Buddhism And The Poetry Of Jac Essay -- essays research papers

Buddhism and the Poetry of Jack Kerouac For we all go back where we came from, God’s Lit Brain, his Transcendent Eye of Wisdom And there’s your bloody circle called Samsara by the ignorant Buddhists, who will still be funny Masters up there, bless em. Jack Kerouac -from Heaven   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jack Kerouac spent his creative years writing in a prosperous post world war II America. He was in many ways a very patriotic person who had no problem making known his love for his country , particularly within his literature. It was, quite literally, America that he was in love with. Taking cues from writers such as Whitman, he embraced the American landscape as a field for spiritual cultivation. Kerouac was indeed a writer with spiritual preoccupations. He saw himself as partaking in a lifelong journey through the America that was waiting to reveal itself and, consequently, himself. Also, of course, considering himself a serious writer, he would chronicle this spiritual expedition throughout a series of novels that together would be called “The Duluoz Legend.'; This was the name Kerouac had intended the novels to take on when he would assemble them in chronological order before he died. Unfortunately he died earlier than he expected and was unable to form ally assemble them. However, the legend remains.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kerouac undoubtedly made his mark on the literary world with his prose. And his prose proves itself to be a very good example of his writing as spiritual commentary. Kerouac, while wandering the country in freight cars and the backs of pick-up trucks, saw himself as a modern day sage or bodhisatva, discovering the essence of “the void'; and using his literature as a record of these discoveries. His body of work is a wonderful example of integrating Buddhism into the daily life and thought of a man living in a western culture. Kerouac could not help but find religion in every aspect of his waking day. Every thing or person he encountered or interacted with was a part of the “essence of isness.'; Within the Kerouacian canon there is, besides his prose, another shining example of Kerouac’s literary translation of the spirituality of living. Throughout his career Kerouac wrote several volumes of poetry, all of which deal with using the poetic medium to express ... ...ters as in Japanese called for this strict adherence to be dropped. In being that Haiku is Japanese in origin, it is reflected in Kerouac’s attempts that he was trying to see poetry from a Zen perspective. A few such attempts are as follows. Dusk: the bird on the fence a contemporary of mine Enlightenment is: do what you want eat what there is The moon, the falling star- Look elsewhere   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jack Kerouac was a writer with spiritual preoccupations. He allowed religion to be what it is, an integral part of everything one does, including writing. Just as a Buddhist, Jack saw life as a miracle. This was a miracle, though, that could be understood. However, from the perspective of a westerner it is believed that only God can understand miracles. Kerouac, seeing things from the perspective of the “innumerable diamond essences'; would have no problem with this argument. He would then, through his poetry and prose, explain us all to be God. He would open his Buddhist eyes to the world and record his meditations. Life was a miracle as well as art to Kerouac. Buddhism showed this to Kerouac, and Kerouac showed this to the western world.