an exploration of jack kerouac's buddhism

8/6/2019 An Exploration of Jack Kerouac's Buddhism

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An Exploration ofJack

Kerouac's Buddhism: Text

and LifeSarah Hay nes

Contemporary Buddhism, v ol.6, No. 2, 2005

Jack Kerouacs place in the literary world was secured in the 1950s with the

publication of On the Road; however, his position as a Buddhist writer and practitioner

was yet to be established. This paper examines his Buddhist life and texts, and

explores two of his Buddhist books while focusing on his influences, their effects on

his personal life and the impact these had on his writing and on Buddhism in America.

Kerouacs Buddhist texts are not as well known as his others, although many of his

more popular books include elements of Buddhism. The two Kerouac texts that are to

be explored here are Some of the Dharma and The Scripture of the Golden Eternity.

While the focus of this paper is on the exploration of these two texts, their content and

structure, one cannot ignore the influencing factors that led Kerouac to write them and

the aspects of his life that affected the way in which they were composed.

Jack Kerouac was one of the most influential writers of the 1950s, inspiring the

misguided and confused youth of the post-war era. Kerouac came onto the literary

scene at a time when the world was experiencing change and wanting to discover new

things about a world that seemed all too familiar. Much is known about Kerouac, his

life, his family and friends. Through his writings Kerouac provided readers with

glimpses into almost every aspect of his wildly fun, controversial and conflicting

adventures. With his most famous book, On the Road, readers were introduced to the

lifestyle of what came to be known the Beat Generation.

Kerouacs writing took a turn when in 1953 he began to read about Buddhism and

Buddhist literature. Eventually Kerouac became so engrossed in Buddhism that hebecame a practitioner of the religion he was reading about (Kerouac 1997,

introduction). Books such as The Dharma Bums, The Subterraneans and Mexico C ity

Blues revealed how important Buddhism had become to the Catholic Kerouac.

Kerouacs Introduction to Buddhism

In the mid-1950s Kerouac was practicing Buddhism and studying primary texts with

the view that he was destined to teach the dharma and to convert millions of people

(Kerouac 1997, introduction). With a change in worldview, Kerouac began writing

letters about the dharma to friends like Allen Ginsberg, eventually realizing that


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instead of composing daily letters he would compile a text devoted to Buddhism

(Kerouac 1997, introduction). The result of Kerouacs daily thoughts, scribblings,

poetry and interpretations of Buddhism became known as Some of the Dharma. What

started as mere fascination with Buddhism in 1953 ended with a 420-page Buddhist

text in 1956. Kerouacs Book of Dharmas, his name for the text, became so important

to him that he began to feel it was sacred. As Kerouac wrote to Ginsberg: I havent

sent you the Notes on Dharma because I keep reading it myself, have but one copy,

valuable, sacred to me ...Besides it is not finished, I keep adding every day ...

(Kerouac 1997, introduction). He never lived to see his masterpiece published as bothpublishers and editors could not seem to warm to the idea of Kerouac as a purely

Buddhist author.

Kerouac was influenced both by Buddhist texts and by practicing North American

Buddhists whom he encountered in his travels, including Gary SnyderJaphy Ryder

of The Dharma Bumswho was a student and practitioner of Zen. Some of the

Dharma was completed on 15 March 1956; shortly thereafter, in the spring, Kerouac

headed West to the Bay Area where he met up with Snyder, to whom he had shown

portions of his Buddhist writings, and the two talked endlessly about philosophy and

practice. While they were staying together Snyder suggested to Kerouac that he

should write a sutra. He obliged, and the resulting text was The Scripture of theGolden Eternity, which was published in 1960Kerouac living long enough to see it in

print.

When one reads Some of the Dharma and then Scripture, the influence of the one on

the other becomes clear, that writing Dharma led to the formation of the sutra. With

the publication of Scripture Kerouacs fascination with Buddhism became known to the

world. Subsequently published in 1997, Dharma has allowed readers and scholars

alike to delve into the realm of Kerouacs American Buddhism, a world constructed in

a formless void of prose, poetry, drawings and one-liners. Kerouacs genius was

recognized by his peers, and as Allen Ginsbergs Howl states in the dedication: Jack

Kerouac, new Buddha of American prose, who spit forth intelligence ...creating a

spontaneous bop prosody and original classic literature (Kerouac 1997, introduction).As a lone student and practitioner of Buddhism in an informal setting, Kerouac used

what he had learned in formulating two books that focused on emptiness,

impermanence, mind essence and transience.

Some of the Dharma

The first of Kerouacs Buddhist texts, Some of the Dharma, exemplified what came to

be recognized as his unique style of writing. Big Sky Mind: Buddhism and the Beat

Generation notes that, by 1951 ... Kerouac was pioneering a stylistic revolution,

forever changing the nature and content of his writing ...Abandoning conventional

techniques of editing and revision, Kerouac committed himself to a new method, the

practice of spontaneous prose (Tonkinson 1995, 23 4). The spontaneous prose

that became Kerouacs hallmark was simply one of the unconventional techniques he

employed in the writing of Dharma. As already noted, the construction of this book

began as correspondence with Ginsberg about the excitement Kerouac was feeling

about the discoveries he was making. In a way Kerouac wanted to turn on Ginsberg

to the teachings of the Buddha. The volume of the text continued to swell in

accordance with the deepening of Kerouacs interest in Buddhism. Eventually Dharma

included many forms and literary devices. The so-called stylistic revolution of Jack

Kerouac unfolded with the few years it took to write this book.

