Mystical Hallucinations: Tibetan Book of the Dead Book Club

This isn’t your average book club. Break open The Tibetan Book of the Dead with bardo scholar Ramon Prats and draw comparisons between the ancient text and modern-day perspectives on mortality.

Club Meeting #4: Mystical Hallucinations

Can mystical experiences alleviate a fear of death? Tony Bossis is an investigator and session guide for the NYU Psilocybin Cancer Anxiety Project, a clinical trial investigating the efficacy of a psilocybin-generated mystical experience alleviating distress in persons with cancer. In the Tibetan understanding of transition, the hallucinations witnessed in the bardo, or transitional state, after death need to be recognized as illusory forms of attachment. Otherwise one is bound to be reborn.

About the Speakers

Anthony Bossis, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, and a founding member of the NYU research group which in 2009 began FDA-approved research into the therapeutic efficacy of psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in specific species of mushrooms. He is the project director and primary psilocybin session guide for the Psilocybin Religious Leaders Study, a clinical trial evaluating psilocybin-generated mystical experiences upon religious leaders from the major world religions. Bossis is a clinical supervisor of psychotherapy training and co-founder and former co-director of the Palliative Care Service at Bellevue Hospital. He has a long-standing interest in comparative religion, consciousness research, and the interface of psychology and spirituality. Bossis is on the advisory committee and faculty for the Open Center of New York’s Art of Dying Institute. He maintains a private consulting and psychotherapy practice in New York City.

Ramon N. Prats was the first person to translate The Tibetan Book of the Dead into Spanish. He holds a doctoral degree in Tibetan Studies from the Oriental Institute of the University of Naples (Italy), where he was associate professor of Tibetan language and literature from 1980 to 1995. He was subsequently appointed professor of Buddhist studies at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona (Spain). From 2006 to 2009 he was Senior Curator at the Rubin Museum of Art, where he organized an exhibition on the Bardo Thodrol, among others. Ramon Prats has more than sixty publications to his credit.











When: Wed., Jul. 5, 2017 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Where: Rubin Museum of Art
150 W. 17th St.
212-620-5000
Price: $25
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This isn’t your average book club. Break open The Tibetan Book of the Dead with bardo scholar Ramon Prats and draw comparisons between the ancient text and modern-day perspectives on mortality.

Club Meeting #4: Mystical Hallucinations

Can mystical experiences alleviate a fear of death? Tony Bossis is an investigator and session guide for the NYU Psilocybin Cancer Anxiety Project, a clinical trial investigating the efficacy of a psilocybin-generated mystical experience alleviating distress in persons with cancer. In the Tibetan understanding of transition, the hallucinations witnessed in the bardo, or transitional state, after death need to be recognized as illusory forms of attachment. Otherwise one is bound to be reborn.

About the Speakers

Anthony Bossis, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, and a founding member of the NYU research group which in 2009 began FDA-approved research into the therapeutic efficacy of psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in specific species of mushrooms. He is the project director and primary psilocybin session guide for the Psilocybin Religious Leaders Study, a clinical trial evaluating psilocybin-generated mystical experiences upon religious leaders from the major world religions. Bossis is a clinical supervisor of psychotherapy training and co-founder and former co-director of the Palliative Care Service at Bellevue Hospital. He has a long-standing interest in comparative religion, consciousness research, and the interface of psychology and spirituality. Bossis is on the advisory committee and faculty for the Open Center of New York’s Art of Dying Institute. He maintains a private consulting and psychotherapy practice in New York City.

Ramon N. Prats was the first person to translate The Tibetan Book of the Dead into Spanish. He holds a doctoral degree in Tibetan Studies from the Oriental Institute of the University of Naples (Italy), where he was associate professor of Tibetan language and literature from 1980 to 1995. He was subsequently appointed professor of Buddhist studies at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona (Spain). From 2006 to 2009 he was Senior Curator at the Rubin Museum of Art, where he organized an exhibition on the Bardo Thodrol, among others. Ramon Prats has more than sixty publications to his credit.

Buy tickets/get more info now