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Alan Watts Quotations

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  14 Alan Watts Quotes That Will Change the Way You See the World “The only Zen you’ll find on mountain tops is the Zen you bring up there with you” Image by The Alan Watts Organization via Big Think I first fell in love with Alan Watts because of his humour and profound wisdom. He saw the world in such a lighthearted, playful, and brilliant way that it made my life more lighthearted, playful, and beautiful too. After being on a spiritual path for a few years, I was taking my life a little  too seriously, so he came as a refreshing surprise. During his 58 years, he was a self-proclaimed philosophical entertainer, fusing Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoist traditions. The only thing he did more than making babies was write books, 25 of them in fact, which is 18 more than had children, just in case you were wondering. So, here are 15 of my favourite quotes by the man himself. And if applied, can change the way you see the world forever. 1. “The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so pl
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Nisagadatta Maharaj;'The World is Like Photography'

  Maharaj: " People would scarcely believe if I said that life in this world is like photography. Those who trust the Guru's words as Truth, might believe in it and appreciate this analogy. The photography starts from the day of conception, nine months prior to birth. The child's parents are first chosen to pose for this picture, followed by the picture of the world and of the entire Universe, including the stars and planets. It is as if these pictures assigned the fate of the child. It doesn't stop there. All that could be seen with the eyes, heard by ears, felt by the sense of touch and smelled by the nose, are captured. How is this photography conducted? The child is too innocent and helpless to understand or perform it all. In fact, the Cosmic intelligence, a quality of Sattva, which is called Hiranyagarbha, takes care of the process that is known as 'birth'. A Chemical in the Sattva does the job. Then this life force is separated from its source(
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Michael Ignatieff - the Book of Job and the Psalms on Consolation

Michael Ignatieff, whom I have long admired since reading his superb biography of  Isaiah Berlin , has given us some fascinating reflections on the subject of Consolation, illuminating the Book of Job and the Psalms in a most enlightening way. His talk, the first of several on the subject of Consolation, can be found on BBC Sounds  here . 
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Thich Nhat Hanh on His Epiphany

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I saw that the entity I had taken to be “me” was really a fabrication. My true nature, I realised, was much more real, both uglier and more beautiful than I could have imagined. The feeling began shortly before eleven o’clock at night on October first. I was browsing on the eleventh floor of Butler Library. I knew the library was about to close, and I saw a book that concerned the area of my research. I slid it off the shelf and held it in my two hands. It was large and heavy. I read that it had been published in 1892, and it was donated to the Columbia Library the same year. On the back cover was a slip of paper that recorded the names of borrowers and the dates they took it out of the library. The first time it had been borrowed was in 1915, the second time was in 1932. I would be the third. Can you imagine? I was only the third borrower, on October 1, 1962. For seventy years, only two other people had stood in the same spot I now stood, pulled the book from the shelf, and decided to
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Rumi on Ageing

              Why does a date-palm lose its leaves in autumn?            Why does every beautiful face grow in old age            Wrinkled like the back of a Libyan lizard?            Why does a full head of hair get bald?            Why is the tall, straight figure            That divided the ranks like a spear            Now bent almost double?            Why is it that the            Lion's strength weakens to nothing?            The wrestler who could hold anyone down            Is led out with two people supporting him,            Their shoulders under his arms?            God answers,            "They put on borrowed robes            And pretended they were theirs.            I take the beautiful clothes back,            So that you will learn the robe            Of appearance is only a loan."            Your lamp was lit from another lamp.            All God wants is your gratitude for that.                                        -Rumi (“Mathnavi”)  
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Rumi's Astravakra Gita

What can I do? I do not know myself. I am neither Christian nor Jew, neither Zoroastrian nor Muslim, I am not from east or west, not from land or sea, Not from the shafts of nature nor from the spheres of the firmament, Not of the earth, not of water, not of air, not of fire. I am not from the highest heaven, not from this world, not from existence, not from being. I am not from India, not from China, not from Bulgar, not from Saqsin, Not from the realm of the two Iraqs, not from the land of Khurasan I am not from the world, not from beyond, Not from heaven and not from hell. I am not from Adam, not from Eve, not from paradise and not from Ridwan. My place is placeless, my trace is traceless, No body, no soul, I am from the soul of souls. I have chased out duality, lived the two worlds as one. One I seek, one I know, one I see, one I call. He is the first, he is the last, he is the outer, he is the inner. Beyond "He" and "He is" I know no other. I am drunk from the
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Nisagadatta on Work

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  M: The daily life is a life of action. Whether you like it or not, you must function. Whatever you do for your own sake accumulates and becomes explosive; one day it goes off and plays havoc with you and your world. When you deceive yourself that you work for the good of all, it makes matters worse, for you should not be guided by your own ideas of what is good for others. A man who claims to know what is good for others, is dangerous. " Q: How is one to work then? M:" Neither for yourself nor for others, but for the work's own sake. A thing worth doing is its own purpose and meaning. Make nothing a means to something else. Bind not. God does not create one thing to serve another. Each is made for its own sake. Because it is made for itself, it does not interfere. You are using things and people for purposes alien to them and you play havoc with the world and itself. "
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