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Still the Mind: An Introduction to Meditation
Mark Watts compiled this book from his father’s extensive journals and audiotapes of famous lectures he delivered across the country. In three parts, Alan Watts -- the author of The Way of Zen and The Joyous Cosmology -- explains the basic philosophy of meditation, how individuals can practice a variety of meditations, and how inner wisdom grows naturally.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Alan W. Watts
253 books7,358 followersAlan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer and speaker, who held both a Master's in Theology and a Doctorate of Divinity. Famous for his research on comparative religion, he was best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Asian philosophies for a Western audience. He wrote over 25 books and numerous articles on subjects such as personal identity, the true nature of reality, higher consciousness, the meaning of life, concepts and images of God and the non-material pursuit of happiness. In his books he relates his experience to scientific knowledge and to the teachings of Eastern and Western religion and philosophy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 183 reviews
June 23, 2017
"You must understand that in meditation, we are concerned only with what is, with reality, nothing else. The past is a memory. The future, an expectation. Neither past nor future actually exist. There is simply eternal now. So don't seek or expect a result from what you are doing. That wouldn't be true meditation. There is no hurry. Just now you're not going anywhere. Simply be here. Live in the world of sound. Let it play. That's all."
Oddly enough, I can distinctly hear the rustling of trees outside as I'm writing this. This vividness of sensation—this old familiar feeling when a moment suddenly seems to linger there, lasting longer than a moment, the stillness of it. That moment of heightened sensibility, when the senses are sharpened and everything, just about everything, seems remarkably clear.
I guess it's pointless if you listen or read this book without observing a change in your state of consciousness—a vividness, a lucidity that must ensue and cannot escape you.
Another strange thing, I kind of stumbled upon this book right after finishing The Time Machine by H. G. Wells!
The goosebumps are totally worth it in this lighthearted talk on the premises of meditation. Recommended.
Oddly enough, I can distinctly hear the rustling of trees outside as I'm writing this. This vividness of sensation—this old familiar feeling when a moment suddenly seems to linger there, lasting longer than a moment, the stillness of it. That moment of heightened sensibility, when the senses are sharpened and everything, just about everything, seems remarkably clear.
I guess it's pointless if you listen or read this book without observing a change in your state of consciousness—a vividness, a lucidity that must ensue and cannot escape you.
Another strange thing, I kind of stumbled upon this book right after finishing The Time Machine by H. G. Wells!
The goosebumps are totally worth it in this lighthearted talk on the premises of meditation. Recommended.
August 3, 2015
Very enjoyable and lighthearted and insightful/deep at the same time. Alan Watts sounds like he was a great guy. I wanted to quote a lot of this book, but it seriously would have been like every line in the book. I think my lilbro would like this.
July 21, 2020
Pleasant.
February 20, 2015
I love Alan Watts. This book is more of an edited collection of bits of lectures and writing compiled not by Alan. As such it's not as focused and doesn't have the thorough digestion of topic that his other true books possess which explains my average rating. I would suggest, for a Watts newcomer, to start with Wisdom of Insecurity or The Book on the Taboo of Knowing Who You Are.
September 22, 2011
Excellent read. Alan Watts has incredible talent presenting his ideas with great lucidity. I am a big fan. Enjoy how he can take difficult concepts, especially for the western mind, and make them seem if not obvious at least intelligible.
September 28, 2007
This book was the first Alan Watts book I read. Its more like a daily reminder book. Its bits and pieces of his lectures put into a book. Its good to carry around with you if you are having a confusing day. Something to go to and just get lost in.
Its not really a HOW TO book per say, but it is A HOW TO HOW TO Book.
Thats the best way I can describe it.
Read other books by him first.
Once again,
Positive Reading.
Its not really a HOW TO book per say, but it is A HOW TO HOW TO Book.
Thats the best way I can describe it.
Read other books by him first.
Once again,
Positive Reading.
