Alan Watts

Alan Watts was thrice married. In 1936, he met Eleanor Everett at the Buddhist Lodge and got married in April 1938. Their eldest daughter Joan was born in November 1938 and the younger daughter Anne in 1942.

Towards the end of 1940s, Watts became entangled with an extramarital affair with Jean Burden; as a result Eleanor had their marriage annulled. Although he never married Jean, she remained in his thought till the end. He also kept in touch with his mother-in-law Ruth Fuller Everett.

In 1950, Watts married Dorothy DeWitt. They had five children; Tia, Mark, Richard, Lila, and Diane. The marriage ended when in early 1960s Watts met Mary Jane Yates King while on a lecture tour to New York. The divorce was granted in 1964 and Watts and King got married in the same year.

Alan Wilson Watts was born on 6 January 1915 in Chislehurst village in Kent, now south-east London. His father, Laurence Wilson Watts, was an employee of Michelin Tyre Company while his mother, Emily Mary Watts (née Buchan), was a homemaker.

As the only child of his parents, Alan grew up playing alone by the brook, learning to identify wildflowers and butterflies. Another factor that had an immense influence on his upbringing was his mother’s family, which was religiously inclined.

Even at an early age, he had a special attraction for China and Japan. Romantic tales from Far East interested him a lot. Once some missionaries returning from China, presented a few Far Eastern paintings and embroideries to his mother. Although very young he was highly intrigued with them.

Alan Watts began his education at the kindergarten school of Saint Nicolas and then went to King's School in Canterbury. Apart from academics, the school also provided religious training under Muscular Christianity; but Alan found them rather grim. However, he excelled academically throughout the school years.

While he was still a school student, he went on a trip to France with Francis Croshaw, a wealthy Epicurean who first aroused his interest in Buddhism. He then began to read about the religion and subsequently became a member of London Buddhist Lodge, now known as Buddhist Society.

In 1931, at the age of sixteen, Watts was made the Secretary of the Buddhist Lodge. Sometime during this period, he also came in contact with spiritual authors like, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Nicholas Roerich and Alice Bailey and imbibed a lot from them.

In 1932, at the age of seventeen, he published his first book, ‘An Outline of Zen Buddhism’. It was actually a 32 page pamphlet, but was highly appreciated by the scholars and is still in print. By and by, he became the editor of ‘Buddhism in England’.

In 1936, he attended the World Congress of Faiths at the University of London, where he met Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki, esteemed scholar of Zen Buddhism. He had already read his works; the meeting fascinated him to a great extent.

Also in 1936, he published his second book; ‘The Spirit of Zen: A Way of Life, Work and Art in the Far East’. It was followed by ‘The Legacy of Asia and Western Man’ (1937).

In 1938, he left England for the United States of America with his family. Initially they settled in New York, where he began his formal training in Zen Buddhism. Unfortunately, he could not adapt to his teacher’s method and so he left without being ordained as a Zen monk.

Alan Watts was a prolific writer and had written more than 25 books. Among them, ‘Way to Zen’ is the most significant. Published in 1957, the book focuses on philosophical explanation as well as history of Zen Buddhism as practiced in China and India. It quickly became a bestseller and made him more popular.

His some other significant works are ‘The Spirit of Zen’ (1936), ‘The Legacy of Asia and Western Man’ (1937), ‘The Meaning of Happiness’ (1940), ‘Psychotherapy East and West’ (1961) and ‘The Joyous Cosmology – Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness’ (1962).

The Meaning of Happiness (1940)