What Is Tao? By Alan Watts

Alan Watts draws on his study and practice of Taoism to introduce the idea of the Tao, or Way. This short work considers how people might experience life differently by understanding the way things are rather than continually attempting to impose control.

The discussion emphasizes allowing life to unfold and reconsidering the relationship between effort and interference. Readers seeking a philosophical introduction to Taoism will find Watts’s interpretive voice, rather than a translation of a single classical text or a formal ritual handbook.