January 29, 2013
A lovely and amusing lecture by Mr. Watts, but I don't know why this is titled as an introduction to meditation. I doubt a beginner would find much useful here, but it's an enjoyable deconstruction of self and effort.
April 30, 2019
This has been one of the few audiobooks where I get to the end and I really have no clue what the book is about. I remember there being some interesting comments, but they were fairly disconnected from other comments.
February 18, 2010
A wonderful introduction to the philosophy of Alan Watts, which seamlessly brings Eastern ideas to a Western audience.
"Alan Watts is able to use words to take us beyond them."
"Alan Watts is able to use words to take us beyond them."
June 22, 2014
An enjoyable perspective on Zen, existence, wholeness, the illusion of separateness, mindfulness, and enjoyment. Oh he good.
March 18, 2018
Unpretentious and illuminating.
November 6, 2023
What a wonderful this little audiobook was. An experience.
I love listening to the lectures of Alan Watts, always have, he was an absolute treasure, still is.
He is the best lecturer ever: insightful, clear, silly (with his giggles), a great storyteller.
Life is just a piece of a dead universe doing its own thing for a while. Observing itself.
It should be treated like music. Meditation should be treated like it. No start, no end, no progress, no effort, just... presence.
Don't be afraid.
Don't force anything.
Just be.
I love listening to the lectures of Alan Watts, always have, he was an absolute treasure, still is.
He is the best lecturer ever: insightful, clear, silly (with his giggles), a great storyteller.
Life is just a piece of a dead universe doing its own thing for a while. Observing itself.
It should be treated like music. Meditation should be treated like it. No start, no end, no progress, no effort, just... presence.
Don't be afraid.
Don't force anything.
Just be.
July 7, 2016
There are some things on which I agree with Watts and others on which I don't. But perhaps the biggest question I have is, since what Watts is advocating seems to be a kind of radical non-interference, does it make any difference to anything? Is it meant to? One might even be forgiven for thinking you could summarise Watts's entire oeuvre as, "Keep calm and carry on. Or don't. It's up to you, really. And, by you, I mean, the universe."
But we are in the realm of paradox here. As the title suggests, the intended effect is to produce stillness. "Don't worry about worrying", or "Don't feel guilty for feeling guilty" - that kind of thing. I get a sense that maybe, if one could stop the meta-worrying, the core worrying might, of itself, ease, since it no longer has the self-perpetuating aspect. And this is a paradox because to produce such an effect, we must cease to care whether we produce such an effect.
And, as I intimated, this might all be a lot of nothing. But Watts has very positive views of nothing; he speaks of it quite warmly.
And he speaks well, generally. I've come to the conclusion that Watts is a very good speaker. It was only after re-reading this book that I realised that it was transcribed from him speaking. I listened to a talk that part of the book is taken from on YouTube recently, and saw that that section of the book has been transcribed almost word for word, and yet it comes out as very polished, rhythmic, felicitous prose, pithy and aphoristic. I wonder if he ad-libbed?
Watts describes himself as a spiritual entertainer. If nothing else, he is certainly that. I find myself returning to his work, and I don't think I would do so if his brand of nothing were merely nothing, or if it were boring.
But we are in the realm of paradox here. As the title suggests, the intended effect is to produce stillness. "Don't worry about worrying", or "Don't feel guilty for feeling guilty" - that kind of thing. I get a sense that maybe, if one could stop the meta-worrying, the core worrying might, of itself, ease, since it no longer has the self-perpetuating aspect. And this is a paradox because to produce such an effect, we must cease to care whether we produce such an effect.
And, as I intimated, this might all be a lot of nothing. But Watts has very positive views of nothing; he speaks of it quite warmly.
And he speaks well, generally. I've come to the conclusion that Watts is a very good speaker. It was only after re-reading this book that I realised that it was transcribed from him speaking. I listened to a talk that part of the book is taken from on YouTube recently, and saw that that section of the book has been transcribed almost word for word, and yet it comes out as very polished, rhythmic, felicitous prose, pithy and aphoristic. I wonder if he ad-libbed?
Watts describes himself as a spiritual entertainer. If nothing else, he is certainly that. I find myself returning to his work, and I don't think I would do so if his brand of nothing were merely nothing, or if it were boring.
March 27, 2021
analysing the modern fear of nothingness through the frame work of meditation. Watts in his quintessential new-age lyricism opens with a gentle affront on organised religion and proceeds to illustrate his re-framing of adopted social norms while maintaining an awareness of the impossibility of a complete severance from our social and natural environments.
When regarding nature in our process to obtaining a level of Darmah, Watts speaks of how we have become frugal in our displays of exuberance which is contra to our natural surroundings -
"We are always scrimping and saving because our economic models are based on scarcity rather than exuberance. But notice that the economics of nature are allegedly wasteful by out standards and they are based on exuberance. Many more seeds than are nesessary for trees and there are galaxies galore. Nature is a fast celebration of energy."
This is then followed by a meditation process that can be employed and revisited after completing the book.
Though brief it is insightful and well worth a read.
Perhaps one of my favourite sections is from the chapter 'Higher Orders of Being' where Watts asks us to regard the emotional intelligence of a potato in his classic tongue-in-cheek, take life with a pinch of salt quality that lands at a satisfyingly profound conclusion.
When regarding nature in our process to obtaining a level of Darmah, Watts speaks of how we have become frugal in our displays of exuberance which is contra to our natural surroundings -
"We are always scrimping and saving because our economic models are based on scarcity rather than exuberance. But notice that the economics of nature are allegedly wasteful by out standards and they are based on exuberance. Many more seeds than are nesessary for trees and there are galaxies galore. Nature is a fast celebration of energy."
This is then followed by a meditation process that can be employed and revisited after completing the book.
Though brief it is insightful and well worth a read.
Perhaps one of my favourite sections is from the chapter 'Higher Orders of Being' where Watts asks us to regard the emotional intelligence of a potato in his classic tongue-in-cheek, take life with a pinch of salt quality that lands at a satisfyingly profound conclusion.
September 7, 2016
Oh boy...checked this out on recommendation from a friend. So weird. Now...I did the audio version...and, honestly, it sounded like something that escaped from Guyana from the Jim Jones days. While, I'm totally down with meditation...maybe this was a bit too remedial, and woo-woo for me?
January 23, 2021
This was my second attempt to appreciate Watts. This one was like listening to a beatnik professor ramble on in front of a class of college freshman. Not a lot of rubber hitting the road here, which is fine if that is your thing.
March 3, 2013
Easy and simple in words and quite enlightening, without going too much into terminology. Many one-liners that sum up Zen concepts succinctly.
March 4, 2015
I thought this book was total gibberish. The author was able to speak for a surprisingly long time and say absolutely nothing.
April 24, 2017
This isn't Watts at his best. Rambling, new age junk.
June 5, 2019
A great audiobook experience, and great insights about meditation.
October 3, 2020
I intend to listen to this again.
January 27, 2020
I liked his introduction to breathing. Just notice, don't modify.
June 26, 2024
Short read/listen, but more important than most pieces of literature about peace, reality, and one's existence.
June 20, 2024
Alan Watts is a philosopher who I keep coming back to more than any other. I’m not sure how my 12 year old self discovered him on YouTube but I’m glad I did.
If Watts were alive today, he would have the best podcast out there.
This is an audio book on Spotify that’s an 1 20minutes long and I don’t think there’s a better way to spend an hour of your time
If Watts were alive today, he would have the best podcast out there.
This is an audio book on Spotify that’s an 1 20minutes long and I don’t think there’s a better way to spend an hour of your time
January 13, 2021
To think this man was born in 1915. To think Zen Buddhism began in the year 500. read watts if you want to give up reality while keeping your feet planted firmly on the ground. I feel more lost and more present than ever
June 5, 2024
Great to listen to.
January 12, 2021
كتاب تعلمت منه القليل .. الفلسفة زايدة ومالها معنى ..
March 13, 2024
I love this man like no body can he moves mountains and he pounds them to ground again
February 16, 2023
I became intrigued by Alan Watts after hearing him mentioned in the sci-fi movie
Her,
where he plays a critical role. I listened to this book as an audiobook and I'm certain that made it a different experience for me. In any case, I loved the book. As someone who has briefly practiced meditation and has an affinity for Existentialism and Buddhism, this book was made for someone like me.
That said. It was very provocative and had a lot of food for thought, but the audiobook was a bit scattered and random. It seemed to be 3-4 lectures that were recorded of Alan Watts speaking to an audience, ending with a directly recorded exposition to the reader/listener. I'm not sure if the book was the same. In any case, I would have preferred more structure and a central narrative even though I really liked it.
That said. It was very provocative and had a lot of food for thought, but the audiobook was a bit scattered and random. It seemed to be 3-4 lectures that were recorded of Alan Watts speaking to an audience, ending with a directly recorded exposition to the reader/listener. I'm not sure if the book was the same. In any case, I would have preferred more structure and a central narrative even though I really liked it.
December 18, 2023
Light-hearted and quick read. It had some great nuggets I'd like to remember:
1. When you confer spiritual authority on another person, you must realize that you are allowing them to pick your pocket and sell you your own watch
2. "In the words of a zen poem,
the wild geese do not intend to cast their reflection. The water has no mind to retain their image
When a mountain stream flows out of a spring beside the road, and a thirsty traveler comes along and drinks deeply, the traveler is welcome. But the mountain stream is not waiting with the intention of refreshing thirsty travelers; it is just bubbling forth, and the travelers are always welcome to help themselves."
3. You are no less than the universe, and each one of you is the universe expressed in the particular place at you feel is here and now. You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at itself and exploring itself when you feel that you are a lonely, put upon, isolated little stranger confronting all this, you are under the influence of an illusory feeling, because the truth is quite the reverse. You are the whole works, all that there is, and always was, and always has been, and always will be.
4. We think that below us are the other mammals perhaps demons, insects, bacteria, plants, rocks down down to. We know not what depths so we can gradually ourselves and say how great it is to be human and not to be a cat, not to be a rose, and not to be a fish and we think how much better it will be when we can get to be angels. We, human beings are very conceited and we think we can get up there and be God's or Buddhas. But how do you know that you are a higher order of being than a potato? What do you really know about potatoes? Anyway? You probably have never studied potatoes beyond knowing how to cook and eat them. That's probably about it. But have you ever thought about how a potato feels? Well, you say it doesn't feel it's only a potato. It has nothing to feel with. But wait a minute. When you put a lie detector on a potato- some kind of skin response machine- it certainly registers and it's reading's change when you do certain things. If you prick a potato or shout at it, it will flinch. As a matter of fact, if you learn how to put on your alpha waves and you sit beside a plant, you will find that it will pick up those alpha waves. So maybe plants are not so stupid after all. Well we might say how can it be? It has no civilization. It has no house. It has no automobiles. It has no pianos, no art galleries and no religion. But the potato might say I don't need them. It's you pour un civilized human beings who have to have all this crap around you to tell you who you are and what it's all about. You are messy and inefficient and you are cluttering up the planet with your culture. But I the potato have it all built into me. Well we might say that's impossible because you are stuck in one place all the time. how can you know anything about the world? But the potato doesn't need to go running around because it's sensitivity extends all over the place. And so it might say I want to introduce you to a few things. This is my neighbor over there. The thistle. Have you ever seen how my thistle neighbor gets around? It has tiny seeds with down sticking out all over them, and when the wind comes the seeds float off into the air. And my neighbor. The maple tree has little helicopters that sense off and they spin in the air and fly away. And then I have a friend the apple tree and it has fruit. That is so delicious that the birds like it. They eat the apple and swallow the seeds and then they fly away and when they drop the seat it is sewn. These are incredible devices. Others have burrs that stick in the hides of deer and they carry these seeds around. This is one of the ways we get around and we spread our people so that we aren't all crowded together and don't strangle ourselves. The potato would go on to explain, but this is only the beginning of the extraordinary things that we do. We have vibrations going on inside our fibers that are quite as good as anything invented by your Bach and Mozart. We enjoy this and although you may think we are not doing anything because we just sit here all the time, we are vibrating, and we are in ecstasy. We are coming to the great hum that is going on everywhere. Your plants may be in such an advanced state of consciousness that unbeknown to you. Angels are growing in a flower pot at your door. Unbeknownst to you. They may have a great deal to do with the way you think.
