biography
| name: |
Watts, Alan (Wilson)
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| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1915–73)
|
| biography:
| Mystic, writer, and lecturer, born in Chislehurst, Greater London, UK. He became fascinated with Asian art and literature during his adolescence. He graduated from King's School (1932) and emigrated to the USA in 1939. He was an Episcopal chaplain (1944–50) but then left the church and became an independent writer. Believing that most churches were limiting, he advocated Asian mysticism as the alternative to ego-based consciousness, and wrote many books, including The Spirit of Zen (1936) and Psychotherapy East and West (1961). Somewhat reluctantly, he was adopted as a ‘guru’ by counter-culture youths during the 1960s. |
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