Alan Watts – Being in the Way – Ep. 33 – Zen Reconsidered

Re-familiarizing us with Zen traditions, Alan Watts inspires listeners to move beyond going through the motions of practice.

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In this episode of Being in the Way, Alan Watts explains:
  • Our lack of awareness of the basic structure of the world
  • The world itself as meaningless (non-symbolic)
  • Realizing fundamental energy and Zen as the religion of no religion
  • The metaphysical in terms of the everyday
  • The composition of Zen practice
  • How westerners are bothered by ritual and splendor
  • How Buddhism has degenerated over the years
  • A re-familiarization with Buddhism for modernity
This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit Alanwatts.org for full talks from Alan Watts.

“There is this tremendous problem, unless the Buddhist tradition is to go down the drain completely, of re-familiarizing the Japanese with what it’s all about. Over the years it has degenerated into going through the motions and into being something which is just a kind of magic.” – Alan Watts

Listen to more Alan Watts talks:
Being in the Way Ep. 1: Alan shares a dharma talk on Taoism, the interdependence of nature, and dropping out of karma
Alan Watt’s son, Mark, shares background on Alan’s early life, before introducing two of his father’s specially curated dharma talks focused on karma, in Being in the Way Ep. 2
Therapy, religion, mystical experiences, & Jesus: Being in the Way Ep. 6
The connections between Taoism and relativity, technology and human evolution, culture and separation: Being in the Way Ep. 3
Our place in the universe and how very natural it is to be human, in Being in the Way Ep. 4
The joyous cosmology that we are God playing the roles of ordinary people: Being in the Way Ep. 21
Alan Watts