Alan Watts: A Biography
Early Life (1915–1930s)
Alan Wilson Watts was born on January 6, 1915, in Chislehurst, England, to a middle-class family. His father, Laurence, was a missionary and businessman; his mother, Emily, a homemaker. Watts showed early fascination with Eastern philosophy after encountering Buddhist texts at 13. By 16, he studied Zen under Japanese priest Sokei-an Sasaki in London, blending Western rationalism with Eastern mysticism. He dropped out of school, worked odd jobs, and trained as an Anglican priest, influenced by Christian mysticism and Taoism.
Young Adulthood and Move to America (1930s–1940s)
In 1938, at 23, Watts sailed to New York, drawn to Zen communities. He married Eleanor Garret in 1938; they had five children. Ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1944, he served at Northwestern University and later Millbrook, New York. Disillusioned with institutional religion, he resigned in 1950, divorcing in 1949. He remarried Ruth Fuller Everett, a Zen scholar's daughter, and immersed in Kyoto's Daitoku-ji monastery in 1951, deepening his Zen practice. Writing The Wisdom of Insecurity (1951) critiqued Western anxiety and praised Eastern detachment, marking his shift to public intellectual.
Rise as Philosopher and Counterculture Icon (1950s–1960s)
Settling in California, Watts joined the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco (1951–1957), teaching alongside scholars like Joseph Campbell. His radio talks on KPFA (1953 onward) popularized Zen, Taoism, and Hinduism for Westerners. Books like The Way of Zen (1957), a seminal introduction to Buddhism, and Nature, Man and Woman (1958) blended philosophy, psychology, and ecology. Divorcing again in 1957, he married Mary Jane Yates in 1963. By the 1960s, he lectured at Esalen Institute, influencing the Beat Generation, hippies, and LSD advocates like Timothy Leary. Watts experimented with psychedelics, viewing them as tools for ego-dissolution, as in The Joyous Cosmology (1962). He emphasized non-dualism—seeing self and universe as one—challenging materialism in works like The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966).
Later Years and Legacy (1970s–Death)
Watts toured extensively, recording over 300 talks on philosophy, ecology, and playfulness. He critiqued over-seriousness, advocating "the religion of no religion." Health declined from heavy smoking and alcohol; he died of heart failure on November 16, 1973, at 58, in Mount Tamalpais, California. Survived by seven children from three marriages, his ashes were scattered at the Pacific.
Watts authored 25+ books, translated ancient texts, and shaped New Age thought, bridging East-West divides. Biographers like David Stuart (Watts, 2008) portray him as a charismatic "lone-wolf thinker" and "social rascal," beloved for demystifying enlightenment yet criticized for Westernizing Eastern ideas. His influence endures in mindfulness, psychedelics, and modern spirituality—from Steve Jobs to neuroscientists.