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RADIO ANNOUNCER: The birds are outside the window, just in time for Alan Watts here on WFMU, 1
East Ores WXHT, Mount Hope. Tonight. Death and its taking us until 7:00 with Joe Frank. Alan Wattss 2
info? You can write to us here at WFMU, PO Box 2011, Jersey City, NJ 07303. Alanwatts.com, thats a-l- 3
a-n-w-a-t-t-s.com. For more information on the late Mr. Watts, check out WFMU.org for our weekly 4
schedule. Right now though, Alan Watts death: 5
ALAN: People have a tremendous investment in survival, in continuity, in going on and on through 6
time. The opposite has been true with at least three major religions of Asia: The Hindu, The Buddhist 7
and The Jain. Where they seem to be against continuity and design their disciplines to give deliverance 8
from constant rebirth into the world of birth and death. We normally interpret that point of view as 9
being a pessimistic attitude against life. Sometimes, it is indeed in a way against life. One discovers in 10
India, in modern times at any rate, a puritanical attitude of asceticism, of ardency, of pleasure, of sex, 11
and all that, in order to become spiritual. I think to a large extent, the attitudes of Modern Indians who 12
are ascetical in this way, are very largely influenced by British education. A very strange thing happened 13
in India in the early nineteenth century, there was a sudden Rob McCully who wrote poetry that all 14
Englishmen learn in school called the Lays of Ancient Rome. He was a great casuist. He was someone 15
like Mortimer Adler, who believed that all wisdom is contained in the great books of the west. He 16
attempted to eradicate Hindu culture completely and replace it with British culture. He was pretty 17
successful in many ways because a great Hindu statesman I used to know told me he had not discovered 18
Hindu culture until he was 45 years old. He was brought up like an Englishman on Zena-fin, Plato, 19
Socrates, Livi(sp?), Ardid and Julius Caesar, Shakespeare, etc., all down the line. It was so funny because 20
he was much older than I but we all knew the same Latin jokes. He looked like an elephant; he had great 21
big ears. He was a wonderful fellow. India was Britisized to an extraordinary degree and it acquired 22
sudden Victorian attitudes which leads us to among many of the Swamis who come to this country. 23
Theyre squeamish. The real meaning of this so-called escape from the land of birth and death. Its not 24
actually an attitude against life. Indeed to the contrary. Its an attitude of the fundamental and true 25
acceptance of life. Now it seems gloomy and wretched to point out that were all going to die. I want 26
you to notice that the theme of the transients, the impermanence of all forms, is a theme to which 27
poets constantly resolve. One of the most popular poems in the world is the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. 28
The whole theme of it is transience, The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon, Turns Ashes -- or it 29
prospers; and anon, Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, Lighting a little Hour or two -- is gone. or 30
the great passage in Shakespeare in The Tempest, Our revels now are ended. These our actors, 31
As I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin, thin air: And, like the baseless fabric 32
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of this vision, the cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself, 33
Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve and, like this insubstantial pageant faded, leave not a rack behind. 34
We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. Said that well, it 35
isnt so bad. But we resist this, Unamuno said, the Spanish Philosopher, The human beings are the only 36
creatures who hoard their dead. Why do we do this? Theres an undertakers adverb that was around 37
some years ago, which shows a middle-aged but handsome lady looking out of the window on a rainy 38
day. It says, What a comfort to know that your husband who has died of {inaudible} or something is not 39
corrupting because hes been put in a concrete vault, in a bronze casket and skillfully embalmed, And 40
there he will be, forever and ever, safe from the bugs. This is terrible! Because I have a theory that 41
dead people should be used as fertilizer; that enormous fields should be prepared and they be put about 42
three feet underground until they rot completely and then a certain period has to wait for maturing and 43
then we plant all those fields, and we return to the earth that which we took from it. That would be 44
really civilized, but instead, we try to make a block on the end. You see? Biology is a mutual eating 45
society. Everything eats everything. Human beings are trying to opt out. We refuse to be eaten because 46
weve conquered the tigers and various predatory animals that might eat us except the little ones. The 47
