ZEN: Who in the world is Alan Watts?

Dhr. Seven and CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; AlanWatts.org

Zen Birthday Card: "Not thinking of you." (Piraro/bizarro.com)

  

Early Alan Watts, London (colorized photo)

Alan Watts was born in London in 1915, at the start of World War I. At a young age he became fascinated with the Far East, and at 14 he began to write and was published in the Journal of the London Buddhist Lodge before writing his first booklet on Zen in 1932. He moved to New York in 1938 and then to Chicago, where he served as an Episcopal priest for six years before leaving the Church. In 1950, he moved to upstate New York before going on to San Francisco to teach at the Academy of Asian Studies. Among Alan Watts' earliest influences were the novelist Sax Rohmer and Zen scholars D.T. Suzuki and Christmas Humpreys. In late 1950, he visited with Joseph Campbell and composer John Cage in NYC.

 

Worldview

Alan Watts was profoundly influenced by the East Indian philosophies of Vedanta [the "best of the ancient Vedas"] and Buddhism, and by Taoist thought, which is reflected in Zen poetry and the arts of China and Japan.
 

"Why cats are awesome" (RantsRavesT)

After leaving the [Anglican] Church, he never became a member of another organized religion. And although he wrote and spoke extensively about Zen Buddhism, he was criticized by American Buddhist practitioners for not sitting regularly in zazen. Alan Watts responded simply by saying, "A cat sits until it is done sitting, and then gets up, stretches, and walks away."

• Don't be like Alan, kids. Here's how to zazen
• VIDEO: Be like Alan, kids: Watch cartoons

Expect the unexpected, and you won't be disappointed ("Zen Comics"/Ioanna Salajan)

  

1950's and early '60's

Later wild-eyed Alan Watts, Berkeley

After teaching at the Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco, he became Dean and began to give regular radio talks on KPFA FM, the Berkeley free radio station. In 1957, he published his bestselling Way of Zen, and in 1958 returned to Europe where he met with C.G. Jung. He was an early subject in pioneering psychedelic trials and, after recording two seasons of the public television series "Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life," traveled to Japan several times in the early sixties. By the late sixties, he had become a counterculture celebrity, and traveled widely to speak at universities and growth centers across the US and Europe.
 

The adventures of a doctoral candidate in "PHD ZEN" (phdcomics.com/Jorge Cham)

 
Later Years

The animated Alan Watts is not just for kids

By the early seventies, Alan Watts had become a foremost interpreter of Eastern thought for the West and was widely published in periodicals including Earth, Elle, Playboy, and Redbook. He appeared on CBS television's "Camera Three" in 1969, and in 1971 he recorded a pilot for a new show titled "A Conversation with Myself" for NET, the precursor to PBS. When the series was not produced, he recorded the shows with his son Mark and his long-time audio archivist Henry Jacobs in 1972. Overall, Alan Watts developed an extensive audio library of nearly 400 talks and wrote more than 25 books during his lifetime, including his final volume, Tao: The Watercourse Way. Alan Watts died in his sleep in November of 1973, after returning from an intensive international lecture tour. More

(Wiki featured article, May 15, 2014) Mycena aurantiomarginata, commonly known as the golden-edge bonnet, is a species of agaric fungus in the family Mycenaceae. First formally described in 1803, it was given its current name in 1872. It is common in Europe and North America, and has also been collected in North Africa, Central America, and Japan... More

What is "art"? (cartoons, illusions...)

Amber Larson, CC Liu, and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; the artist Saara (Arkiharha)

Saara (Arkiharha) pondering art and free expression in Finland (Weekday-Illusion)

 

The fun Finnish cartoonist, devi, and graphic artist noticed our coverage. Saara is an obscure but prolific talent. We love her work, which can be found at many outlets like such as Arkiharha and such as Weekday-Illusion (our nod to awkward beauty pageant contestant Miss South Carolina).
 
She is expressing herself in her work and in a letter to us:

 

"Susse" (Saara/Arkiharha/flickr)

"Wow, it's crazy to find a post full of my pictures and comics! Nice analysis, too. Maybe I kinda succeeded to pass on my thoughts in a visual way, because you get the idea from most of them -- even when they are written in Finnish!"
 
See Wisdom Quarterly coverage here: My cartoon ART is your perception

REPLY: Saara, send in art you are eager for the world to see, like your beautiful sketches of the Buddha. We would be overjoyed to feature more.

