Status
Available
Call number
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Publication
Penguin Putnam~trade (1980), 256 pages
Description
Discover how the understanding and practice of Zen can bring peace and enlightenment into your daily life in this classic work, now available on CD Narrated by Ralph Blum, this audio program presents readings of carefully chosen selections from Alan Watts's classic bestseller, illuminated by rare recordings of the author personally commenting and elaborating on the key concepts and ideas of his seminal work including:* The history of Zen* The principles and practice of Zen* The tradition of Za-Zen (meditation) and the Koan* The integration of Zen into every aspect of life THE WAY OF ZEN presents an understandable, inspirational, and spiritually rewarding exploration of Zen Buddhism - a way of liberation - that may be one of the most precious gifts of Asia to the world.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Bidwell-Glaze
The Way of Zen, by Alan W. Watts is a scholarly popularization of Zen Buddhism, written in 1957. It has the bibliography, notes and index of a scholarly book, but the looser style of a book written for real people. In the author's opinion, Zen cannot be understood in a purely literary or scholarly
The book is divided into 2 parts. The first part gives us the context for Zen. The background and history includes information on how the Eastern mind-set differs from the Western mind-set and how this informs the study of Zen. He discusses the Chinese tradition of Tao (the Way), Buddhism in general, and how they joined to create Zen. The second part of the book is about Zen principles and practices; empty mind, still body, contemplating koans (sayings), and creating art in stillness.
In the beginning, Watts reminds us how much our conventions and mind-sets informs our understanding. When we say the word fist, it is a noun, a thing. It is not a part of our body or an action we have chosen to take. Thus we can ask “what happens to my fist [noun-object] when I open my hand?”(p.5). Because our conventions are different from Asian conventions it is difficult to study Zen using translated Asian texts. We are missing the context. “... so that one who thinks in Chinese has little difficulty in seeing that objects are also events, that our world is a collection of processes rather than entities.” (p.5) It then takes pages of examples, explanations, quotations and analysis to get the feel of Tao and wu-wei. Wu is non or not, wei is action, doing, striving, busyness or grasping. Other concepts from the Tao are also expressed. The next chapters deal with India's religious background, Buddhism, how Buddhism changed when it became accepted in China, and the beginning of Ch'an (China) and Zen (Japan).
The book goes gingerly, step-by-step along the path of understanding, yet it never condescends. In Watt's words, the difference between Zen and other meditation traditions of Buddhism is the feeling that “awakening” is quite natural and possible to attain in this lifetime, at any moment. Your regular family life and duties can continue to be fulfilled while you experience the “thunderous silence” of enlightenment.
The second part of the book, the principles and practices of Zen are understandable because of the context explained in the first part of the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this old friend for this review.
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method. The author is, therefore, a participant observer. He attempts to put it within a context understandable by the Western mind, I think he is successful in that attempt.The book is divided into 2 parts. The first part gives us the context for Zen. The background and history includes information on how the Eastern mind-set differs from the Western mind-set and how this informs the study of Zen. He discusses the Chinese tradition of Tao (the Way), Buddhism in general, and how they joined to create Zen. The second part of the book is about Zen principles and practices; empty mind, still body, contemplating koans (sayings), and creating art in stillness.
In the beginning, Watts reminds us how much our conventions and mind-sets informs our understanding. When we say the word fist, it is a noun, a thing. It is not a part of our body or an action we have chosen to take. Thus we can ask “what happens to my fist [noun-object] when I open my hand?”(p.5). Because our conventions are different from Asian conventions it is difficult to study Zen using translated Asian texts. We are missing the context. “... so that one who thinks in Chinese has little difficulty in seeing that objects are also events, that our world is a collection of processes rather than entities.” (p.5) It then takes pages of examples, explanations, quotations and analysis to get the feel of Tao and wu-wei. Wu is non or not, wei is action, doing, striving, busyness or grasping. Other concepts from the Tao are also expressed. The next chapters deal with India's religious background, Buddhism, how Buddhism changed when it became accepted in China, and the beginning of Ch'an (China) and Zen (Japan).
