Altered States: Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality in America
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In Douglas Osto's online surveys of Western Buddhists, 49.3% supported that "Buddhism and psychoactive substance use are compatible," and individual interviews revealed that a plethora of Buddhist meditators used psychedelics long-term, in conjunction with meditation.
“In Douglas Osto's (158) online surveys of Western Buddhists, 49.3% supported that “Buddhism and psychoactive substance use are compatible,” and individual interviews revealed that a plethora of Buddhist meditators used psychedelics long-term, in conjunction with meditation (158).”
From Examining the Potential Synergistic Effects Between Mindfulness Training and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (2021) · cites this paper as [158]
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“…Experiences by Richards (2015), the second edition of Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics (Badiner, 2015), Allies for Awakening: Guidelines for Productive and Safe Experiences with Entheogens by Metzner (2015), and Altered States: Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality in America by Osto (2016).”
BackgroundEleftheriou, M. E., & Thomas, E. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.707057 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“In Douglas Osto’s (158) online surveys of Western Buddhists, 49.3% supported that “Buddhism and psychoactive substance use are compatible,” and individual interviews revealed that a plethora of Buddhist meditators used psychedelics longterm, in conjunction with meditation (158).”
BackgroundInfluentialLinkages between Psychedelics and Meditation in a Population-Based Sample in the United States
Simonsson, O., & Goldberg, S. B. (2022) · Journal of Psychoactive Drugs · doi:10.1080/02791072.2021.2022816 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
How the Grateful Dead Learned to Jam
(2023) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9781478027324-004 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Naturalizing psychedelic spirituality
Letheby, C. (2017) · Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science · doi:10.1111/zygo.12353 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“Many psychedelic mystics of the era became dedicated practitioners, sometimes teachers, of meditation (Dass 1971; Osto 2016).”
BackgroundBuddhism and Our Posthuman Future
Hughes, J. J. (2018) · Sophia · doi:10.1007/s11841-018-0669-2 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Bronkhorst, J. (2022) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel13070589 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
The Production of Entheogenic Communities in the United States
Stoddard, B. (2024) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009429412 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Aronov, M. (2019) · Ethnologie française · doi:10.3917/ethn.194.0701 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Psychedelics and psychological strengths
Brasher, T. J., Rosen, D., & Spinella, M. (2023) · International Journal of Wellbeing · doi:10.5502/ijw.v13i1.2325 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Supple bodies, healthy minds: yoga, psychedelics and American mental health
Richert, L., & DeCloedt, M. (2018) · Medical Humanities · doi:10.1136/medhum-2017-011422 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Entheogens: Psychedelic religion in the United States, part two
Stoddard, B. (2023) · Religion Compass · doi:10.1111/rec3.12477 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Buddhist Meditation and the Ethics of Human Augmentation
Ray Sarbacker, S. (2020) · Journal of the Japanese Association for Digital Humanities · doi:10.17928/jjadh.5.2_61 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Sarbacker, S. R. (2022) · Religions of South Asia · doi:10.1558/rosa.20337 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
One with the Universe: The Construction of Doctor Strange’s Magic in 1973
Salazar, M. G. O. (2021) · Journal of Religion and Popular Culture · doi:10.3138/jrpc.2018-0046 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Spiritual oneness and the cognitive science of religion
Campos, V., & Luca‐Noronha, D. D. (2024) · International Journal for Philosophy of Religion · doi:10.1007/s11153-024-09902-8 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“It just all made sense to me after that spiritual breakthrough and epiphany (Osto, 2016: p 113) Gallagher et al. (2015) too describes certain experiences as leading people to further claim that they have finally understood that “all things are one”.”
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Simonds, C. H. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-98596-6_15 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
‘A critique of culture’: Alan Watts, psychedelic Buddhism, and religious play in postwar America
Shipley, M. (2017) · Self & Society · doi:10.1080/03060497.2017.1356085 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
High on God: Religious Experience and Counter-Experience in Light of the Study of Religion
Kruger, M. C. (2020) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel11080388
“For more on drugs and religious practices, see (Masters and Houston 1966; Zaehner 1972; Partridge 2018; Richards 2016; Osto 2016).”
BackgroundEntheogens: Psychedelic religion in the United States, part one
Stoddard, B. (2023) · Religion Compass · doi:10.1111/rec3.12474
(2023) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9781478027324-012
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(2023) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9781478027324-003
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(2023) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9781478027324-008
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Hesychasm and Psychedelics: Altered States, Purgation, and the Question of Authentic Mysticism
Cattoi, T. (2024) · Journal of Contemplative Studies · doi:10.57010/xfhv8374
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- Authors
- Osto, D.
- Corresponding author
- Osto, Douglas
- ORCID
- Osto, Douglas
- Venue
- Columbia University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Columbia University Press
- Published
- 2016-12-31
- OpenAlex
- W4239876012
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 2.08
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Columbia University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychology and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Memory, History, Trauma, Identity
- Keywords
- altered states of consciousness
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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