 

Comic vignettes as art "Kuva" (Saara/Arkiharha/flickr)

If you have "class" you know a bottle of "fine" wine and classical string instruments like a Stratavarious are the only things to sip or listen to. But you're wrong. Science says you're wrong. So surely when you add that only oil on canvas can be art and not no people pleasing cartoony comics, you're wrong, too. Don't tell us. We like classical. Tell it to science:

 

The way to get people to better enjoy craapy fermented grape juice that sells for thousands of dollars is to say it sells for more. Just a better bottle and a price change, or serving it with an elegant story of its venerable origins, its pedigree, is enough to make it "taste" better. How classy of study participants.

Can comics and webcam colors be called art?

fMRI scans prove bad alcohol actually tastes better when it's two-buck-chuck krup is said to be something more expensive and classy. Expensive wine tastes better. Let's call it "neuromarketing." Marketers have known about this effect for years regarding other foods. Before they started loading fruit juices with added flavorants (cynically called "natural flavors" not because they're natural but because they synthetically mimic something "natural" rather than something artificial) and artificial colorants.

My doggy, my doggy...oh, you've come back! "Sarjis 12.8"  (Saara/Arkiharha/flickr)

 

Vegan Food Fest, Los Angeles

Flavorless red colors make things taste better. Blindfolded we might not be able to tell a difference or say which drink is what fruit. We use color as a clue, and it works. The flavor of dull tasting juice is brightened just by brightening its color. Such is the illusion we live in and the hypnotic states we fall into every other moment.

If we would meditate, we could emerge and be dehypnotized.

Hungry ghost, psychic ("Bobb")

But we love our illusions, delusions, and dreams. And we would directly-personally-verifiably find that we are (w)holistic beings, not mind (intangible processes)/body (senses) possessing spirits like it seems.

 

Today a study is making headlines saying that an old Stradavarius violin sounds no better than a modern one. In fact, if one believes this study, the modern one sounds better. More musicians prefer it. (But maybe they are voting for the one they think is the Strad which is the one they fear the study would find inferior?)

The Distortions

It's all how we look at the world we are creating each and every without realizing what we're choosing. Art can sensitize and teach us as we clear our mental perception of the distortions/perversions (Wisdom Quarterly). "Hiljattain päivitetty" (Saara/Arkiharha).

Audio Test: Can we tell the difference between expensive and overpriced instruments?

Sexy Easter film reviews: Heaven is real

CC Liu, Irma Quintero, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; SCPR/FilmWeek with Larry Mantle and critics Tim Cogshell, Henry Sheehan, Charles Solomon

Jesus has a pony?

Let's give this pony to Jesus to ride in on.

(SPE) Based on a book by a Christian minister whose 11-y.o. son died (had an NDE), went to a heaven -- perhaps the celestial World of the Four Great Kings (Catumaharajika Deva Loka) or the Thirty-Three (Tavatimsa), and returned to tell about it.

Jesus rides in on an ass, the keychain

The boy (who is based on Colton Burpo) reports that Jesus is white with a tunic and a beard and swears he has a pony, just like his father expects heaven to be. It's an Easter miracle! Or it could be that visions of "heaven" (sagga) during a near-death experience accommodate our views and expectations, as reported by the spirit Seth (Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul) as channeled by Jane Roberts -- whether those expectations are heavenly or hellish.

St. Issa's Jewish Heaven on Earth

Happy Patriots' Day, Mass. Happy Holy Week, Christendom. The New Testament says Jesus rode in on an ass (WARNING: do not click!), butt this is not what the Bible's author(s) had in mind, nor this. 

SCPR reviewers talk about the week's new film releases including Greg Kinnear in "Heaven is for Real," H2O in "Watermark" (about dams, their consequences, and our relationship to water), Johnny Depp as Him or a computer program or virus in "Transcendence," flagging Woody in "Fading Gigolo," Jane Goodall in "Bears," Kristin Wiig, Hailee Steinfeld, Guy Pearce, and Nick Nolte in "Hateship Loveship," money-thriller "13 Sins,"  "Hank and Asha," Japanese animation from "Short Peace," Marlon Wayans in "Haunted House 2," and more. LISTEN

Wanna? - What, hunt for 'shrooms? (CH)

Holy water on Holy Week comes to a head on Easter, which is based on a sacred entheogenic mushroom forage rather than bunny egg hunt. These practices are Pagan throwbacks. Yet that does not stop Catholics, Christians, and some Eastern Orthodox adherents from wanting more coverage. Well, Hollywood is obliging. And that is rarely a good thing for truth, accuracy, or the long run. So first the nice movies then the perverted sexy ones:

 

Watermark

 

Water is precious but treated poorly.

