Alan Watts had an eloquent way of encapsulating the essence of Zen through simple, everyday experiences. His articulation often helped pave a pathway from the mundane to the profound, uncovering the sacred in the secular, and the eternal in the temporal. Alan’s interpretations are especially illuminating regarding the playful and puzzling world of Zen stories.
Zen stories, as dissected by the professor, aren’t just nonsensical whimsy but profound interactions aimed at propelling one from the ordinary to the extraordinary, from the concrete to the abstract. These dialogues, seemingly light and humorous, carry in them a depth that throws open the doors of perception, gently nudging one towards a higher understanding.
Take for instance a classic Zen dialogue where a monk asks his master about the essence of Buddhism, and gets the reply, “A dried dung scraper.” The jest here isn’t random; it’s a direct plunge from the lofty to the lowly, revealing that the profound is found in the simple, the sacred in the mundane. The professor emphasized that by being ensnared in complex philosophical or religious concepts, we might miss the essence, much like missing the forest for the trees.
When a mundane query is answered with a metaphysical flavor or vice versa, it nudges the seeker to look beyond, question, ponder, and break free from conventional thought patterns. The professor likened religious concepts and doctrines to packaging. They are but wrapping paper to the essential truth, and to get to the truth, one mustn’t be hesitant to tear apart the packaging.
A passage from the Bible complements this Zen outlook, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). The quality of childlike curiosity, wonder, and simplicity is what Zen stories aim to ignite, cutting through the rigidity of adult conceptual thinking.
Let’s ruminate on a quote by Alan Watts, “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.” This quote mirrors the core of Zen stories, which is to find the sacred in the ordinary, and the divine in the mundane.
Exploring the serene yet puzzling landscapes of Zen stories through the lens of Alan Watts aids in unraveling the simple yet profound essence of Zen. And like the professor often echoed, the profound is not to be found somewhere far off or in the complex mazes of thought but right here, in the very fabric of life, in the laughing and the crying, in the mundane and the sacred.