Unlike other Kerouac books, Some of the Dharma involved more than his typical


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usage of prose. Before the organization of material is discussed it is important to note

and to keep in mind that this text was published posthumously and Kerouac was in no

way part of the publication process. While the publishers remained true to every

aspect of Kerouacs laborious and specific effort in presentation, it will never be

known if the manuscript is how Kerouac would have intended. It took him years of

hard work to type the manuscript as it is presently seen. Kerouac implemented many

different techniques and inventions in the form and presentation of Dharma. For

example, many of his poems and sketches can be seen to take different shapes, often

in diagonal slants or outlined in lines and rows of hyphens and asterisks (Kerouac1997, 287, 299, 328). The presentation of this text was unconventional for its time, as

well as an innovation for the author. In response to an editor about his different

stylistic techniques, Kerouac wrote that

the reason for the dashes is to give the reader advance visual warning of

the impending end of a sentence which after all is a rhetorical expostulation

based on breathing and has to end, and I make it end with vigorous release

sign, i.e., the dash ... (Brinkley 1998, 68 9).

Even though the presentation of Dharma was aesthetically different, the form,

organization of materials and ideas were also a departure from most of the works of

the post-war era. Kerouacs main focus or argument in Some of the Dharma is

presented to the reader in an original and rarely seen way. Although in most texts

organization of argument and presentation are different from one another, in Dharma

the medium is the message, for reasons soon to be explained. The visual presentation

of the text engages the reader just as much as the content does. On page 342

Kerouac provided an explanation of the various techniques of the Duluoz Legend. The

publishers felt it was highly important that the readers be acutely aware of these

techniques, and so they were printed on the front and back of the book. It is

necessary to outline these techniques as Kerouac used them in almost every instance

of Dharma. The first stylistic method that was utilized in the organization of Kerouacs

material is TIC. As stated in the book, a Tic is a vision suddenly of memory. The

ideal, formal Tic ... is one short and one long sentence, generally about 50 words inall, the intro sentence and the explaining sentence ... (Kerouac 1997, 342).

Here Kerouac merely shapes the descriptive paragraph in a simple manner, which

includes the use of dashes as markers of breath. His use of TICS in Dharma was far

less common than the other techniques. In all Kerouac lists twelve techniques that can

be found in Dharma; in addition to TIC there are also Dream, Pop, Blues, Ecstasy,

Movie, Vision, Flash, Daydream, Routine, Sketch and Dharma. Those most often used

are POP, which is American (non-Japanese) Haikus, short 3-line poems or pomes

rhyming or non-rhyming delineating little Samadhis if possible, usually of a Buddhist

connotation, aimed towards enlightenment (Kerouac 1997, 342); and FLASH,

Dreamflashes, short sleepdreams or drowse daydreams of an enlightened nature

describable in a few words (Kerouac 1997. 342). Kerouac used all of these techniques

in the organization of the material in Dharma and in the structure of the texts focus.

These techniques are all a part of the most extensive and encompassing technique

called DHARMAnotes in any form about the dharma. Of course this is the technique

in which the entire text of Dharma was written. The key aspect is that with DHARMA

all text takes place in the present. The implementation of this technique allowed

Kerouac to engage the reader while still using other stylistic forms. The effect of these

various techniques is a visual format that stimulates the eye as well as allowing the

reader to make a quick identification of the state of mind that Kerouac was in while


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writing that particular section of the text. For example, if the reader is well aware of

the characteristics of each technique then one can discern whether Kerouac was

daydreaming or having a sudden memory. He demands of the reader an involvement

in Dharma that is more than a simple reading, he creates a flow in the text that

requires knowledge of his techniques.

As previously stated, the organization of Kerouacs argument or main focus and the

presentation of the text are the exact same thing because of what Dharma is about. A

central preoccupation is the Buddhist notion of impermanence and how everything isformless. Even though this text was constructed into various techniques and divided

into 10 books, Kerouac stated how the text has no form. He writes:

Bear with me, wise readers, in that Ive chosen no form for the Book of

Mind Because everything has no form, and when youve finished reading

this book you will have had a glimpse of everything, presented in the way

that everything comes: in piecemeal bombardments, continuously, rat tat

tatting the pure pictureless liquid of Mind essence. (Kerouac 1997, 147)

Technically and literally this text has form and a definite structure; however, in light of

the teachings expounded by Kerouacs Buddha-nature and written while engaged in

daily dhyana, it indeed does not have a clear form, only existing as an arbitraryrelative condition. Robert A. Hipkiss writes: Kerouacs venture into Buddhism enabled

him to dissolve the complex forms of day-to-day living into nothingness (Hipkiss

1976, 72). This dissolution of complex forms included, for Kerouac, his daily task of

writing structured novels. With the support of Buddhist philosophy, Kerouac declared

that the consciousness of the Mind is the source of all (Kerouac 1997, 204).

Therefore, the form of Dharma is a mere attribute of our awareness or an arbitrary

conception of the mind.

The division of Dharma into 10 separate books appears to have been done with no

particular motive, as there are no distinct topics for any of the 10 books. The different

subdivisions appear to be a matter of convenience for Kerouac. While there are nouniform or single distinguishable topics in each book, Kerouac did make sure to

highlight each area of importance on every page. For example, Kerouac would

capitalize the main focus of his discussion, whether in the middle of a paragraph or at

the beginning sentence. NATURE, and the absence of NATURE, or the WORLD, and

the absence of the WORLD, Are two sides/of the same Mind (Kerouac 1997, 337).

Along with this little stylistic device Kerouac also included such things as doodlings to

illustrate the way of proper Western meditation (Kerouac 1997, 279), hand-written

arrows that direct the readers eye to the flow of the page (Kerouac 1997, 354), and

the implementation of both French and Patois to illustrate points of interest (Kerouac

1997, 38, 301).

