Paranormal States - by D E Osto (Paperback)

About the Book

This book is a groundbreaking exploration of paranormal experiences reported by converts to Buddhism and their implications for both humanistic and scientific study of the paranormal.

Book Synopsis

A number of converts to Buddhism report paranormal experiences. Their accounts describe psychic abilities like clairvoyance and precognition, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, and encounters with other beings such as ghosts and deities, and they often interpret these events through a specifically Buddhist lens. This book is a groundbreaking exploration of these phenomena and their implications for both humanistic and scientific study of the paranormal.

D. E. Osto examines accounts of paranormal phenomena experienced by convert Buddhists from around the world collected through an online survey and interviews, placing them in the context of Indian Buddhist sources and recent scientific research. They focus in detail on the life stories of two interviewees and the important role the paranormal has played in their lives. These contemporary first-person narratives demonstrate the continued importance of the psychic and paranormal within the Buddhist tradition, and they can be interpreted as a living Buddhist folklore. Osto considers the limitations of both traditional religious views and Western scientific studies of the paranormal and proposes instead a new Buddhist phenomenological approach. Ultimately, Paranormal States contends, these deeply mysterious and extraordinary experiences exceed current understandings--and they can help bridge the gap between religious and scientific worldviews.

Review Quotes

Paranormal States is a critical, carefully constructed study that will interest scholars of religion, anthropologists of contemporary spirituality, and psychologists of anomalous experience. It is particularly valuable for readers who want to understand how communities receive and discern extraordinary claims without either suppressing or sensationalizing them.-- "H-Ethnic"

Paranormal States is both significant and groundbreaking. It challenges prejudices and dismissive attitudes towards supernatural experiences held by a mainstream Western culture that is blind to its assumptions about the nature of reality...I commend Osto for their courage in pushing boundaries, challenging hierarchy, opening up debate on psi, and being open-minded and honest enough to admit there is still mystery in the world.-- "Reading Religion"

D.E. Osto's Paranormal States explores accounts of the paranormal in contemporary Buddhist communities around the world, in a manner 'akin to living folklore and oral history.' The aim of this book is not to prove the reality of the paranormal, or to establish the veracity of supernatural experiences. Instead, Osto considers stories collected through surveys and interviews with contemporary Buddhist practitioners, teachers, and scholars as a kind of 'modern Buddhist folklore.'--Constance Kassor "Buddhadharma"

One of [Paranormal States'] great strengths lies in the fascinating stories it tells...Through their exploration, Osto shows us that the paranormal can bridge different worldviews, fostering a sense of wonder that resonates with spiritual practices and personal journeys. Encouraging us to rethink rigid perspectives on science and religion, they open our minds to the possibility that the extraordinary is part of our reality.-- "Tricycle"

Osto writes not to "prove" the existence of this or that anomalous phenomenon, but to show us that these things happen and that they are often definitive in the lives of Buddhist converts. Paranormal States, like its subject and subjects, is a gift.--Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else

The brilliance of this book lies in valuing Buddhist experience, whether or not it fits into external schemas. This centers actual Buddhists and their lives. I prize this over anything else in Buddhist studies.--Franz Metcalf, author of What Would Buddha Do? 101 Answers to Life's Daily Dilemmas

This book makes an important contribution to what has been largely excluded territory in the evolving engagement between religious and spiritual traditions and an expanded contemporary science of mind.--David E. Presti, author of Foundational Concepts in Neuroscience: A Brain-Mind Odyssey

About the Author

D. E. Osto is senior lecturer in philosophy at Massey University. They are the author of Altered States: Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality in America (Columbia, 2016) and An Indian Tantric Tradition and Its Modern Global Revival: Contemporary Nondual Śaivism (2020), among other books.