Become What You Are: Expanded Edition

by Alan Watts

Overview

The prominent Zen Buddhist scholar and author of The Wisdom of Insecurity draws on Taoism, Christianity, and other world religions to explore the dilemma of seeking your true self

In this collection of writings, including nine new chapters never before available in book form, 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. He draws on a variety of religious traditions, and 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 the psychological symbolism of Christian thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780834823365
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	03/11/2003
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	303,399
File size:	425 KB

About the Author

Alan Watts (1915–1973) was a renowned lecturer and the author of nearly thirty books, including The Way of Zen and The Book.

Table of Contents

Editor's
Preface
vii

The
Paradox of Self-Denial
1
Become
What You Are
10
The
Finger and the Moon
12
Importance 19
Tao
and Wu-Wei
21
Lightness
of Touch
28
Birds
in the Sky
30
Walking
on the Wheel
37
The
Language of Metaphysical Experience
39
Good
Intentions
55
Zen 57
The
One
64
Is
There an Unconscious?
71
That
Far-Off, Divine Event
78
The
Parable of the Cow's Tail
85
The
Second Immortal
90
The
Problem of Faith and Works in Buddhism
97
Tomorrow
Never Comes
121
What
Is Reality?
124
The
Birth of the Divine Son
127

Editorial Reviews

Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Alan Watts had the rare gift of ‘writing beautifully the un-writable.’”
—LA Times

From the Publisher