The various techniques and stylistic devices Kerouac used in Some of the Dharmawere influenced by the reason for writing it. His enthusiastic interest in Buddhism led

to the writing, but in the content of the material one can also see that many other

factors were influential in its completion. While the main focus of Dharma was the

teachings of the Buddha, it was through this content that Kerouac revealed much

about his own life. Perhaps a reason why Dharma contains so much personal

information is that his primary intention was for the content to be privately used

between himself and friends, and the idea of publication came later as the text

evolved. Originally it was somewhat of a Buddhism for Beginners bookwith Kerouac

as the beginnerstarting with The Four Noble Truths and other basic concepts. Ann

Charters writes that he was profoundly in agreement with the First Noble Truth of the


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Buddhas teaching, that all life is suffering (Charters 1995, 581). Kerouac begins

Book One with basics, definitions of fundamental concepts such as nirvana, karma,

dharma and kama, and a bibliography for beginning Buddhists. He must have realized

that Dharma was more than an elementary text and correspondence with friends,

since it appears that the succeeding Books became more evolved and delve deeper

into Buddhist philosophy. Kerouac moved from simple definitions in Book One to

analogies between him and a tiger in Book Three, to in-depth reflection about rebirth

and individuality in Book Four, and in Book Eight he placed emphasis on

Avalokitesvara and the Womb of Exuberant Fertility. On 7 8 December Kerouacwrites of Avalokitesvara:

The universe is a Womb of Exuberant

Fertility (Asvhaghosha) at base an incon-

ceivable silence and purity and emptiness

Existence is a frown on Avalokitesvaras

pure browa cloud in the clear mind of

God

Avalokitesvara has made himself into

all things, he made himself into

blades of grass, cars speeding down the road,toy lambs, the sun, old trees once young,

me

Why did he make himself into a Womb of

Exuberant Fertility? He made himself into

someone asking that question

He is exuberant (as you can see) when

a man is stomping another to death with

his shoes, when a Bodhisattva Awakened

Hero listens to the Inconceivable Silence. (Kerouac 1997, 353)

In this poem Kerouacs spiritual questing can be seen as he erupts onto paper asking

the great questions of existence. Kerouac saw this Buddhist text as more than adocumentation of an intense interest in Buddhism; for him, it was an act of release.

Kerouacs spiritual journey was a shouting out and release of the bothersome things

in his life while in opposition to the quiet introspective inward journey. He attempted

to embody the realizations he was having, and in doing so Dharma became an act of

meditation. This meditative act included the composition of the material and creation

of the visual aspects, helping him come to terms with his lifestyle and beliefs. One

should keep in mind that Kerouac was attempting to reconcile his lifestyle with his

newfound interest in Buddhism when he began to write this text in 1953.

As a Buddhist text Some of the Dharma details the essentials of Mahayana

Philosophy. Without previous knowledge in the higher forms of Buddhism, Kerouacs

formless text will appear to be the ramblings of a fool. However, once the reader

works through Kerouacs maze of thoughts, diary entries, meditations, poetry and

prose they see that Kerouac was great at providing the reader with a combination of

personal narrative and reflections and retellings of Buddhist doctrine.

Kerouacs main focus in Dharma came to rest mostly on the notion of suffering and its

causes. The notion of suffering, besides being the cornerstone of Buddhist philosophy,

was especially appropriate for Kerouac as his life appears to have revolved around

the anguish that his own lifestyle created. He struggled to define what was real, and

what really mattered to him. On the one hand he outlined a strenuous regime or


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Modified Ascetic Life, while on the other he could not resist the temptations of

friends, drugs, alcohol and women, all of which brought him tremendous suffering.

Kerouac resolved to lead a monastic life; however, this resolution, written relatively

early in the text, was broken short eight days later (Kerouac 1997, 138), a sign that

his bhikkuhood and potential enlightenment were at the far end of a path fraught with

the temptations of the world. Kerouac could not seem to take refuge in these four

precepts for more than a matter of days.

The frustration that Kerouac felt in his daily dhyanas and in attempting to lead a purelife is evident in Dharma. When he starts drinking again his mood shifts, and changes

in the text are apparent. While he is drunk in a cornfield, Kerouacs poetry takes on a

different tone and style. He states:

The earth is one,

not Two

I said

In the moonlit

cornfield at

the Woods Edge

But a huge bug

landed on my arm

to mock me

And the tree

Waved at me

With its million eyes

Va-v-a-vh-as-hh

All is same. (Kerouac 1997, 71)

The rhyming nature of this poem is unlike the rest of the text, as is the discussion of

such a topiccornfieldsboth influenced by his intoxication. It was at moments like

this that Kerouacs practice of Buddhism became his second priority, as his first was

the bliss he felt while drunk.

Although such instances occur throughout the writing of Dharma, the text remains

Buddhist in nature and such occurrences only add to the honesty and personal quality

that help readers relate to Kerouac. For Kerouac, Dharma became a living manuscript

of his daily thoughts and prayers that came to reflect every aspect of his life, from

squabbles with his mother about his Buddhist practice, to his friends and colleagues

lack of acceptance of his teaching of the Dharma, and the inner turmoil he felt as a

result of these personal conflicts. At times Kerouac saw himself as a great teacher of

Buddhism, and indeed as a Bodhisattva. At the end of 1954 he wrote of his conflicts in

light of his role as a Buddhist:

As its now Dec. 19, 1954, the end of this pivotal year is nearand I am atthe lowest beatest ebb of my life, trapped by the police, retained in dismal

places, scorned and cheated by my friends (plagiarists), misunderstood

by my family, meanwhile mutilating myself (burning hands, benzedrine,

smoking, goofballs), also full of alcoholic sorrow and dragged down by the

obligations of others, considered a criminal and insane and a sinner and an

imbecile, myself self-disappointed & endlessly sad because Im not doing

what I knew should be done a whole year ago when the Buddhas printed

words showed me the path ... a years delay, a deepening of the sea of

troubles, sickness, old age creeping around my tired eyes, decrepitude and

dismay, loss of solitude & purityI must exert my intelligence now to


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secure the release of this Bodhisattva from the chains of the City. (Kerouac

1997, 185)

Kerouacs Catholicism

The pressure of an ever-devout Catholic family often caused Kerouac much stress

and confusion as to whether his Buddhahood was meant to be. He seems to have

found solace in reading the Diamond Sutra, his favourite Buddhist text. The Buddhist

texts that originally influenced Kerouac came to be those that he looked to alleviateconfusion and pain.

