Lent: Will Devil tempt us? (Alan Watts)

Impatient? Rush to Minute 2:37 to hear Christian approach and the Devil's opposition to being good

What is the Zen way to liberation? Kindergarten

Imagine beginning the Rains Retreat (Buddhist Lent known as Vas) with the idea of being good. Mara will come right at you like an angel of light (Mara Devaputra, Cupid, Eros, Kamadeva) and undermine your efforts, won't he? That's his modus operandi, as Alan Watts explains. But Taoism, and therefore Zen Buddhism, has a solution: Don't let him know what you're doing. One must act without intention, without premeditation, without the goal or outcome in mind so as to not let him know what we're up to on our path to be good. Otherwise, he'll just come along and ruin our efforts like taking candy from an old person or trying to give veggies to a baby: They'll fight you.

• Alan Watts on doing good without the backlash or how to escape the Devil and bad karma (sin, debt, guilt) (KPFK)

The problem with trying to go good is our store of past bad (sin). What to do?

5 reasons why those who try to be good (chosen ones) struggle with lust

What does Alan Watts know?

By understanding both cultures, he's a bridge.

Not 40 days, but for more than 40 years, Alan Watts has earned a reputation as one of the foremost Western interpreters of Eastern philosophy.

Beginning at age 16, when he wrote essay for the journal of the Buddhist Lodge in London, Watts developed an audience of millions who were enriched by the wisdom of the East through his books, recordings, radio shows, public television programs, and public lectures.

In all, Watts wrote more than 25 books and recorded hundreds of lectures, all building toward a personal philosophy that he shares in complete candor and joy with readers and listeners throughout the world.

Insight can do what the ego cannot do by doing. - Philosophy or sophistry? Does Watts go too far?

Sixties icon? He was at it since before the 1950s.

His overall body of work has presented a model of individuality and self-expression matched by few philosophers, modern or ancient.

KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles continues to air Watts on Sunday mornings (8:00 am) and during Something's Happening midnights on Thursdays overnight to Friday.

The three main sources for Alan Watts are the Pacifica Radio Archives, (800) 735-0230, pacificaradioarchives.org, the Electronic University (415) 460-0825, alanwatts.org, and Wisdom Quarterly.

• Alan Watts, "Buddhist Radio," 3/2/25 (KPFK 90.7 FM)
• Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly