25, 2009

By 

Luminous Numinous (Black Rock City, Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics (Hardcover)

It's the elephant in the room. Everyone knows it's there, but few feel comfortable talking about it. It's the relationship between Buddhism and Psychedelic drugs in the West. Zen centers, sanghas, and meditation retreats are littered with former (and current) psychonauts and trippers. You can take one of three tenable stances on the issue: 1.) Psychedelics are intoxicants and are, therefore, antithetical to true Buddhist practice OR; 2.) Psychedelics are not intoxicants at all, but are powerful sacraments that have had an undeniable historical influence on Tantra, Vedanta Hinduism, and Vajrayana Buddhism OR; 3.) you can take the middle path, acknowledging that psychedelics are powerful, but also admitting that they can be dangerous, for they are full of "raja", full of fire that can transform but that can also consume.

One of these three views holds the truth. Psychedelics are tools that help Buddhist practice, they are hindrances that obstruct Buddhist practice, OR psychedelics are value-neutral, possessing the power to help or harm depending on context. But anyway you cut it, psychedelics are hardly IRRELEVANT to Buddhist practice. The position that they are is untenable and, frankly, provincial.

Why are there so many psychedelic Buddhists and so many Buddhist psychonauts? What do psychedelics and Buddhism have to do with one another? Both psychedelic exploration and Buddhism center around the quest for non-ordinary states of consciousness--states of profound unity, where the subject-object dichotomy--the boundary demarcating self and cosmos dissolves. That's not to say that Buddhism and psychedelics are the same. As Terrence McKenna says in his part of the book, "Buddhism is a theory out of which a practice can be teased; Psychedelics are a practice out of which a theory can be teased.

There are those who believe that psychedelics can never produce the same experiences as Buddhist practice. There are those who think that psychedelics provide a much richer and more immediate experience than sitting on a mat and counting the breath could ever hope to. And there are, again, those who think that the advantages and disadvantages of mixing psychedelics and Buddhism need to be weighed on a case by case basis. You'll find all the arguments here in "Zig Zag Zen." Alex Grey is careful to provide as many perspectives as possible. You'll hear from Robert Thurman, the chair of Buddhist Studies at Columbia. You'll hear from Rick Strassman M.D. and from the mystical shaman McKenna, of course. Don't make up your mind until you've carefully considered them all. An open mind is an essential tool on the path to enlightenment.

In this particular work, Grey doesn't take a stance on whether drugs can or cannot help you achieve liberation (although if you've ever seen his paintings, it's pretty clear that he has a penchant for tryptamines). Grey's position is that you ought to figure out such matters for yourself. Those who say this book has nothing to do with Buddhism are short-sighted. It has EVERYTHING to do with Buddhism. Buddhism, a religion stripped of metaphysics, is a do-it-yourself theology. No God is posited. No savior has been sent to save you. The Buddha can perhaps show you the way, but as Herman Hesse's epicly brilliant Siddharthaillustrates, it is up to you to follow your own path. "None but ourselves can free our minds."

That's what the zig zag means in "Zig Zag Zen." You've got to "roll your own." If you meet the Buddha on the road...kick his ass and take his lunch money.


Alex Grey is an as of yet undiscovered national gem. People are going to be marveling at his artwork and contemplating his philosophical musings for millenia to come. I believe, in the end, that Grey's contributions to the Perrenial Philosophy and to the ontology of art will be as historically significant as his contributions painting. Showing people the subtle energies and subtle bodies that make up the self, illustrating the soul that arises just as assuredly from mind as mind does from life and life does from matter, Grey is one of the most convincing advocates for the existence of Spirit in these troubled and turbulent times. He may just be the brightest guy on the planet.

Buy the book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lucid and insightful, July 21, 2010

By 

Bud Valley (New York) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics (Hardcover)

This book is one of the most comprehensive and lucid treatments of the topic of Buddhism and psychedelics. I came away from it with a much better understanding of how the two might be reconciled in the context of a "serious" spiritual practice. What struck me most was the extreme lucidity and potency of each of the essays. There were a few I skipped over, but for the most part I was very impressed with the eloquence and insight offered by each contributor. If you are at all interested in Buddhism, psychedelics, or both, this book is great food for thought. Highly recommended.