Even though Kerouac was enamoured of the Buddhist literature that he found in

Dwight Goddards A Buddhist Bible, what becomes visible when reading Dharma is

that his Catholic background could not be ignored. Kerouacs family was too important

for him to ignore their stress on the benefits of the Catholic tradition. Thus, Kerouacs

Catholic voice, both positive and negative, carries throughout the text. The presence

of this voice is seen in such instances as when he refers to the Virgin Mary & Buddha

are UNO (Kerouac 1997, 70), or when he relates the Catholic religion to an early

expression of a primitive culture (Kerouac 1997, 99). At times Kerouac seems to

have found a peaceful balance between his newfound Buddhist practice and his strict

Catholic upbringing. In a January dhyana, Kerouac writes:

In my Dhyana today Jan. 11 I had Adoration to No-Contact and other

rhythmic tantrisms. If anything bothers you, cease contacting it, thats

all.If anything pleases you, beware of contacting it (during meditation &

even all day.) I had a vision of the Virgin Mary and Child in a little round

clasp; it magnified and got dimmer. I thought Spensage ici est arrestez.

(Kerouac 1997, 222)

The final sentence can be translated as this thinking is stopping here. Here Kerouac

has an experience that reflects his Christian background while engaged in his daily

Buddhist practice. The result of both religious influences was, as stated in Big Sky

Mind, that Kerouac happily conflated Jesus Christ with Avalokitesvara, the

bodhisattva of compassion. After all, he explained, a lot of people say he is Maitreya

[which] means Love in Sanskrit and that all Christ talked about was love (Tonkinson

1995. 17). The outcome of this notion became apparent in the writing of Dharma.

Although a text of Buddhist nature, Kerouac tended to tie all religions into one

Universal belief, particularly Taoism, Buddhism and Christianity. Kerouac was

continually concerned with arbitrary relative conditions and ignorance; ideas that

became major concerns throughout the entire text.

He applies the notion of arbitrary relative conditions to what appears to be the

Christian idea of original sin, or as he writes my original ignorance. Therefore, while

Kerouacs ultimate considerations stayed within the realm of Buddhism, especiallyMahayana philosophy, he instituted much of his C atholic childhood teachings into

areas concerned with Buddhism. The question can be raised of whether Kerouac used

Buddhist doctrines to justify his feelings about what he had learned as a child and the

things he was trying to come to terms with in his personal lifehow closely are

Kerouacs personal life and religious identity as a Catholic linked to his appropriation

of Buddhism?

The Scripture of the Golden Eternity

The view that Kerouac used veiled aspects of Christianity can be seen in Some of the


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Dharma and continues to appear in the sutra that he wrote in spring 1956. The

Scripture of the Golden Eternity is a remarkable Buddhist Sutra that reveals aspects

of different traditions, as may be seen even in its title. Anne Waldman writes in the

Introduction that:

Traditionally sutra comes from the Sanskrit root siv, meaning a thread or

yarn. It also carries the implication of meeting point or junction, referring to

the interstice of Buddhas enlightenment with the students understanding. A

sutra is historically a dialogue between the Gotama & one or more of hisdisciples, and carries the orally delivered, exact words of the Buddha.

Scripture, on the other hand, suggests the Christian canonthe Holy

Scriptures or sacred writings of the Bible. (Kerouac 1994, 1 2)

What we already see in the title is the Christian influence that remained with Kerouac

even when he was in the process of writing a traditional Buddhist text. His Christian

background in fact is revealed throughout. Near the beginning Kerouac equates

himself with the C hosen One or the Messiah (Kerouac 1994, 24), and later he seems

happy in reflecting the Buddhist with the Christian. In scripture #37 Kerouac writes:

... Had the Buddha, the Awakened One,cherished any of these imaginary

judgementsof and about things he would have falleninto impatience andhatred in his suffering.Instead, like Jesus on the Cross he saw the light and

died kind, loving all living things. (Kerouac 1994, 41)

Kerouac provides a refraction of the Christianity that was often problematic in life.

Instead of criticizing the tradition of his childhood, Kerouac changes its direction or

path by conflating Catholic with Buddhist ideas. This merging of traditions elucidates

the previously mentioned fact that Scripture was written after the completion of

Dharma, so that a number of themes are concurrent. The format of Scripture,

however, does not directly parallel that of Dharma; in certain parts of the first text

there are instances where Kerouac made attempts to write condensed versions of

sutras (e.g., on page 338 of Dharma, Kerouac has included the Envelope Sutra,originally written on an envelope).

People think of self as a private possession because they are cogs on a

wheel that keeps turning out self after self in rebirth after rebirth of

selfhood. I will have to preach the only possible truth: The abolishing of

death by extermination of birth. Life control. Put an end to human rebirth,

by abstaining from sexual intercourse. Everybody stop breeding, or by

method of-birth-control stop birth. At the same time, stop killing for sport or

for eating living beings; they tremble at punishment and death too.