(TD) Beautifully weaving together diverse stories from the USA and Mexico (Colorado river, etc.), Canada, India and Bangladesh (Ganges), China (Yangste and the largest human construction in history), and around the globe, this documentary shows in stunning detail humanity's relationship with water through the ages. It expresses the magnitude of our need for this rapidly vanishing resource. By showing the various roles water plays in all of our lives, this breathtaking and haunting doc paints a vivid portrait of our planet, illustrating the magnificent force of nature that is being depleted before our eyes. Directed by Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky, released in April 2014.

Bears

Disney Ambassador Jane Goodall (BT)

(CM) "Bears" is in theaters today from DisneyNature not for Easter but for Earth Day. In an epic story of breathtaking scale with the help of super heroine Jane Goodall, this new True Life Adventure "Bears," which showcases a year in the life of two mother bears as they impart life lessons to their impressionable newborn cubs. Set against a majestic Alaskan backdrop teeming with life, their journey begins as winter comes to an end and they emerge from hibernation to face the bitter cold. The world outside is exciting -- but risky -- as the tiny cubs' playful descent down the mountain carries with it a looming threat of avalanches.  The brown bear families must work together to find food, while staying safe from predators in the wilderness, including an ever-present wolf pack.

Short Peace

Short Peace (ショート・ピース Shōto Pīsu) is a compilation of four short anime films produced by Sunrise and Shochiku. The films were released in Japanese theaters in July 2013 and will be screened in North America in April 2014. Sentai Filmworks have licensed the films for North America. A video game based on the series, Rinko Tsukigime's Longest Day, released in Japan as Short Peace: Tsukigime Rinko no Ichiban Nagai Hi (ショートピース 月極蘭子のいちばん長い日), was developed by Crispy's Inc. in collaboration with Grasshopper Manufacture's Goichi Suda, and published by Bandai Namco Games for the PlayStation 3.

The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden

Let's live on a tropical island, like in the Tropic of Cancer maybe (zeitgeistfilms)

Sexual intrigue, tropical love, and utopia

Fleeing conventional society, a Berlin doctor and his mistress start a new life on uninhabited Floreana Island. But after the international press sensationalizes the sexual exploits of the Galapagos' "Adam and Eve," others flock there -- including a self-styled Swiss Family Robinson and a gun-toting Viennese Baroness and her two lovers. Clashing personalities are aggravated by the island community's lusty free-love ethos. And when some of the islanders disappear, suspicions of murder hang in the air leaving an unsolved mystery that remains the subject of local lore even today. To bring this extraordinary story to life, newly unearthed home movies of these original back-to-nature drop-outs, testimonies of modern day islanders, stunning HD footage of native flora and fauna, and powerful voice performances are interwoven. Macabre yet inspiring, "The Galapagos Affair" is a gripping parable of adventure and utopian dreams gone awry. This biography/documentary (NR) is directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller. The cast includes Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger, Connie Nielsen, Sebastian Koch, Thomas Kretschmann, Gustaf Skarsgård, and Josh Radnor.

 

Fading Gigolo

Hey, they weren't my biological daughters

(MC) Accused child molested (WQ) Woody Allen made a movie about a threesome, prostitution, and a Don Juan gigolo? No, some John did. He just co-stars. Synopsis: Fioravante decides to become a professional Don Juan as a way of making money to help his cash-strapped friend, Murray. With Murray as "manager," the duo quickly find themselves caught up in the crosscurrents of love and money. (Featuring John Turturro, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Paradis, Liev Schreiber, Sharon Stone, Woody Allen, and not directed by an accused pedophile whom Scarlett Johansson defends as unindicted and Mia Farrow condemns as unconvicted).

Under the Skin

Earth boys are easy, and I'm a bad deva.

REVIEW: Shelly and J.S. talk about crude sex goddess Scarlett Johansson's role in Johnathan Glazer's film, and Scarlett chimes in, too. What is great about this very creepy "alien sex fiend" movie is that a lot of it was filmed with unsuspecting men using hidden cameras. They don't know this is Johansson, and they don't know it's a movie. She picks up hitchhikers and kills them. But they're happy to get in the car because a beautiful female is doing the inviting. One is reminded of a certain yakshini who recently made the news (FTZ).

Nymph()maniac

"Nymphomaniac: Volume II" from Denmark and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg is directed by Lars Van Trier co-starring Shia LaBeouf and Willem Dafoe. It is the continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life as it delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.

