In 1957 Alan Watts publishes The Way of Zen, the book that carries Zen Buddhism to the American counterculture. Watts, an English-born Episcopal priest turned interpreter of Asian thought, presents non-dual awareness as a liberation from the Western ego; his lectures and books are a principal bridge between the monist synthesis and the generation of the sixties.
Tagged: Eastern Pantheistic Monism
The Event
- Date
- 1957 (exact)
- Era
- The Countercultural Synthesis; Periodization of the construction and its sources
- Location
- New York; today New York, New York
- Traditions
- Eastern Pantheistic Monism
- Streams
- Eastern Pantheistic Monism
- Key figures
- Alan Watts
- Key texts
- The Way of Zen
Primary Sources
- Watts, Alan. The Way of Zen. New York: Pantheon, 1957.
Secondary Sources
- Clarke, J. J. Oriental Enlightenment: The Encounter Between Asian and Western Thought. London: Routledge, 1997.
- Halbfass, Wilhelm. India and Europe: An Essay in Understanding. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988.
- King, Richard. Orientalism and Religion: Postcolonial Theory, India and 'the Mystic East'. London: Routledge, 1999.
Provenance: HIST-1380; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-30.
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