5. If you ask, what did you do yesterday? The average person will consult memory and give you a very attenuated strung out chronicle of events. Having reduced yesterday's experience to a thin line of words. What you did yesterday becomes what you noticed yesterday and what you noticed. Yesterday was a very tiny part of what happened. It was only as much as you could record in some memory code in words or in brief impressions. If you identify yourself with that skinny little stream of life, it is no wonder that you feel unsatisfied because you ate the fishbones instead of the fish. And since we think that is what is happening all the time and that life is only this skinny little thing, we feel hungry for experience for thrills and for ecstasy. We say there must be more coming and we need more and more future because the past is gone and it was a scraggly past. Anyway. We have no present because life looks like an hourglass: it has a big future and a big past but only a tiny little net of a present that everything is squeezed through. In Buddhist symbology. The idea behind the hourglass is represented as a kind of being called a preta. Apreta is thought of as a hungry spirit and these creatures are represented as having enormous bellies but mouths and throats only about the diameter of a needle so they can never get enough. That tiny mouth and immense belly represents the neck of the hourglass and the feeling of having no present. In fact, our present is enormously rich, and you will realize this if you understand that there is no time except present time. There is only now; they're never was any time but now, and they're never will be any time, but now. It is all now. There is no hurry to gobble life down, and if you do, you won't be able to digest it. We can go on much longer than we supposed without eating, so it's all right to just sit and be in the present.
6. Once upon a time in China, there was a farming family, and they were having dinner. The oldest son came in late and they asked him why are you late for dinner? Oh, he said I've been helping the wheat to grow. They came out the next morning and all the week was dead. It turned out that the sun had pulled each stock up a little bit to help it grow. The point is that growth always occurs in a being as it does in a plant and it is perfect at every step. No progress is involved in the transformation of an acorn into an oak because the acorn is a perfect acorn and the sapling is a perfect sapling and the big oak tree is a perfect oak which again produces perfect acorns. At every stage, perfection is there and it cannot be otherwise.
1. When you confer spiritual authority on another person, you must realize that you are allowing them to pick your pocket and sell you your own watch
2. "In the words of a zen poem,
the wild geese do not intend to cast their reflection. The water has no mind to retain their image
When a mountain stream flows out of a spring beside the road, and a thirsty traveler comes along and drinks deeply, the traveler is welcome. But the mountain stream is not waiting with the intention of refreshing thirsty travelers; it is just bubbling forth, and the travelers are always welcome to help themselves."
3. You are no less than the universe, and each one of you is the universe expressed in the particular place at you feel is here and now. You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at itself and exploring itself when you feel that you are a lonely, put upon, isolated little stranger confronting all this, you are under the influence of an illusory feeling, because the truth is quite the reverse. You are the whole works, all that there is, and always was, and always has been, and always will be.
