Many popular books have been written on Zen since Watts' time, but few have been able to muster the rare combination of erudition and clarity that have kept As a Westerner, Watts anticipates the stumbling blocks encountered with such concepts as emptiness and no-mind, then illustrates with flawlessly apt examples. Watts takes the reader back to the philosophical foundations of Zen in the conceptual world of Hinduism, follows Buddhism's course through the development of the early Mahayana school, the birth of Zen from Buddhism's marriage with Chinese Taoism, and on to Zen's unique expression in Japanese art and life. Nowhere is this more evident than in his 1957 classic Often taken to task for inspiring the flimsy spontaneity of Beat Zen, Watts had an undeniably keen understanding of his subject. Suzuki, Alan Watts stands as the godfather of Zen in America. “Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Watts had the rare gift of ‘writing beautifully the unwritable.’”-Los Angeles TimesĪfter D.T. The Way of Zen he gives this gift to readers everywhere. Watts saw Zen as “one of the most precious gifts of Asia to the world,” and in With a rare combination of freshness and lucidity, he delves into the origins and history of Zen to explain what it means for the world today with incredible clarity. In his definitive introduction to Zen Buddhism, Alan Watts ("the perfect guide for a course correction in life" -Deepak Chopra), explains the principles and practices of this ancient religion.
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