Everybody live off vegetables and synthetic foods, causing no pain

anywhere. Everybody abstain from panic and wait for death finally. For

human beings, the rest will be ecstasy. For all other living, sentient beingsthe hint will be taken. A chain reaction throughout existence in all ten

directions of space exterminating existence by quiet will, in tranquility and

purity. This is the word from everlasting eternity, it is the First Teaching.

The Second Teaching is, that there was no First Teaching from the

everlasting eternity. (Kerouac 1997, 338)

This sutra from Dharma reflects the purpose of such a text as may be seen in

traditional Buddhist sutras and in Kerouacs own Scripture of the Golden Eternity. The

function of the sutra rests in it being a collection of discourses or teachings of the

Buddha, or, in this case, Kerouac.


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The content of Scripture is similar to Dharma in many ways, yet differs in others.

Kerouac presents his case much more formally, thus limiting himself in ways that he

did not have to in Dharma. In the scriptures of the sutra Kerouac did not use the

unconventional asterisks, doodles and hyphens seen in Dharma. Scriptures small

38-page text is divided into 66 scriptures, which Kerouac managed to fill with

doublespeak logic that seems to have come quite naturally to him. Anne Waldman

states:

Because the thinkings heady enough to make you crazy, theres a tendency in

Buddhist matters to generate a magical language. To the outsider these illogical

syllogisms sound like gibberish, doublespeak. Theyre golden to a poets ear. Sanskrit

poetics speaks of Sandhyabasha or twilight speech, which is an upsidedown language

harbouring contradictions and paradoxes. The Buddhist sutras, of which Kerouacs

Scripture is so redolent, are filled with these contraries. (Kerouac 1994, 2)

Kerouac loaded the short scriptures with haikus, Zen koans, poetry, prose and

meditations that, like Dharma, reflected his inner search for enlightenment and

outward quest for the meaning of the universe. The conflicted Kerouac of the first text

appears to be absent from Scripture. Kerouac emerges in this latter as a man who

was at peace with the realizations that he had made. In the second paragraph of hissutra, describing the Golden Eternity, Kerouac appears to be in a much more blissful

state. He states:

The awakened Buddha to show the way, the

chosen Messiah to die in the degradation

of sentience, is the golden eternity. One that

is what is, the golden eternity, or God, or,

Tathagatathe name. The Named One.

The human God. Sentient Godhood.

Animate Divine. The Deified One.

The Verified One. The Free One.The Liberator. The Still One.

The Settled One. The Established One.

Golden Eternity. All is Well.

The Empty One. The Ready One.

The Quitter. The Sitter.

The Justified One. The Happy One. (Kerouac 1994, 23 4)

Here Kerouac shows an upbeat mood that was often shadowed in Dharma by his

bouts with drinking, drugs and his family. Two stanzas later, Kerouac declared:

I was awakened to show the way, chosen to

die in the degradation of life, because I amMortal Golden Eternity. (Kerouac 1994, 24)

And two paragraphs following, Kerouac discussed further his place:

Strictly speak ing, there is no me, because all is

emptiness. I am empty, I am non-existent.

All is bliss. (Kerouac 1994, 25)

Kerouac focused the material of his sutra around the Buddhist notion of emptiness

and the nature of form as being consistent with concepts of emptiness. Waldman


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writes in the introduction that Kerouacs Scripture is accurately onto the profound

dharma teaching of form is emptiness, emptiness is form, emptiness is no other than

form, form is no other than emptiness ... (Kerouac 1994, 4). Scripture has been

praised for its accuracy and brilliance, including by Eric Mottram who writes:

Kerouacs sutra is a controlled praise for the overwhelming sense of

release afforded by contemplation of the Dharma Law which says: All

things is made of the same thing which is nothing, the same thing which is

essence, pure nature, the silence you hear inside the emptiness, the moviein your mind (Kerouac 1994, 14).

While Kerouac offered a meditation of emptiness and form, it is important to note that

Kerouacs emphasis was on the golden eternity. This aspect of time differs from the

text of Dharma, where time was always in the present, while often looking towards

the tragic future, but in his sutra time and eternity is golden and things have already

been attained. The manner in which Kerouac presented his golden eternity used the

form of Buddhist sutras; however, he also employed the Zen practice of koans. This

was a departure for Kerouac since at this point in his life he was not as interested in

Zen Buddhism as he was with other Mahayana schools. In Dharma Kerouac tended to

shy away from Zen, and indeed there are moments in the text where he provided

criticisms of this branch of Buddhism. In Scripture Kerouac has provided the reader

with a few enigmatic scriptures that could be considered reflections of Zen koans.

The Zen aspect of Kerouacs sutra is quite interesting when compared with his attitude

towards Zen in Some of the Dharma.In Dharma Kerouac regarded Zen in a lesser

light than Mahayana. He saw Mahayana as the purer form of Buddhism, writing that

Mahayana is the essence of Reality (Kerouac 1997, 251). In Book Seven he related

his feelings about Zen Buddhism. His explanation:

The trouble with Zen idea of Sudden Attainment is because it depends on

an arbitrary conception of time ...since there is no real substantiality to the

reality of objects, then time is likewise unreal, and so the moment whensudden realization takes place also is unreal ... Zen is a modern shallow

naive almost popular innocent idea ...the Truth is already in the Mind.

