ALAN WATTS
i am going to include another man, Alan Watts, with all his books. I have loved this man immensely. I have loved Buddha for different reasons; I have loved Solomon for a different reason. They are enlightened, Alan Watts is not. He is an American... not a born American, that′s his only hope; he just emigrated there. But he has written tremendously valuable books. The Way of Zen should be counted as one of the most important; This Is It is a tremendous work of beauty and understanding - and from a man who is yet unenlightened; hence it is more appreciable. When you are enlightened, whatsoever you say is beautiful; it has to be. But when you are not enlightened and groping in the dark, and yet can find a small window of light, that′s tremendous, fantastic. Alan Watts was a drunkard, but still he was very close. He was once an ordained Christian priest - what a misfortune! - but he renounced it. Very few people have the guts to renounce the priesthood, because it provides so many things of the world. He renounced all that and became almost a hobo. But what a hobo! - it reminds one of Bodhidharma, Basho, or Rinzai.
Alan Watts′ The Book. I have been saving it. Alan Watts was not a buddha, but he could be one day. He has moved closer to it. The Book is tremendously important. It is his testament, his whole experience with Zen masters, Zen classics. And he is a man of tremendous intelligence; he was also a drunkard. Intelligence plus wine have really created a juicy book. I have loved The Book and I have saved it for the last.
I love one statement of one of the most important people of the West, Alan Watts. He was a drunkard, but he was the man who introduced to the West the most essential parts of Zen and enlightenment. He wrote not as a scholar, but as a master. Before he was dying, he was still drinking and a disciple asked him, "Have you ever thought... if Buddha had seen you drinking alcohol, what do you think he would have thought about it?" Alan Watts said, "There is no problem. I always drink in an enlightened way." The question is not what you do, the question is how you do it. Yes, I accept Alan Watts′ statement. There is a possibility of a man to drink alcohol in an enlightened way. Enlightenment should not have any limits. And it should not have a particular formula, a particular pattern that you have to follow. Enlightenment should be an individual experience - the most individual experience, incomparable and unique to everybody. Once this is understood, all the clouds that surround you with darkness start dispersing.
Submitted July 11, 2020 at 01:35PM by transmission_of_mind https://ift.tt/2Obm22i
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