The book goes gingerly, step-by-step along the path of understanding, yet it never condescends. In Watt's words, the difference between Zen and other meditation traditions of Buddhism is the feeling that “awakening” is quite natural and possible to attain in this lifetime, at any moment. Your regular family life and duties can continue to be fulfilled while you experience the “thunderous silence” of enlightenment.
The second part of the book, the principles and practices of Zen are understandable because of the context explained in the first part of the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this old friend for this review.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Arctic-Stranger
Even though Watts was very early on the Zen bandwagon, he recogized that Americans needed a)a good historical introduction to the subject and b)a way to bring that history into their context. He does both.
LibraryThing member RAP-BIG-ICP1
Great information. A labor to read. The audio version makes this a little better.
LibraryThing member yapete
I'm not a huge Watts fan - too esoteric for me. But this is a great introduction into Eastern Philosophy. I keep rereading this one, just to rermind myself of its profound insights.
LibraryThing member jcrben
Since receiving my bachelor's in philosophy, I have rarely read anything which resembles philosophy aside from an few occasional words of Stoic wisdom. This book reminded me why. Writing about enlightenment feels empty and boring. The historical overview and cultural description was interesting,
The depth of insight provided by Buddhism may be overrated.
Back to empirical and actionable topics.
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but somehow did not feel actionable or altogether relevant.The depth of insight provided by Buddhism may be overrated.
Back to empirical and actionable topics.
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LibraryThing member ostrom
Watts comes off as a bit of a snob, ironically, but he's very smart, and the book is clear. It's almost as if acquiring knowledge of Zen made him feel superior--a bit un-Zen-like.
LibraryThing member wrmjr66
A very good historical overview of the development of Zen Buddhism. It is not so much a description of beliefs and practices for someone who wishes to practice Zen Buddhism as it is a scholarly description of thos beliefs and practices. So if you are looking for a handbook to Zen, look elsewhere.
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But if you are interested in the place of Zen in the history of other forms of Buddhism, this is an excellent, readable study. Show Less
LibraryThing member neurodrew
A very difficult book. Alan Watts is clearly convinced that Zen is a great truth and superior in many ways to western thought, but he is not convincing. Much of the problem is tendentiousness. Western thought is said to be limited by mind body dualism, and Zen liberated by using the ""peripheral
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vision of the mind"" to grasp essential truths about existence. But is western thought limited by the envisioning of a world separate from the self, or emboldened to manipulate that world rather than allowing it to simply exist? The historical summary of thought is confusing, and the repetition of the koans of Zen teaching simply mysterious. Is it really useful to have sitting meditation when monks are beaten to stay awake, or is it, as Watts admits, a response to the constraints of oriental politeness? I plan to revisit this book another time, since the simplicity of the doctrine and its lack of a god-centered view of reality is appealing, but I have not yet been able to separate the sensation of satori from terminal boredom. Show Less
LibraryThing member iayork
It's got the goods: This is my second Alan Watts book and I enjoyed it very much. I noticed a reviewer stating that it seemed a little dry, of courses this is personal preference. For me, it started of good, dragged a little during the history of Zen part about half way through the first part, then
One of the fascinating things about reading The Way of Zen and The Book is that one can see many things that have transpired in our culture that were obviously influenced by Watts' philosophy. It can be seen as coming directly from his words and not just from another source.
Years ago I read Psyco-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, and I agree that it is a classic written in the early 60's dealing with human behavior, self esteem and self image. After reading The Way of Zen, which was written in the 50's, it became apparent as to where many of Maltz's ideas came from, he just reorganized them and obscured any relation to Zen, just from a psychological point of view, which is good. I reading about the Zen way and didn't realize it. Since reading Maltz, I've read some about Zen and noticed the similarities, but reading this, one could almost accuse Maltz of plagiarism. The only thing is Maltz made it more palatable for the western mind that wasn't ready or willing to embrace eastern philosophy.
Watts' writing seems to be from the perspective of a philosopher rather than a practitioner. You get the idea that he believes in the validity of what the practice of Zen, but not that he was on the path himself, which takes nothing away from the book.
The Way of Zen didn't seem to be as dated as The Book, as his way of writing didn't really reflect any of the verbiage of the time.