(Kerouac 1997, 301)

Kerouac obviously felt that he had real reasons to disapprove of Zen. A few pages

later he wrote:

True Buddhism is Sincerity & Aryan Forgiveness

(has nothing to do with Zen Wise Ego)

(& Zen socking one anothersocking, sucking,

whats the difference?). (Kerouac 1997, 308)

Kerouacs original influence was that of the Indian Mahayana Buddhism, and, as is

evident in these passages, his interest in Zen was limited, but at the same time

Kerouac had respect for D.T. Suzuki, for he read him intently and quoted him in

Dharma. From this respect and interest in Suzuki, Kerouac came to be influenced by

the Zen tradition of haiku poetry. Tonk inson suggests that he resisted Zen because of

his conviction that it emphasized attaining mystical insight rather than cultivating

compassion (Tonkinson 1995. 17). Perhaps Kerouac felt that Zen Buddhism would

lead him deeper into the world of temptations and peer pressure because it was

becoming such a socially attractive and popular tradition. Whatever Kerouacs true

reasons for not identifying himself with Zen, the fact is that he was intrigued by its


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literary aspect, and this led to the compositions of the koans and haikus in both Some

of the Dharma and The Scripture of the Golden Eternity.

The blissful and golden tone of Scripture is an important aspect of Kerouacs sutra

because it could be said to be a direct reflection of his experience of awakening. In

the prose scripture # 64. Kerouac described an experience of unconsciousness in

which he realized upon awakening that everything is all right forever. Kerouacs

description of his moment of true enlightenment is as follows:

... During that timeless moment of unconsciousness

I saw the golden eternity. I saw heaven. In it

nothing had ever happened, the events of a

million years ago were just as phantom and

ungraspable as the events of now or a million

years from now, or the events of the next ten

minutes. It was perfect, the golden solitude, the

golden emptiness ... There was no question

of being alive or not being alive, of likes and

dislikes, of near or far, no question of giving

or gratitude, no question of mercy or judgment,

or of suffering or its opposite or anything. ... It seemed

like one smiling smile, one adorable adoration,

one gracious and adorable charity, everlasting

safety, refreshing afternoon, roses, infinite

brilliant immaterial golden ash, the Golden Age.

The golden came from the sun in my eyelids,

and the eternity from my sudden instant

realization as I woke up that I had just

been where it all came from and where it

was all returning, the everlasting So, and

so never coming or going; therefore I call it

the golden eternity but you can call it anythingyou want ... (Kerouac 1994, 59 60)

This experience of enlightenment or awakening that originated with a fainting spell

appears to have affected Kerouac in such a way as to change his outlook on time and

the here and now, similarly to the outcome of a near death experience. This moment

of realization appears to reflect the accounts of the Buddhas experience under the

Bodhi tree. Hence, the result of this experience was a collapsing of time, a realization

that the present was the golden age for Kerouac, one that influenced his daily practice

and took shape in his sutra. The knowledge that Kerouac reaped from his

enlightenment experience was that which he wrote in Scripture as the first teaching of

the golden eternity.

This first teaching is the knowledge Kerouac gained from his experience of

awakening, a Buddha-nature type realization. Kerouac did not have the answers to

lifes big questions yet his golden eternity became his response to what became

unbearable in his life. Kerouacs teaching or reasoning may seem like a childlike

cop-out of the conflicts in ones life, but his vision of the golden eternity is in line with

Buddhist philosophy as his second teaching confirms. The final scripture of Kerouacs

sutra reveals his second and final teaching:

The second teaching from the golden eternity

is that there never was a first teaching


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from the golden eternity. So be sure. (Kerouac 1994, 61)

This second teaching is directly related to the concepts that can be found in

Dharma.In Scripture Kerouac continued to focus on the Buddhist views regarding

emptiness, nothingness and arbitrary conceptions. Nothing exists but as an arbitrary

conception of the mind and senses. Kerouacs emphasis on the notion of arbitrary

relative conceptions is less obscure in Dharma as he writes:

FORM IN THE NORMInstead of bothering with either one side of the coin

or the other, throw it awayin the same way,

instead of bothering with either arbitrary conception

of manifested phenomena or non-manifested non-phenomena,

the coin of existence,

throw it away

Rest beyond conception. (Kerouac 1997, 248)

A few pages earlier, Kerouac writes ADORATION TO THE MIND OF BUDDHA:

It only happens when you make it happenif you touch the wall with your

fingertip, perception of touch responds from emptiness where it abides in apure enlightened state, obeys, suffers the restraint placed upon its wisdom

nature, and appears as perception of touch of a wall in your fingertip. After

the act, it vanished back to Origin Mind. (Kerouac 1997, 235)

It is concepts such as these Kerouac conveyed in Dharma that correspond to his

knowledge of the golden eternity. During a Monday meditation practice in the North

Carolina woods, Kerouac writes:

the great huge drowsy Golden Age sensation

that opened in my brain at this worded realization, as if the knowledge was

older than the worldWith the eyes closed only is it truly eerie, eerily

trueand TrueThis is the Voice of the Tathagata speaking from the Brightness

Beyond Existence, the True Mind, the One Mind, (Kerouac 1997, 258)

A few lines later Kerouac continues:

Rediscover the ancient dream of man, the sensation of the Golden Age of

Existence, in the details of this mans life ... mine ... as I cease stimulants

and narcotics, my mind yearns to recreate the Mighty Legend of DuluozIn

every instant of the drowsy dream so long finished & doneThe Paean of a

New American Song. (Kerouac 1997, 258)

Kerouacs Buddhist texts

Kerouacs vision of the golden eternity and his two Buddhist writings were influenced

by many factors, including Mahayana Buddhism; in particular, texts such as the

Surangama Sutra, Lankavatara Scripture and the Diamond Sutra. Even though

Dharma appears to be a reworking of primary sources, and reinterpretations of

theories, its importance goes beyond what is actually written. Together the two texts

reveal a lot about the author, his practice, personal struggles and, more significantly,

the influence and relation that Kerouac had and continues to have on Western

Buddhism and to practitioners.


