In the sixth century BCE (what Karl Jaspers dubbed the "Axial Age"), Gautama Buddha led a countercultural revolution that successfully challenged the dominant religious authority in ancient India and altered the direction of global history. In this course we examine the dangerous ideas and practices that defined Buddha’s revolution and the Indian counterculture—the Śramaṇa, or “Misfit Seeker” spiritual movement. We also consider the impact Buddha’s revolution had on fomenting and facilitating the American counterculture and the rise of American Buddhism amidst what may be a new Axial Age. Our study considers the lives and works of cultural nonconformists such as Henry David Thoreau, John Cage, Timothy Leary and Anne Waldman.