The Way of Zen
Chislehurst · 1957
A
Alan Watts
Alan Watts
1915 CE–1973 CE · Modern · Chislehurst
January 6, 1915 – November 16, 1973
Alan Watts (1915–1973) was a British-born writer and speaker who became one of the most widely heard popular interpreters of Zen and Asian philosophy in the mid-twentieth-century West. After moving to the United States, a brief period as an Episcopal priest, and teaching at the American Academy of Asian Studies, he reached a broad audience through radio talks and books such as The Way of Zen (1957). He is important as an interpreter and populariser, not as an authorized teacher within a Zen lineage—a distinction he himself acknowledged. He died in 1973.
Did you know?
An English-born writer became a leading voice of Zen in the West
Alan Watts was born in Chislehurst, England, in 1915 and never trained as a monk in Asia; earlier in life he had even been ordained an Episcopal priest. His 1957 book 'The Way of Zen,' written when he was about 42, became one of the most widely read English-language introductions to the subject.
How we know
Alan Watts: born Chislehurst, Kent, England, 6 Jan 1915; ordained Episcopal priest 1945 (age 30); 'The Way of Zen' published 1957 (age 42); died 16 Nov 1973. (Wikipedia; Britannica)
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →
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Stop 1 of 111915–1928Birthplace & Childhood Home
Chislehurst
What they did here
Born in Chislehurst, Kent, on 6 January 1915, Watts grew up an only child in a modest middle-class household on the southeastern edge of London, staying there until he left for boarding school around 1928. His early fascination with East Asian art and religion first emerged during these boyhood years.
About Chislehurst
Chislehurst, in the historic county of Kent (now Greater London), England, was the birthplace, in 1915, of Alan Watts, the British-born writer and lecturer who popularised Zen and Asian philosophy for Western audiences through his books and talks.
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Alan Watts’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
In the same tradition
Nyogen Senzaki, Sokei-an (Shigetsu Sasaki), B. R. Ambedkar, Anagarika Govinda, Shunryū Suzuki, Walpola Rahula, Richard Baker, Pema Chödrön, Robert Thurman, Gil Fronsdal
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Alan Watts’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.