4. We think that below us are the other mammals perhaps demons, insects, bacteria, plants, rocks down down to. We know not what depths so we can gradually ourselves and say how great it is to be human and not to be a cat, not to be a rose, and not to be a fish and we think how much better it will be when we can get to be angels. We, human beings are very conceited and we think we can get up there and be God's or Buddhas. But how do you know that you are a higher order of being than a potato? What do you really know about potatoes? Anyway? You probably have never studied potatoes beyond knowing how to cook and eat them. That's probably about it. But have you ever thought about how a potato feels? Well, you say it doesn't feel it's only a potato. It has nothing to feel with. But wait a minute. When you put a lie detector on a potato- some kind of skin response machine- it certainly registers and it's reading's change when you do certain things. If you prick a potato or shout at it, it will flinch. As a matter of fact, if you learn how to put on your alpha waves and you sit beside a plant, you will find that it will pick up those alpha waves. So maybe plants are not so stupid after all. Well we might say how can it be? It has no civilization. It has no house. It has no automobiles. It has no pianos, no art galleries and no religion. But the potato might say I don't need them. It's you pour un civilized human beings who have to have all this crap around you to tell you who you are and what it's all about. You are messy and inefficient and you are cluttering up the planet with your culture. But I the potato have it all built into me. Well we might say that's impossible because you are stuck in one place all the time. how can you know anything about the world? But the potato doesn't need to go running around because it's sensitivity extends all over the place. And so it might say I want to introduce you to a few things. This is my neighbor over there. The thistle. Have you ever seen how my thistle neighbor gets around? It has tiny seeds with down sticking out all over them, and when the wind comes the seeds float off into the air. And my neighbor. The maple tree has little helicopters that sense off and they spin in the air and fly away. And then I have a friend the apple tree and it has fruit. That is so delicious that the birds like it. They eat the apple and swallow the seeds and then they fly away and when they drop the seat it is sewn. These are incredible devices. Others have burrs that stick in the hides of deer and they carry these seeds around. This is one of the ways we get around and we spread our people so that we aren't all crowded together and don't strangle ourselves. The potato would go on to explain, but this is only the beginning of the extraordinary things that we do. We have vibrations going on inside our fibers that are quite as good as anything invented by your Bach and Mozart. We enjoy this and although you may think we are not doing anything because we just sit here all the time, we are vibrating, and we are in ecstasy. We are coming to the great hum that is going on everywhere. Your plants may be in such an advanced state of consciousness that unbeknown to you. Angels are growing in a flower pot at your door. Unbeknownst to you. They may have a great deal to do with the way you think.
5. If you ask, what did you do yesterday? The average person will consult memory and give you a very attenuated strung out chronicle of events. Having reduced yesterday's experience to a thin line of words. What you did yesterday becomes what you noticed yesterday and what you noticed. Yesterday was a very tiny part of what happened. It was only as much as you could record in some memory code in words or in brief impressions. If you identify yourself with that skinny little stream of life, it is no wonder that you feel unsatisfied because you ate the fishbones instead of the fish. And since we think that is what is happening all the time and that life is only this skinny little thing, we feel hungry for experience for thrills and for ecstasy. We say there must be more coming and we need more and more future because the past is gone and it was a scraggly past. Anyway. We have no present because life looks like an hourglass: it has a big future and a big past but only a tiny little net of a present that everything is squeezed through. In Buddhist symbology. The idea behind the hourglass is represented as a kind of being called a preta. Apreta is thought of as a hungry spirit and these creatures are represented as having enormous bellies but mouths and throats only about the diameter of a needle so they can never get enough. That tiny mouth and immense belly represents the neck of the hourglass and the feeling of having no present. In fact, our present is enormously rich, and you will realize this if you understand that there is no time except present time. There is only now; they're never was any time but now, and they're never will be any time, but now. It is all now. There is no hurry to gobble life down, and if you do, you won't be able to digest it. We can go on much longer than we supposed without eating, so it's all right to just sit and be in the present.
6. Once upon a time in China, there was a farming family, and they were having dinner. The oldest son came in late and they asked him why are you late for dinner? Oh, he said I've been helping the wheat to grow. They came out the next morning and all the week was dead. It turned out that the sun had pulled each stock up a little bit to help it grow. The point is that growth always occurs in a being as it does in a plant and it is perfect at every step. No progress is involved in the transformation of an acorn into an oak because the acorn is a perfect acorn and the sapling is a perfect sapling and the big oak tree is a perfect oak which again produces perfect acorns. At every stage, perfection is there and it cannot be otherwise.
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