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To look at the role that Jack Kerouac has played and continues to play in the rise and

changes within Buddhism in the West, one must first look at what was instrumental in

bringing about the rise of Buddhism in his life. In Dharma Kerouac provided a list of

texts that were pivotal in peaking his interest in Eastern philosophies. The

bibliography that is given in Book One allows the reader to get an idea of where

Kerouacs interests originated. The most significant of these books for Kerouac was A

Buddhist Bible by Dwight Goddard. Kerouacs connection with the texts condensed in

Goddards book is obvious when reading Dharma.As an anthology of Buddhist texts,Goddard supplied Kerouac, as well as many Westerners, with the opportunity to

become familiar with various Buddhist sources and to study the dharma more

comprehensively. Kerouac was so taken with Goddards book that he memorized

pages of text and a couple of times in Dharma one can find Goddards California

address. On pages 213 and 329 Kerouac exhibits his fascination with Dwight Goddard

and his surprise that they lived so close to each other:

Dwight Goddard is at 60 Las Encinas Lane, Santa Barbara, Calif.wow.

(Kerouac

1997, 213)

Just over 100 pages later, Kerouac tosses in the address without labeling it asGoddards:

60

Las Encinas

Lane

Monastery of

Santa Barbara, Calif. (Kerouac 1997, 329)

The three sections of Goddards collection that most influenced Kerouac are the

Diamond Sutra, the Surangama Sutra and the Lankavatara Scripture. Each had

tremendous influence on Kerouacs writing as their main themes flow through both of

the texts being discussed. The theme of the Diamond Sutra is that all things, ideas

and phenomena are subjective and non-existent. ... all definitive things, phenomena

and ideas are subjective and unreal, being merely manifestations of ones mind; that

even the highest conceptions of the Dharma and of Tathagata are mind-made and

empty (Goddard 1994, 661). These characteristics of the Diamond Sutra are

conveyed in Kerouacs books, as shown in the excerpts already cited.

The second influential piece from Goddards text was the Surangama Sutra, whose

focus is on the steps for attaining Supreme Enlightenment and Highest Samadhi. The

aspect of the text that seemed to impress Kerouac was the details regarding the

mental preparations for dhyana practice in achieving enlightenment. The successive

steps are given in such detail and are so intelligently interpreted that if faithfullyfollowed from their beginning in counting breaths to their goal, one will surely attain

Enlightenment and Samadhi (Goddard 1994, 665). Kerouac must have read the

Surangama Sutra and have felt that enlightenment was possible for himself, as may

have been the case with the experience of awakening in Scripture. However, it was

not until Kerouac read the Lankavatara Scripture that he realized suffering could

cease (Hipkiss 1976, 65), although one finds plenty of examples of both the

Surangama Sutra and the Lankavatara Scripture in Dharma. On pages 201 4

Kerouac provides his lengthy version of the Surangama Sutra with the wording

rearranged for the understanding of Western minds (Kerouac 1997, 201). This

rewording shows that Kerouac was aware of the problems that Westerners sometimes


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encounter in Buddhist practice. By using repetitive motifs and less heady wording,

Kerouac has provided a translation of Surangama that is understandable for the

average Westerner. For example:

Neither location is true. Theres no reality in the statement that distance

separates your eyeballs and the springs and pools they see due to some

mysterious consciousness that applies all over, which is Mysterious Mind

Essence. So when your eyeballs see the springs and pools, no True Cause

can be pointed out to explain for the seer (the eyeballs), the seen (thesprings and pools), and the seeing (consciousness) except the True Mind.

(Kerouac 1997, 202)

Here we see Kerouac employing simple language to explain the material in the

Surangama Sutra followed by parentheses that correspond to the idea being

articulated.

The influence of the Lankavatara Scripture is evident in Kerouacs discussion of the

origins and developments of cognition, and the progressions of false imagination and

knowledge as stemming from ignorance. These concepts are present in both Scripture

and Dharma, along with ideas about transcendental intelligence and the realization

and intuition of Noble Wisdom as outlined in the Lankavatara Scripture. The theme ofit is to elucidate the profoundest experience that comes to the human spirit. It

everywhere deprecated dependence upon words and doctrines and urges upon all the

wisdom of making a determined effort to attain this highest experience (Goddard

1994, 668). In relation to Dharma Kerouac included direct quotes from the Suzuki and

Goddard translation of Lankavatara with corresponding page numbers, as well as

writing his own interpretation of the text and the Nirvana of the Tathagata. Kerouac

writes:

LANKAVATARATHE FINAL STAGE

Being a Tathagata transformation oneself, you yield yourself up to all

beings for the sake of their eventual emancipationYou have no moredesires, passions, make no more discriminations, and patiently accept that

you have no more ego than the moon reflected in the water. The life that

you live thereafter is the Tathagatas Universalized life as manifested in its

transformations ...(Kerouac 1997, 321)

Goddards A Buddhist Bible provided Kerouac with the basics for his Buddhist practice.

Kerouacs impact

From the influence of Goddard on Kerouac comes the influence and impact of Kerouac

on generations of people in the West. The question remains whether Kerouacs

deciphering of Buddhism spawned a new Buddhism in North America. There wasmost definitely an Americanization of certain aspects of Buddhism happening, but

were there enough changes occurring within the tradition to declare the emergence of

a new branch of Buddhism? Was it enough that alterations were being made to

traditional practices to claim the development of a new form of Buddhism? In the

foreword to Goddards text, Atkin concedes that Kerouac was instrumental in

Americanizing Buddhism and establishing a culture that flourished around the Zen

centres in North America (Goddard 1994, viii). Would this culture have existed without

Kerouacs influence and Buddhist texts?