Transcendence

 

We love Will power! - Me, too, kids.

Depp as Dr. Will Caster examines the promise and threat of AI (artificial intelligence) as he works to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. His highly controversial experiments make him famous, but they also make him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him. As they attempt to destroy "Will," they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed -- to be a participant in his own transcendence. Should his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, stop him? Can they? Will's thirst for knowledge evolves into a what seems an omnipresent quest for power.

• VIDEO: Real face of Jesus/St. Issa on Shroud of Turin
• Math Heads: DO MATH IN YOUR HEAD! - Math Bites with Danica "Winnie" McKellar (Nerdist)
• Top 5 female characters on TV right now (Wild Man TV)

ZEN: The animated Alan Watts (cartoon)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Alan Watts; Gábor Hényel; Krishnamurti

Buddha FGS Dong Zen Temple CNY Lantern and Flora Festival (Jimmy Chuah/flickr.com)

(GH) "All In One" - animated Alan Watts by the creators and animators of "Southpark"

The Principles of Parents to Children
(Spiritual Buzz)

Let us embark on "a pilgrimage of inquiry from which there is no return."

The mind that has really gone into all this, that has entered upon a pilgrimage of inquiry from which there is no return, that is inquiring not only now, during this hour, but from day to day -- such a mind [heart] will have discovered a state of creation which is all existence. 

 

It starts with preschool then the first grade.

It is what we call truth or "God." For that creation to take place, there must be complete aloneness, an aloneness in which there is no attachment, no companionship, either of words or thoughts or memories. It is a total denial of everything which the mind has invented for its own security.

 

The complete aloneness, in which there is no fear, has its own extraordinary beauty. 

A god with nothing else to do

It is a state of love because it is not the aloneness of reaction; it is a total negation, which is not the opposite of the positive. And I think it is only in that state of creation that the mind is truly "religious."

Such a mind needs no meditation: it is itself the eternal [a Hindu/Christian concept rather than, ultimately, a Buddhist one although the idea has seeped into Mahayana Buddhism and Zen]. Such a mind is no longer seeking -- not that it is satisfied, but it is no longer seeking because there is nothing to seek. It is a total thing, limitless, immeasurable, unnameable. 

 

- Jiddu Krishnamurti (the Chosen One, groomed to be the new World Teacher, as selected by Madame Blavatsky, the great Buddhist Colonel Olcott, C.W. Leadbeater, Annie Besant and other Buddhism-loving Theosophists)

Alan Watts: "Why Not Now" (video)

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Mitch Jeserich (KPFA.org); TragedyandHope (youtube.com) 

"Why Not Now" and "Dhyana: The Art of Meditation" by Alan Watts (redtelephone66.com)

 

Alan Watts in Buddhist robes, California

January, 2014 - There is a new documentary film (two DVD set) on the life and works of British-American Buddhist broadcaster Alan Watts. Each film comes with "The Animated Alan Watts" and "The Essential Alan Watts," a bonus disc of video materials that did not fit into the film.

• LISTEN: PLAY AUDIO NOW (download MP3, 10.28 MB)
• Letters and Politics, Feb. 19, 2014 - KPFA.org 10:00 am
• About the Show / Archives of Show / Playlists from Show

One 23-minute DVD includes extracts from the 1972 series "The Fine Art of Goofing Off" as well as a couple of animations produced by SouthPark creators and animators. The reel has met with joyous laughter and standing ovations at recent film showings and is not to be missed.

"Why Not Now" follows the life of one of the most inspiring philosophers of our time -- Alan Watts -- as told though none other than Alan Watts himself accessing a wealth of material and lectures that were left behind after his passing.

"Why Not Now?" was created by Alan Watts' son, Mark Watts, who has given TragedyandHope exclusive rights to create the trailer for the documentary. More (alanwatts.org)

"Buddha 2" of trilogy at The Louvre (video)

Dhr. Seven (trans.), CC Liu (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly; Louvre; AnimeAnime.jp; Yushi Makari (OtakuMode.com); Kevin Ouellette (Eigapedia); Domenico (Debris2008); Ashley Wells (ed.)

Osamu Tezuka's "Buddha 2" (Owarinaki Tabi)

 

The official website dedicated to the trilogy "Buddha" is bringing out Toei Animation's adaptation of the famous eight-volume comic (manga) by Osamu Tezuka.

 

"Buddha" was created by the Japanese master in the 1970s and dedicated to the life of Prince Siddhartha, who became the Buddha. Toei has finally released the first full length trailer devoted to the second chapter, the completion of which has been postponed until 2014.

