Childhood
Born to a Christian household and after being exposed to the ideas of Buddhism, Alan Watts had to make a decision to follow one or the other; Buddhism was his choice. He went on to get his master's in theology and later he began to practice several schools of thought including: Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Pantheism, Christianity, Religious Naturalism, and Taoism.
The Way of Zen
One of his most notable works, "The Way of Zen", offered one of the best Western interpretations of Zen Buddhism. "For Zen there is no duality, no conflict between the natural element of chance and the human element of control. The constructive powers of the human mind are no more artificial than the formative actions of plants or bees, so that from the standpoint of Zen it is no contradiction to say that artistic technique is discipline in spontaneity and spontaneity in discipline."
Koans
One concept he discusses in his book is a koan. Koans are riddles used to demonstrate the limitations of rational thought. Consider this koan: "What is your original face before you were born?" Spoiler: there is no rational answer to this question, so the only possible response to a koan is another koan. In other words, spontaneity.
The Way of Zen
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The Wisdom of Insecurity
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The Book
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