It's really nice discovering these books that were written before "I was born" and seeing that they contain fresh insight to ideas that were around long, long before "I was born".
If you're into Zen, on a path to "Self" discovery, or just starting, this book has some good pointers.
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the second part really picked up again. Again, that's only because I wasn't as interested in the background as in the practices. Someone who is interested in where it came from and the branches of Zen would find it very fascinating. One of the fascinating things about reading The Way of Zen and The Book is that one can see many things that have transpired in our culture that were obviously influenced by Watts' philosophy. It can be seen as coming directly from his words and not just from another source.
Years ago I read Psyco-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, and I agree that it is a classic written in the early 60's dealing with human behavior, self esteem and self image. After reading The Way of Zen, which was written in the 50's, it became apparent as to where many of Maltz's ideas came from, he just reorganized them and obscured any relation to Zen, just from a psychological point of view, which is good. I reading about the Zen way and didn't realize it. Since reading Maltz, I've read some about Zen and noticed the similarities, but reading this, one could almost accuse Maltz of plagiarism. The only thing is Maltz made it more palatable for the western mind that wasn't ready or willing to embrace eastern philosophy.
Watts' writing seems to be from the perspective of a philosopher rather than a practitioner. You get the idea that he believes in the validity of what the practice of Zen, but not that he was on the path himself, which takes nothing away from the book.
The Way of Zen didn't seem to be as dated as The Book, as his way of writing didn't really reflect any of the verbiage of the time.
It's really nice discovering these books that were written before "I was born" and seeing that they contain fresh insight to ideas that were around long, long before "I was born".
If you're into Zen, on a path to "Self" discovery, or just starting, this book has some good pointers.
Show Less
LibraryThing member TheCriticalTimes
Be prepared to read this 'instruction' manual a few times. There is great wisdom to be had here but it is a little bit like listening to Bertrand Russel teach about common sense. What starts out as a historical overview of Zen ends up becoming a philosophical explanation and investigation into the
What struck me as peculiar was how Alan Watts' written voice is not as elegant and clear as his speaking voice. That makes me wonder what would have happened if he had read the book out loud and if that would have changed the contents. I'm convinced that Mr. Watts had the capability of greatly simplifying and clarifying the work but for some reason opted to compete with academics in the field of philosophy. Because that is the only reason I can see for the peculiar literary style found in the dense pages.
I will read the book many times more but for now all I've learned is how the Indian and Asian forms of Buddhism differ.
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various forms of Zen and how they logically work and don't work. It is all there, all the information needed, but you might spend a lifetime decoding it. It will take you several lifetimes learning to practice. Not bad for a book of only 256 pages.What struck me as peculiar was how Alan Watts' written voice is not as elegant and clear as his speaking voice. That makes me wonder what would have happened if he had read the book out loud and if that would have changed the contents. I'm convinced that Mr. Watts had the capability of greatly simplifying and clarifying the work but for some reason opted to compete with academics in the field of philosophy. Because that is the only reason I can see for the peculiar literary style found in the dense pages.
I will read the book many times more but for now all I've learned is how the Indian and Asian forms of Buddhism differ.
Show Less
LibraryThing member texasstorm
I found this to be more difficult than I expected, though there were parts that switched on light bulbs for me. I liked the last chapter best, about Zen art. Much of the book refers to the impossibility of explaining Zen or attaining enlightenment with verbal instruction, so the concept of using
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art, such as paintings, poems, ceramics & gardens, to put us on a path to understanding makes sense. I feel I understand better how Zen is reflected in art. Show Less
LibraryThing member albertgoldfain
A concise history that takes great pains to distance the subject matter from traditional western readings of Zen and Buddhism, and in so doing, detach the practice from exoticism, nihilism or anti-intellectualism. He also makes very clear that the zen experience is not to be used propositionally in
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any deductive argument for ethics, theology or metaphysics. Phenomenology and the study of the unconscious have given way to analysis and science since this was written, but it still holds up well. Show Less
LibraryThing member dh-writer
Skimmed it, so four stars is based on overall impression. Looks like a good book for looking at Zen, beginner or advanced practitioner. I wasn't ready for this at this time.
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1957
ISBN
0140205470 / 9780140205473