 

The second video is a long form manga, about nine minutes, which recaps the first movie and anticipates the next with some pictures of the second published last year.

 

(See full below) （主題歌：浜崎あゆみ）『手塚治虫のブッダ－終わりなき旅－』予告編 (MC)

 

Jess and Sid "Saintly Young Men" manga (Geraldford)

In the first chapter of the trilogy we saw a young prince wonder about the social differences between people, differences that led him to a better position among them. He falls in love with a bandit girl, Migaila, and learns some hard lessons about life, love, and about himself. He is starting to find his own vision of life and disappointment (dukkha, "suffering").

 
In the second part, we see the comeback of Sayuri Yoshinaga, interpreter, and Kanze Kiyokazu (performer at the Noh Theater) in the role of Siddhartha's mother and father, the latter always having been played by Hidetaka Yoshioka. 

 

The returning Nana Mizuki, Kenichi Matsuyama, is a thief seeking revenge. And the comedian Tetsuo Nakanishi plays the role of Brahmā, who appears to Siddhartha in the guise of an old man in a position to offer him a path to enlightenment. (Who better to play the role of a supreme cosmic deity than a comedian?)

 

"Buddha 2" (full-length trailer)

 (Animeanimeno1) BUDDHA 2: 手塚治虫のブッダー終わりなき旅―2014年公開決定 (AA)

 

(otakumode.com)

In both movies we hear the original song by Ayumi Hamasaki from the second film, entitled "Pray." This is the first time in 12 years that this author, who is well known in Japan, returns to do the music for a work of anime.

The film's release is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2014. The world premiere will be launched in Paris. For the event, the French capital will open one of the halls of the Louvre Museum. This is the first time for a preview of this type at the Louvre. There have been lectures and even screenings but never a world premiere. The film's cast and the staff will be present. Commendably, the manga "Buddha" was published in Italy by Hazard. 

 

Italiano 

"Bouddah 2" (Debris2008/flickr.com)

Il sito ufficiale dedicato alla trilogia, che la Toei Animation stà realizzando per adattare in animazione il celebre manga di Osamu Tezuka, Buddha creato dal Maestro giapponese negli anni settanta e dedicato alla vita del principe Siddharta, il Buddha, ha finalmente diffuso un primo lungo trailer dedicato al secondo capitolo Buddha 2: Tezuka Osamu no Buddha ~ Owarinaki Tabi (Osamu Tezuka's Buddha: Awakening) la cui uscita era stata rimandata al 2014.Il secondo video è un lungo filmato, circa 9 minuti, di ricapitolazione/anticipazione riferito al primo film con alcune immagini del secondo pubblicato lo scorso anno. Nel primo capitolo della trilogia abbiamo visto un giovane principe interrogarsi sulle differenze sociali fra gli uomini, differenze che pure lo hanno portato in una posizione di supremazia fra di loro, innamorarsi di una banditessa, Migaila, ed imparare alcune dure lezioni sulla vita, sull'amore e su se stesso iniziando a individuare una propria visione della vita e della sofferenza. 

 

Nella seconda parte torneranno Sayuri Yoshinaga, interprete ed Kanze Kiyokazu (interprete del teatro Noh) nel ruolo della madre e del padre di Siddharta, quest'ultimo sempre interpretato da Hidetaka Yoshioka, la stessa Nana Mizuki, Kenichi Matsuyama, un ladro in cerca di vendetta, ed l'attore comico Tetsuo Nakanishi che interpreterà il ruolo di Brahma, che appare a Siddharta nelle vesti di un vecchio in grado di offrirgli un cammino verso l'illuminazione...( a chi, d'altronde, meglio di un comico il ruolo di una divinità cosmica?) In ambedue i filmati è possibile ascoltare la canzone originale canta per questo secondo film da Ayumi Hamasaki, intitolata "Pray", è la prima volta, dopo dodici anni che questo autrice, molto nota in Giappone, torna impegnarsi su una musica per un'anime. 

 

L'uscita del film è prevista per l'8 febbraio l'anteprima mondiale del film sarà realizzata a Parigi, e la capitale francese per l'occasione aprirà una delle sale del Museo del Louvre, è la prima volta che si tengono anteprime di questo tipo al Louvre, conferenze, proiezioni vi sono già state ospitate ma non si era mai avuta un'anteprima mondiale. Sia il cast che lo staff del film dovrebbero essere presenti al completo. Il manga di Buddha è stato meritoriamente edito in Italia da Hazard.