What helped in establishing Buddhism in North America was the manner in which


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Kerouac related Buddhism to his readers. As mentioned earlier, Kerouacs approach

was honest and personal, relating his struggles and frustrations with his daily practice.

It became possible for budding Buddhists to identify with someone in the same

situation. Kerouac suffered through sitting meditation with the pain of phlebitis, a

battle with pain of legs (Kerouac 1997, 188). Because of the pain he experienced and

the realization that most Westerners cannot sit in the full lotus position, Kerouac

explained his method of Western Buddhist Meditation in Some of the Dharma with

instructions and a drawing that illustrates the proper positioning of the body. His

method states:

The main thing is to forget completely about your body without falling

asleep. Since most Westerners cant cross their legs in Oriental fashion, in

the Lotus Posture, its best to arrange the legs straight out, at times, with

soft mats, and forget them; but to lean only the small of the back against

your support, so keeping the whole back, neck & head erect and alert for

the coming of Samadhi ecstasy. (Kerouac 1997, 279)

Kerouacs practical descriptions and effort in realizing the needs of Westerners was of

assistance in his Americanizing of Buddhism. Kerouac was aware of the difficulty of

practicing traditional Buddhism in North America, as he began to draw attention to

himself. Whether this attention was positive or negative, the fact of the matter is that

Kerouac was in the public eye. In a sense Kerouac relished the attention he received

but he also wanted to be happy and his fame seemed to cause turmoil in his life.

Realizing this, Kerouac was in search of a loner lifestyle with monastic undercurrents.

Big Sky Mind quotes Kerouac as saying, all I want as far as life-plans are concerned

from here on out, is compassionate, contented solitude-Bhikkuhood is so hard to

make in the West-it would have to be some American streamlined Bhikkuhood,

because so far all Ive done is attract attention (Tonkinson 1995, 25). Kerouac was

cognizant of the impact he was having on the young people of the 1950s and 1960s

generationsbut what he really wanted was to teach Buddhism, not simply to garner

attention.

Both of Kerouacs texts relate his vision for America and Buddhism. In Scripture

Kerouac dreams of the golden eternity, while in Dharma he planned ways in which he

would teach the concepts of Buddhism to Americans. Kerouac went so far as to

explain the approach he would take in teaching Southerners, for he must have

thought them to be more pious to their Christian faith than other American citizens.

Kerouac explained:

TO EXPLAIN THE DHARMA to ordinary Americans, like say, Southerners, I

will substitute the expression Mind Essence for The Mind of God, using

upaya skill thereby to help their understanding; then should a perceptive

listener ask me Who made God? I can say Mind-only. (Kerouac 1997,

198)

The Southerners must have affected Kerouac on his travels across the country, as

Dharma includes not only ways of conveying Buddhist concepts specifically to these

Christians, but also a two-page sermon called Preaching to A Southerner. In this

sermon Kerouac strikes his Buddhist message on a chord of the suffering Southern

evangelist worker.

It was smart of Kerouac to relate his Buddhist message to the pious southerners in

terms of Christian ethics and problems. This trickery employed in Kerouacs teaching

of Buddhism attests to his awareness of the state of mind of North Americans who in


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the 1950s were steeped in the idea that hard work is the way to achieve the American

Dream.

Kerouac as teacher of Buddhism was aware of the alterations needed and the ways in

which his students, as Christian Americans, would understand the dharma. Does the

approach that Kerouac took and the substitutions of Buddhist expressions allow us to

classify his teachings as a new American form of Buddhism? Some people would

believe this to be true, for Kerouac claimed he wanted to pursue the life of a Bhikku

and recommended others to follow the same lifestyle; however, Kerouac could notendure the strict monastic way of living. The formation of meditation and dharma

centres in North America are far from the monastic institutions of the East, so are

these Western Buddhist centres indirectly part of Kerouacs doing and influence?

Although his sudden death preceded the formation of the majority of dharma centres,

it is without doubt that Kerouac helped bring Buddhism into the consciousness of

many North Americans. With the help of people like A llen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and

Philip Whalen, Buddhism began to flourish in America, particularly in California.

Kerouacs influence was felt after his death and continues to be discussed in Buddhist

circles. One only has to pick up a copy of Tricycle to read Kerouacs life-story of the

Buddha (Issues 8 and 15) or head to the Naropa Institute to engage in Kerouacs

poetics and American Buddhism. Jack Kerouacs vision of the golden eternity enduresin the minds of many all over North America.

Perhaps Kerouacs friends took it upon themselves to carry on Kerouacs teachings

and vision of the golden eternity after he was no longer able to do so. The flip side to

this view is that by 1959 Kerouac had become disillusioned with Buddhism, just as his

good friend Ginsbergs interest began to peak in the teachings that Kerouac once tried

to force upon him.

REFERENCES

BRINKLEY, DOUGLAS. 1998. In the Kerouac Archive. The Atlantic Monthly, November,

4976.CHARTERS, ANN. 1995. The Portable Jack Kerouac. Toronto: Viking.

GODDARD, DWIGHT. 1994. First published 1938. A Buddhist Bible. Boston: Beacon.

HIPKISS, ROBERTA. 1976. Jack Kerouac: A Prophet of the New Romanticism.

Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas.

KEROUAC, JACK. 1960. first published 1960. The Scripture of the Golden Eternity. San

Francisco: City Lights Books.

1997. Some of the Dharma. Toronto: Viking.

TONKINSON, C AROLE. 1995. Big Sky Mind: Buddhism and the Beat Generation. New

York: Riverhead Books.

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