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Alan Watts

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Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British-born American philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and populariser of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, England, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. Pursuing a career, he attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, where he received a master's degree in theology. Watts became an Episcopal priest in 1945, then left the ministry in 1950 and moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies In San Francisco. In 1953 he began his groundbreaking public radio series, first as The Great Books of Asia and later Way Beyond the West, which began airing in Los Angeles in 1959. The radio series, along with his bestselling book, The Way of Zen, launched him into a career as a talented philosophical interpreter and a prolific public speaker, and in the 1960's he was adopted by the Counterculture movement as a spiritual figurehead. He and his peers, including Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, and Gregory Bateson, helped establish the Esalen Institute, which become the epicenter for the Human Potential Movement in the late sixties and seventies. Watts travelled widely between 1965 and his passing in 1973, and his works include 25 books, 250 lectures and interviews, and over 100 workshops and television appearances. His legacy continues with the Alan Watts Org directed by his son, Mark Watts.
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Featured Article: The Best Zen Audiobooks to Guide You to Enlightenment


Perhaps you’re a meditation master looking for some in-depth topics, or maybe you’re new to your zen practice and seeking guidance. Either way, these ten titles offer a comprehensive selection to begin or continue your spiritual practice. Our selection includes poems, short stories, letters, and full-length texts all brought to life in audio. They cover various schools of philosophy and religion from traditionalists to modern practitioners.

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    • On Hiding, Seeking, and Being Found
    • By: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
    • Release date: 01-15-10
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 3,759 ratings

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    • An Odyssey into the Cosmic Web of Connection, Play, and True Pleasure
    • By: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
    • Release date: 01-01-17
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 1,375 ratings

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    • Alan Watts on the Art of Meditation
    • By: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
    • Release date: 01-07-20
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 354 ratings

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    • By: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins
    • Release date: 12-17-14
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 210 ratings

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    • On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
    • By: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: John Lee
    • Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
    • Release date: 03-21-23
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 64 ratings

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    • An Introduction to Meditation
    • By: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
    • Release date: 07-14-15
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 383 ratings

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    • The Quest for Freedom of the Spirit in Modern Psychology and the Wisdom of the East
    • By: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Kern Schmidt
    • Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
    • Release date: 10-23-18
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 165 ratings

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    • Uncovering Our Hidden Connections to the Universe
    • By: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 26 mins
    • Release date: 03-13-12
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 250 ratings

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    • An Introduction to Meditation
    • By: Alan Watts
    • Narrated by: Alan Watts
    • Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
    • Release date: 04-04-00
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 78 ratings

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