{"product_id":"zen-and-the-beat-way-by-alan-watts-9784805317068","title":"Zen and the Beat Way","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Everything disappears into nothing at all, but out of that same nothing at all come all the new things, forever and ever.” - Alan Watts\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Jack Kerouac wrote his novel \u003cem\u003eDharma Bums\u003c\/em\u003e, his views on Zen Buddhism echoed the sentiments of the Beat Generation, who found in Zen a way of life unencumbered by the limits of \"square\" society. It was the philosopher Alan Watts who first wrote and spoke about Zen and Eastern culture in terms accessible to mainstream Western audiences. Watts was an engaging speaker and an icon of America's Beat and Counterculture movements, who counted among his friends Aldous Huxley, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John Cage, and Joseph Campbell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThrough his popular radio series \u003cem\u003eWay Beyond the West\u003c\/em\u003e, Alan Watts presented the practical side of Zen, which he described as \"a cure for education and culture.\" By the early sixties, his radio programmes were renowned for their synthesis of Eastern wisdom and everyday life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWatts' teachings during an era of turmoil and political strife are as timely today as they were over 50 years ago. The fascinating essays in this collection include:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n    \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eThe Beat Way of Life\u003c\/em\u003e: How the Beats lived an uncomplicated Zen life and despite being denigrated as worthless slackers, like Eastern thinkers, they actively pursued \"an arduous course of spiritual and psychological discipline\".\u003c\/li\u003e\n    \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eReturn to the Forest\u003c\/em\u003e: How the popular works of the writer Joseph Campbell influenced the earliest Beat traditions by advocating the internal search for individual truth over learned schools of thought.\u003c\/li\u003e\n    \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eThe Democratization of Buddhism\u003c\/em\u003e: How Buddhism is actually a \"religion of no-religion,\" that conveys the spiritual through the everyday and the ordinary and recognizes no division between the two.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis book is an engaging introduction to Watts' fascinating and enduring Zen teachings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46854429737196,"sku":"9784805317068","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9784805317068.jpg?v=1759241194","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/products\/zen-and-the-beat-way-by-alan-watts-9784805317068","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}