Inquiring Mind
Spring 2002 p. 35

Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics
Edited by Allan Hunt Badiner and Alex Grey
(238 pp., Chronicle Books, 2002, $24.95)


Buddhism took a zig and a zag on its way into the minds and hearts of many Westerners, and here is the definitive chronicle of the unique dharma door of drugs. Through essays, personal accounts, interviews, and a panel discussion, Zig Zag Zen offers a fascinating and comprehensive look at how drugs have influenced the spiritual path of some leading figures in contemporary Buddhism and Western mysticism. As Ram Dass says in the book, "I don't see psychedelics as an enlightening vehicle, but I do see them as an awakening vehicle."

Beginning with excellent essays by editor Allan Hunt Badiner, Stephen Batchelor, Huston Smith, Roger Walsh, and Rick Fields ("A High History of Buddhism in America"), the book includes the voices of Peter Matthiessen, Jack Kornfield, Robert Aitken Roshi, Richard Baker Roshi, Joan Halifax Roshi, Charles Tart, Ram Dass and others. The book itself is especially well designed, and includes some beautiful full-color contemporary art, selected by Alex Grey, to accompany the text. Zig Zag Zen is in many ways highly recommended.

Wes Nisker

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