When Alan Watts takes the stage to speak of Buddhism and Zen, he gently unravels the idea of waking up from our ordinary ways of seeing. In his lecture Understanding Buddhism and Zen, Watts invites us to question everything—even our sense of self, our most cherished beliefs, and our cravings for certainty.
He doesn’t ask us to adopt new dogmas; instead, he suggests the path is about letting go, softening our grip, and discovering the freedom that comes when we stop clinging to fixed forms. Here, the wisdom of Zen meets the heart of yoga practice.
🌙 Awakening as Remembering
Watts reminds us that Buddha means “one who is awake.” Yet most of us, he says, live in a trance—a narrow focus that separates us from the world and, even more subtly, from ourselves. This sleep isn’t just mental; it’s spiritual forgetting, a kind of avidya (ignorance) at the root of suffering.
Yoga too is, at its core, a practice of remembering. Each breath, each movement brings us home to presence. The parallels are striking: both disciplines invite us to look beyond appearances and wake up to the interconnected dance of impermanence and unity.
🍂 Letting Go, Not Clinging
What does it mean to let go? Watts uses the image of a cat falling from a tree—it lands safely if it relaxes, but gets hurt if it tries to grab onto the air. In Zen, as in yoga, faith is not gripping tighter. True faith is surrender, welcoming the flux of life with open hands rather than desperation.
Non-attachment (aparigraha) is not about apathy, but about trust. The harder we try to hold onto rocks for stability, the more we suffer, since everything—including the rocks—is in motion. Can we trust the process enough to fall with grace?
⚡ The Zen Method: Koans and the Problem of Seeking
Zen masters, Watts explains, often begin by declaring they have nothing to teach. The infamous koan is meant to break the logical mind, to push the student into a direct, felt experience beyond words. The practice isn’t about answers, but about dissolving the question itself.
Like yoga, Zen points us toward an embodied wisdom. To practice is to realize, over and over, that the “problem” isn’t something to be solved, but a veil to be seen through. Presence, not perfection, is the point.
⛅ Impermanence and the Courage to Flow
Watts likens life to falling—everything, even the things we cling to, is in free-fall. The courage, then, is not in resisting gravity but in learning how to move with it, to surf the flux, to fall awake.
On the mat and off, yoga and Zen both ask: can you meet what is here, let go of the need to control, and find liberation in the midst of change?
— MJH
Community Discussion
or explore The Shala Daily