little bacteria, they feast on us. We say no! We are the end! Man is the head of nature. Man must not be 48
eaten. But in so doing, we do not realize how we deprive ourselves because we are trying to put a stop 49
to the chain of life. So then, we would say, so then (Long pause) we would say, however, that the 50
Hindus and Buddhists are really trying to put a stop to the chain of life because they want to opt out 51
altogether. But this is a misinterpretation of the profoundest reaches of the discipline. What the Hindus 52
and Buddhists are seeking deliverance from is not life, but time. Time is, as I have tried to show you, an 53
artificial concept. This gadget that I wear on my wrist represents each minute by a hairline. This hairline 54
is made to be as thin as possible, as is compatible with visibility. Therefore, it gives us the notion that 55
this moment is nowhere. Therefore, we get the feeling from the watch that time flies and we become 56
anxious, so short. And so, the exclamation of Faust at the end of Goethe's Drama, Saying to the 57
moment, O! Still delay thou art so fair. The horror of the approaching end. In Malos(sp?) version of 58
the same drama, where he sold his soul to the devil and its approaching midnight, Ah, Faust, he says to 59
himself, though hast but one brief hour to live, and then the horrors. He quotes the Latin verse, O 60
lente, lente, curite noctis equi. O, slowly, slowly run, ye horses of the night!" Back up. The person facing 61
deathas you get older as you face death, you notice that time is going faster and faster and faster. 62
When youre a child, time drags, and you just cant wait for it to get ahead so that you can be an adult. 63
To be a child is to have no civil liberties. You cant wait to grow up. Then, when you get to be 50, 60 and 64
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so on, its going faster. You just cant keep track of it but its an illusion. There is no time. And so this is 65
what the Hindu Buddhist wisdom is really saying is that it is not for the abolition of real life, but of 66
abstract life. Of the conceptualized idea of the universe, which bugs us all, that its a terrible thing that 67
forms all come to an endthat theyre transient. Therefore to protect us from this reality, we construct 68
abstract worlds in which our form goes on forever. But the abstract worlds that we construct are all 69
terrible. Like I was showing you, the Christian idea of heaven was a complete bore. And the Buddhists 70
and the Hindus know all about various heavens. They have at least seven of them, but they regard them 71
as illusions. They regard the very gods and angels as still in the state of illusion. Whereas a Buddha, or in 72
the Hindu terminology, a Jivanmukta, someone who is liberated, is in a certain way higher than the gods 73
because delivered from the illusion of the cycle of time. So notice, therefore, that almost all religious 74
beliefs are in fact fantasies to overcome mortalitythe slipping away of lifethe dissolving of 75
ourselves. And therefore, they exhibit fundamentally anxiety. Belief is anxiety. The Anglo Saxon word on 76
the lying belief is lief, l-i-e-f, which means to wish. So we say, wishful thinking. Analyze the various 77
beliefs of what I would call dogmatic religions. Because if you go into it, the reason for belief in God as a 78
compassionate Father, the reason for belief in immortality, the reason for belief in the notion that 79
goodness will triumph and it will all come out alight in the end. All that is what the Buddhists call Trishna 80
or clinging. It isnt really an attitude of faith at all. Its an attitude of a frantic clinging on to what you 81
think you are. Therefore, you might say that the highest religion is the religion of non-religion. We could 82
call it atheism in the name of God. It so happens that this was in the Christian Orthodox tradition. Very 83
few people know about it, but there was a fellow who lived in the 5
th
or 6
th
centuries, who wrote under 84
the name of Dionysius the Areopagite. He was translated into Latin by John Scotus Eriugena, who was a 85
scholar at the Court of Shalamine(sp?). He was deeply studied by St. Thomas Aquinas. In fact, if the 86
writings of the Areopagite had been lost, they could probably be reconstructed from St. Thomass 87
quotations. But, he wrote a book called Theologia Mystica, which is a very strange book. Its about what 88
he calls, negative theology. There are 2 kinds of theology, one is called cataphatic and the other is 89
called apaphatic. The phatic part comes from the Greek word pheme, which is to say. Cata means 90
according to. Apa means away from. When you talk about God apahatically, youre talking about God 91
in terms of things which God might be said to resemble. Youre using a parabolic, analogic, metaphorical 92
language. God the Father, therefore, does not say that God is a literally a cosmic male parent, but in 93
