Watts Alan W. Book order (chronological)

Six essays dealing with the relationship of mystical experience to ordinary life.

From “perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West—and an author who ‘had the rare gift of ‘writing beautifully the unwritable’” (Los Angeles Times)—a guide that draws on Chinese Taoism to reexamine humanity’s place in the natural world and the relation between body and spirit. Western thought and culture have coalesced around a series of constructed ideas—that human beings stand separate from a nature that must be controlled; that the mind is somehow superior to the body; that all sexuality entails a seduction—that in some way underlie our exploitation of the earth, our distrust of emotion, and our loneliness and reluctance to love. Here, Watts fundamentally challenges these assumptions, drawing on the precepts of Taoism to present an alternative vision of man and the universe—one in which the distinctions between self and other, spirit and matter give way to a more holistic way of seeing.

Renowned lecturer and author Alan Watts presents his meditations on the dilemma of seeking your true self. In this collection of 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 Westerners. Drawing on a variety of religious traditions, he presents the dilemma of seeking your true self—to “become what you are.” Once called “the godfather of Zen in America,” Watts also covers topics such as the challenge of seeing one’s life “just as it is,” the Taoist approach to harmonious living, the limits of language in the face of ineffable spiritual truth, and psychological symbolism in Christian thought. This book is part of the Shambhala Pocket Library series. The Shambhala Pocket Library is a collection of short, portable teachings from notable figures across religious traditions and classic texts. The covers in this series are rendered by Colorado artist Robert Spellman. The books in this collection distill the wisdom and heart of the work Shambhala Publications has published over 50 years into a compact format that is collectible, reader-friendly, and applicable to everyday life.

Ein Meisterwerk über den Buddhismus, das Religion als Mittel zur Erfahrung und nicht als Ziel betrachtet. Ideal für Einsteiger und Fortgeschrittene, leicht verständlich und inspirierend.

Part of a series introducing the wisdom of the East to Western readers, this work offers an exposition of Zen, which although historically an aspect of Buddhism, is itself so vital and elusive (aiming to leave the mind like an open window) that it escapes definition.

In this fascinating book, Alan Watts explores man's quest for psychological security, examining our efforts to find spiritual and intellectual certainty in the realms of religion and philosophy. The Wisdom of Insecurity underlines the importance of our search for stability in an age where human life seems particularly vulnerable and uncertain. Watts argues our insecurity is the consequence of trying to be secure and that, ironically, salvation and sanity lie in the recognition that we have no way of saving ourselves.