Zen, Drugs & Mysticism
Rating :
Author(s) :
Pages :
223
Pub Date :
1972
Edition(s) at Erowid :
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Publisher :
Pantheon Books
ISBN :
0819172669
FROM THE EROWID REVIEW #
- Review by Erowid, 1998 May 29
An extremely interesting topic from a one-sided viewpoint. Zaehner's use of derogatory phrases such as "apostles of the psychedelic cult" and "propagandists of psychedelic religion" to describe anyone who is interested in the possibility that entheogens could produce a mystical state...is a good example of his position. His tone is sometimes quite mocking and he seems entrenched in traditional religious . . . (more)
REVIEWS & COMMENTS #
BACK COVER #
Is the mind-expansion that drug enthusiasts claim to get from psychedelic drugs the same as the mystical experiences that are part of various Eastern religions? In this lively and learned survey, the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the university of Oxford contrasts the beliefs and practices of Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism and Sufism with the LSD-induced mysticism and the occultism that appeal to so many people in the West today.BLURBS #
"An admirable book . . . Zaehner's excellent and very hard-hitting chapter on LSD . . . contains a scholarly blast against the Californianization of Oriental faiths by people who can't even read the original texts."-- Alex Comfort, Washington Post
"Will interest everyone . . . who has abeen puzzled as to whether the current preoccupation of the young with religious experience has any connection with any religion that the grea teachers of the past have propounded."
-- Anthony Storr, London Sunday Times