certain respects, is like a father. But apaphatic language tells you what God is not and so you get such 94
words as infinite, at erimo, and so on, illimitable, bodiless, and all these are negative words. And so 95
Dionysius explains that the highest knowledge of God must be by the way of negation. He likens it to a 96
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sculptor making an image. But he makes the image by taking stone away. And so in the same way, one 97
comes to the knowledge of God by going beyond all ideas of God and getting rid of them. This is same 98
exactly as The Doctrine of the Upanishads, where the principle is {inaudible Latin}, we must say 99
{inaudible Latin}--not this idea, not that idea. All ideas, all fixations, and even religious methods must 100
be surpassed because all our intellectual concepts of the divine, all our methods to get the divine are in 101
the last resort, only ways of avoiding it. There is a Tibetan Thangka painting I have at home of a 102
monstrous being called Yamantaka". Yamantaka has 11 heads, 18 arms and 18 feet and an aureole of 103
fire. In the various hands of the various arms, there are bells and daggers and clubs and thunderbolts 104
and all kinds of objects which this being manipulates. The being is always shown tilted at an angle and 105
dancing like fury, upon the bodies of the Gods. All the Gods, including Buddha, are being trampled 106
underfoot by Yamantaka. I think this is a very strange thing and naturally, the Christian missionaries who 107
went over there said, Well, these people are obviously devil worshipers because Yamantakas name 108
face is the head of a bloodthirsty bull with fangs, although when you see all the other heads, right at the 109
top is the head of the {inaudible} of supreme compassion. Chenrezig and Tibetan or you know as Kanon 110
in Japanese. Avalokiteshwara, the Watchful Lord. {Inaudible} and always comes on in a majorly female 111
appearance. So likewise, one of the great Chinese Zen masters, Linji or Rinzai as they say in Japanese, 112
had a passage, in his discourses where he says, Oh you followers of the way, if you meet Buddha, kill 113
the Buddha. If you meet the patriarch, kill the patriarch. If you meet Father or Mother, kill them. Kill 114
everything you meet. Stand above it, pass on and be free. This sounds terrible. Its as if a minister were 115
to get up in church and say, Every time you say Jesus, wash your mouth out. And until they do that, 116
Christianity will remain pretty dead. Its interesting that the Buddha had a disciple by the name of 117
Ananda, who loved the master very much and was his very close personal friend. He was the last of all 118
Buddhas disciples to attain enlightenment. He was too attached to Buddha. So that in a way, being 119
religious gets in the way of religion. Now does that mean on the other handheres a puzzle about 120
Krishna Romaji, who explains this very carefully but his earliest disciples, which he doesnt admit that he 121
has, cant read anything except mystery stories. He says he never reads a religious book. He never reads 122
Labela Negitalo(sp?) or Lanca del Cala Sutra(sp?) or the Dao De Jing, or the Bible. A friend of mine who 123
was sitting next to his on the plane was fascinated as to what he was reading. He was reading a mystery 124
story. Fine. Theres nothing against that. But, if you can only read mystery stories, and if you cant join in 125
any religious observance, you are in some way curiously limited because you have made a religion of the 126
religion of no religion. Hah! What a trap that is! So those Puritans who broke down the idols of the 127
church and like the caleef(sp?) who burned up the Library of Alexandria because he said either it is the 128
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Karan or it is not in the Karan and the Karan is the only things we need so if these books are not the 129
Karan, burn them. Its the same way with the Bible bangers. So they have this iconoclastic attitude 130
against all the wonderful, colorful, exuberant activities and arts that have flown from the great religions. 131
I think thats silly. To me, its a hang-up to be against religion because to be against it is to still not have 132
transcended it, so, however, if we are going to have an attitude which accepts religion but transcends it. 133
Bernard Berenson made the interesting remark that he regarded himself as a graduate of the Roman 134
Catholic Church, in just the same sense as he was a graduate of Harvard University. He was very grateful 135
to the Catholic Church, but he didnt swallow it anymore. He wasnt a member of it any longer. I take the 136
same attitude to the Anglican Church, and for that matter, The Buddhism. So, one gets therefore to the 137
point where beliefs are seen to be obstacles. Belief in survival, in God, Heaven, Hell, all those ideas are 138
