I was a weird child. I was a fantast who believed in fairies and magic when all the other children had given them up for twaddle… I would conduct funeral ceremonies for dead birds and bats and rabbits instead of learning tennis. I read about ancient Egypt and Chinese tortures and Aladdin’s lamp instead of “good books.”
read moreAlan Watts
Alan Watts (1915-1973) was profoundly influenced by the East Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Buddhism, and by Taoist thought, which is reflected in Zen poetry and the arts of China and Japan. After leaving the Church he never became a member of another organized religion, although he wrote and spoke extensively about Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoisim. Some American Buddhists criticized him for not sitting regularly in zazen, even though he recorded several guided meditations teaching a variety of meditation techniques. Alan Watts responded simply by saying: “A cat sits until it is done sitting, and then gets up, stretches, and walks away.”
In 1957 he published his bestselling The Way of Zen, and in 1958 returned to Europe where he met with CG Jung. He was an early subject in pioneering psychedelic trials, and after recording two seasons of the public television series “Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life” traveled to Japan several times in the early sixties. By the late sixties he had become a counter culture celebrity, and traveled widely to speak at universities and growth centers across the US and Europe.
By the early 1970s Alan Watts had become a foremost interpreter of Eastern thought for the West. Overall he developed an extensive audio library of nearly 400 talks and wrote more than 25 books during his lifetime, including his final volume, Tao: the Watercourse Way.
Products by this Author:
Tao
Drawing on ancient and modern sources, Watts treats the Chinese philosophy of Tao in much the same way as he did Zen Buddhism in his classic The Way of Zen. Critics agree that this last work stands as a perfect monument to the life and literature of Alan Watts.
read more$23.00 CAD |
Fish Who Found the Sea
By: |Alan Watts, beloved for bringing a childlike wonder to the spiritual journey, wrote just one story for children. The Fish Who Found the Sea brings this delightful and wise parable to life for a new generation.
read more$23.50 CAD |
Way of Zen
By: |Alan Watts was one of the great teachers and philosophers of our time, and forty years after its first appearance his classic study The Way of Zen continues to make Western readers far more aware of, and responsive to, the richness of Zen Buddhism and its place within the context and variety of Eastern religion.
$22.00 CAD |
Wisdom of Insecurity
"Anyone whose life needs a course correction would be fortunate to be guided by The Wisdom of Insecurity. My life still is, some thirty years later." —Deepak Chopra, from the Introduction
Alan W. Wattss message for an age of anxiety is as powerful today as it waswhen this modern classic was first published (in 1951).
$22.00 CAD |
This Is It
The six essays in this volume all deal with the relationship of mystical experience to ordinary life. The title essay on "cosmic consciousness" includes the author's account of his own ventures into this inward realm.
read more$14.00 CAD |
Become What You Are
"Life exists only at this very moment, and in this moment it is infinite and eternal. For the present moment is infinitely small; before we can measure it, it has gone, and yet it exists forever. . . .
read more$21.95 CAD |
Become What You Are
By: |Renowned lecturer and author Alan Watts presents his meditations on the dilemma of seeking your true self. In this nimble collection of some of his writings, Alan Watts displays the intelligence, playfulness of thought, and simplicity of language that has made him so perennially popular as an interpreter of Eastern thought for W
read more$14.95 CAD |
Behold the Spirit
This study of the necessity of mystical religion, also shows how traditional Western doctrine can be reconciled with the intuitive religion of the Orient.
read more$20.00 CAD |
Beyond Theology
This witty little book is a large theological event.
Joseph Campbell
A radical reinterpretation of Christianity by one of the 20th centurys leading philosophers
$26.50 CAD |
Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown
These ruminations, assembled in the form of a journal and here published in paperback for the first time, were written at Alan Watts' retreat in the foothills of Mount Tamalpais, California.
read more$17.95 CAD |
Collected Letters of Alan Watts
By: |Philosopher, author, and lecturer Alan Watts (19151973) popularized Zen Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies for the counterculture of the 1960s.
read more$40.50 CAD |
Do You Do It Or Does It Do You?
At the heart of the popularity of such spiritual teachers as Eckhart Tolle and Ken Wilber lies the spirit and intellectual passion of the seminal teacher who inspired them all—Alan Watts.
read more$41.99 CAD |
Does It Matter?
I have come to believe that the whole “hip” subculture, however misguided in some of its manifestations, is the earnest and responsible effort of young people to correct the self-destroying course of industrial civilization.
read more$22.50 CAD |
Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life
From the mid-1950s, when he wrote The Way of Zen, to his death in 1973, Alan Watts introduced millions of Western readers to Zen and other Eastern philosophies.
read more$26.00 CAD |
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