Zen and the Beat Way

As described in Jack Kerouac's Dharma Blues, Zen had a strong appeal to the Beat generation. In this collection of essays--based on a selection of radio talks and lectures given in the late 1950s and early 1960s--philosopher Watts explores the many aspects of Zen and Eastern thought that served as an inspiration for the Beat generation.

Ready for a blast from the past? Readers of a certain age might remember Alan Watts, a former Episcopal priest who fled both his native land of England and his religion for California and Zen Buddhism respectively. For many young Americans growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Watts was their first taste of the counterculture to come; Through him, a generation discovered Eastern spirituality and learned to let down their hair and experience a little joy. Now, six of Watts's unpublished lectures have been collected and adapted in Zen and the Beat Way, a compendium of radio and seminar talks Watts gave between 1959 and 1965. There's something rather dated yet endearing about Watts's pronouncements--everything from his misconceptions about Eastern religions to his bumper-sticker clichés. Still, Zen and the Beat Way is charmingly written and provides older readers with a nostalgic trip down memory lane while giving those born after the '60s a taste of the era's ethos.