dropped because you see that really, they are your own projections, as also is the belief in the 139
mechanical universe. Belief in Atheism. These are equally projections. Some people find the idea that 140
the universe is merely mechanical extremely comforting because, thank God, there is no God watching 141
or judging us. Thats a relief. Its just ticked up stuff. Every way and every form of belief is really an 142
attempt to cling on and it is precisely that which destroys life. It is time which destroys life. Now we have 143
to understand that carefully. There is a difference between time and wisdom. The clock goes tick, tick, 144
tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick so that the human mind cant stand it and so we project upon the clock. Tick 145
tock, tick tock, tick tock. And if you listen to a clock with a loud tick, you find yourself eventually making 146
it play tunes. (Long Pause) 147
RADIO ANNOUNCER: Well be right back in just a moment, part two of tonights Alan Watts lecture. 148
Death, here on WFMU taking us up until 7:00 and Jim Frank at that time. This is WFMU, free form, 149
listen and response radio, 91.1 FM, 90.1 FM on the internet at WFMU.org. (Long Pause) 150
ALAN: Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock. Why, because were getting nearer to the 151
biological rhythm. Biological rhythm is real rhythm. Your heart goes (making sound of heart beat). 152
Everything in biology is (making beating noises). Thats rhythm, it isnt time. Its something quite 153
different. Time shortens the moment to the hairline of the abstract second, see? Time kills rhythm and 154
life because of the abstract motion of the hairline as the now. Now, if we are to measure now, must be 155
made to seem as short as possible. And so time altogether ignores the fact that now is eternal. Et 156
eternal means beyond time. It doesnt mean everlasting. Thats the nature of Hell, is everlastingness, but 157
the nature of Heaven is true eternity, which it is beyond time and therefore, beyond transcending the 158
round of Tsunsgara (sp?) of birth and death. Now dear people, I really would love it if I could in some 159
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way, convey to you the experience of eternity. (Long Pause) Here we are, in this room, and at any rate, 160
now, we dont have anywhere special to go. I mean, you are a little bit trapped here as a captive 161
audience, because you paid to get in and so you may as well make the best of it. But were not really 162
going anywhere at this moment, see? Actually, this assembly sitting around here is the eternal 163
gathering. And as I look at you, I see an array of Gods and Goddesses, beautiful. Wow! Touched by 164
sunlight, were here, this is it. Is that possible to accept, to understand this actual situation that we are 165
in? Is the point of all great of spiritual quests, its not going to be tomorrow! Its not going to be when 166
youve had time to do something and progress towards it and practice. You have to get it now. Now or 167
never -- the east anthem, incidentally. One of the old archaic ones goes, This is the day which the Lord 168
has made. Let us rejoice and be glad. See? This is the day, est dies, and its called in Latin. This is the 169
day. Its a Zen Buddhist saying, Every day is a fine day. If we realize this, you see, we dont give a shit 170
anymore about immortality. It ceases to exist or matter because in the full experience of the eternal 171
now, weve watched under your very eyes. Rather, to be more exact, under your very ears, you heard 172
the future vanish and you heard no past. If you come to your senses, there is only the eternal now. So 173
what? You get rid of an awful lot of encumbering baggage because you see, when youve really accepted 174
this, and its easy to do by accepting mortality. Sure, were all going to die. Sure, were all falling apart 175
but once that has become obvious, you find mysteriously that you have an immense access of new 176
energy because we are constantly wasting energy, I mean, really wearing ourselves out trying to hold 177
ourselves together. To be sure that we are secure and that everything is going to be alright and it isnt; 178
we get more and more worried and so on and so on. Whereas, if we just left that alone, wed have all 179
that energy available for other things and we would blossom like the great saints and spiritual people 180
who have abandoned the world. They dont mean what most people mean by the world, they mean 181
theyve abandoned the ordinary conception of the world. They float around. In Japanese, one calls such 182
people, unsui, which means cloud and water. In other words, they drift like clouds and flow like 183
water. Be unsui, why not? What have you got to lose? Only a concept of who you are. Thats all. {Pause 184
radio show music begins to play} 185
Radio Announcer: And that concludes tonights Alan Watts lecture, Death, here on WFMU. 186