The Way of Zen

This book is an inspiring attempt to understand and take in Zen—one of the paths to spiritual liberation.

About the author

Over the last thirty years, Alan Watts has become known as one of the most striking and unusual philosophers of our time. He published more than twelve books on comparative philosophy and religion, and became famous in the United States as a lecturer and teacher. His interests focused on interpreting Eastern thought for the West—particularly such a variety of Buddhism as Zen. His first book, The Spirit of Zen, was written back in the 1920s.

Alan Watts was born in England. In the United States, he moved in 1938. He worked his way through careers as an editor, a priest, and a college professor. He engaged in research and lecturing work at universities in Cambridge, Cornell, and Hawaii, and for a time he served as an advisor on religious matters to Northwestern University. He gave lectures at the American Psychiatric Association and the K.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, as well as in medical courses at American hospitals. Then he became Dean of the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco. Alan Watts passed away in 1973.