Watts was one of the first popularizers of Zen writing in English. He himself was not a Zen practitioner, although he was in some sense a disciple of the first great interpreter of Zen philosophy writing in English, D. T. Suzuki. He also moved in Zen circles and was for several years married to the daughter of Ruth Fuller Sasaki, the first Western woman, and perhaps the first Westerner to be ordained a Rinzai Zen priest. As such his father-in-law for a time was Sokei-an Sasaki, one of the first Zen missionaries to the West.<\/div>\n
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His Zen was highly eccentric and did not include much about meditation (a small irony since the word zen itself means meditation), which he didn\u2019t seem to enjoy as a practice. What his deeply personal vision of Zen did feature was spontaneity as a profound spiritual good. Actually I think this was a great gift at a time that was marked by the \u201cgrey flannel suit.\u201d But it also caricatured what Zen had to offer.<\/div>\n
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I recall years ago attending a lecture about Zen by a western Zen teacher. At the end during a question and answer period, someone asked, \u201cWhat about Alan Watts.\u201d The teacher sighed and said, \u201cWell, you probably know Alan Watts isn\u2019t thought of very highly in most Zen circles.\u201d He paused before adding, \u201cBut, you know, if there had been no Alan Watts, I probably wouldn\u2019t be sitting here talking to you.\u201d<\/div>\n
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An interesting thinker, no doubt.<\/div>\n
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