佛教与垮掉的一代(全英).doc

Buddhism and the beat generationAbstract:In the mid-1900s, the spread and development of Buddhism and Zen has been tied closely with the counterculture movement,the culprit of which was the beat generation. The beat writers explored reasonable methods to counterattack in the studies of Zen Buddhism and also found new ways to write.Key words: Buddhism the beat generation Jack Kerouac Allen Ginsberg Gary Snyder American scholars had an early access to Buddhism for the fruitful results of Orientalism and Indology studied by European scholars. The most prominent examples are Emerson,the cheerleader of the Transcendentalists movement in New England, who took Buddhists and Transcendentalists as equal to some degree,and Thoreau,the first one to live in a Buddhist way and published the Lotus Sutra in periodical Dial. Buddhism has not been highly paid attention to until the Chinese immigrants arrived on the east shores of America in the nineteenth century to make gold washing and build railways. Those immigrants had built many temples to consecrate Buddha and held a series of Buddhism activities. After that the Japanese immigrants had also come to America with Buddhism. And much closer to the turn of the century, in the year of 1893, the opening of the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago aroused Americans awareness of Buddhism,which was a milestone of development of Buddhism in America. While, in the development of Buddhism, the beat generation has played an important and unique role. The Beat Generation was a group of American post-World War II writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired. Central elements of Beat culture included rejection of received standards, innovations in style, experimentation with drugs, alternative sexualities, an interest in religion, a rejection of materialism, and explicit portrayals of the human condition.(1) The best known examples of beat literature are Allen Ginsbergs Howl (1956), William S. Burroughss Naked Lunch (1959) and Jack Kerouacs On the Road (1957). (2) In the combat with the American traditional culture,core members of the beat generation had adopted Buddhism as an important tools and instruments. They devoured Buddhism classics in a wide range and selectively absorbed Buddhism ideas. Even some of them had viewed the brahma as their life goals. This article chooses some of the most prominent figures of the beat generation,Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder,aiming to explore the implicit connections between Buddhism and the beat generation. 1.Jack Kerouac It was in 1954 that Jack Kerouac first read the book,Walden,or life in woods,written by Thoreau. He was touched in a large degree and became interested in Buddhism. He read the Buddhist Bible and Surangamasamadhisutra in the San Jose public library. Jack Kerouac went home in 1955 and immersed himself in the practice of sitting meditation. During this time,Kerouac began to have a further understanding of the word “beat”,he described the meaning of it not simply down-and-out but also contains “beatific, trying to be in a state of beatitude,trying to love all life,being utterly sincere and kind and cultivating joy of heart.”(3) However,Kerouacs family attached his meditation to laziness and conflicts arose. Kerouac set off for Mexico city for pure meditation as soon as he got the money from the publication of on the road. There he wrote the Buddhist-inspired poem Mexico city blues and tristessa. In 1955,he went to Berkeley,where he found Ginsberg busy planning what was to become the legendary six poets at the six gallery reading,the event that launched the beats into the mainstream consciousness.(3) At this time, Kerouac was exposed to other Buddhists and they shared thoughts with each other. In the spring of 1956,Jack Kerouac went to a peak in the cascades for a two-month stint as a fire lookout according to Snyders suggestion. Kerouac been looking forward to experiencing solitude so much and he later expressed his desire to build a special place to do meditation for wanderers. But it proved that such heavy dose of solitude did not agree to him because he could not adjust himself to modern life flexibly. In the year of 1959,when the book on the road was first published, it was faced with gigantic attention,positive and negative. And this book has become the bible of the beat generation and imposed huge influence on American people. After that, Kerouac, urged by the publisher, set about writing another book named the Dharma Bums,which also boosted the waving tide of “beatniks”. With the increasing exposure to the publicity, Jack Kerouac felt heavy pressure and took refuge of alcohol. He died of cirrhosis in 1969. This brief review of Kerouacs life has uncovered the imperative influence of Buddhism on him. He expressed his thoughts based on personal sitting meditation and Buddhism classic he had read.2. Allen Ginsberg Ginsberg was a very famous poet of the beat generation and it was Buddhism that utterly changed his views about writing poems. During his early career,his works were practice of spontaneous writing of the beat generation,which was characterized as anger and expressed rumblings of discontent and rebels against harsh reality directly. Under the guidance of spontaneous writing,writers reject rationalism and abandon subject consciousness,which was exactly the manifestation of anti-rationalism trends in the twentieth century. The beat generation asserted that when rationalism became dominant factor over emotion,body and imagination,it inevitably turned into an authoritarian tyrant. The most obvious example is the overwhelming and destructive atom bomb,which was the biggest accomplishment during the western industrial civilization dominated by rationalism. Based on that, the beat generation advocated that to face ones inner heart directly and express ones true feeling without the consideration of rhythm and structure. However, it had all changed since Ginsberg paid a visit to India and Japan and experienced oriental Buddhist for himself. He began to know about oriental religions through chanting mantra and gradually furthered to the aspects of meditation and doctrine. As a poet,Ginsberg saw the possibility of transforming the religious pattern into literary works and became the advocate as well as practitioner. We can see from the latter period of his career that the Wichita Votex Sutra exemplified mantra style,which was written in the year of 1966 expressing anti-war and reflection of language. The distinctions between Ginsbergs different writing career standed in glaring contrast. After accepting the oriental mantra, his articles turned natural,tranquil,wisdom and filled with compassionate to life. He still condemned reality in a acrimonious term but dealt with it more smartly. Ginsberg was named the dharma lion after following the laws of buddha, which means he possessed both strength and peace. The treasure Ginsberg got from oriental wisdom might provide a solution to the western dilemma.3. Gary Snyder Gary Snyder grew up in Washington state,where he developed a powerful awareness of nature. As a boy of nine or ten,he saw Chinese landscape paintings that struck a immediate chord. To him, they look like real mountains,like cascades.(4) That is to say,Gary Snyder forges an inseparable bond with Zen at an early age, and begins his lifelong practice with the profound belief in Zen. Not only is he a modern recluse poet, he also absorbs and learns from the thought of the Chinese Zen, thus forming his own concept of Zen, which he employs to observe and reflect life, society and the world. So to speak, Zen is the source of his life, his translation and creation of poetry. Snyder frequently resorts to the Buddhists imagery of Indras jeweled net to depict the interconnectedness of all existence. And there are three areas comprising the heart of Snyders resources for his poetry. The first consists of the cultures of inhibitory or primitive peoples. The second areas consists of the Asian cultures of China,Japan,and to a lesser extent,India and Tibet,particularly in terms of their Buddhist practices and life style,and Buddhisms religious precursors in these countries. The third areas consists of ecology, a concern of Snyders throughout his life. He once remarked that the people who