Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Jack Kerouac
- The Cambridge Companion to Jack Kerouac
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- A Kerouac Chronology
- Additional material
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Kerouac’s Concept of His Duluoz Legend
- Chapter 2 Kerouac and the Profession of Authorship
- Chapter 3 Truth in Confession
- Chapter 4 The Textuality of Performance
- Chapter 5 The Spontaneous Aesthetic in The Subterraneans
- Chapter 6 Kerouac and the 1950s
- Chapter 7 The Impact of On the Road on the 1960s Counterculture
- Chapter 8 Vanity of Duluoz and the 1960s
- Chapter 9 Late Kerouac, or the Conflicted “King of the Beatniks”
- Chapter 10 Visions of Cody as Metafiction
- Chapter 11 Making the Past Present
- Chapter 12 Spun Rhythms
- Chapter 13 Kerouac’s Representations of Women
- Chapter 14 Kerouac and Blackness
- Chapter 15 Kerouac, Multilingualism, and Global Culture
- Chapter 16 The Two Phases of Jack Kerouac’s American Buddhism
- Chapter 17 Jack Kerouac’s Ambivalences as an Environmental Writer
- Chapter 18 The Essentials of Archival Prose
- Further Reading
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To …
Chapter 16 - The Two Phases of Jack Kerouac’s American Buddhism
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- The Cambridge Companion to Jack Kerouac
- The Cambridge Companion to Jack Kerouac
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- A Kerouac Chronology
- Additional material
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Kerouac’s Concept of His Duluoz Legend
- Chapter 2 Kerouac and the Profession of Authorship
- Chapter 3 Truth in Confession
- Chapter 4 The Textuality of Performance
- Chapter 5 The Spontaneous Aesthetic in The Subterraneans
- Chapter 6 Kerouac and the 1950s
- Chapter 7 The Impact of On the Road on the 1960s Counterculture
- Chapter 8 Vanity of Duluoz and the 1960s
- Chapter 9 Late Kerouac, or the Conflicted “King of the Beatniks”
- Chapter 10 Visions of Cody as Metafiction
- Chapter 11 Making the Past Present
- Chapter 12 Spun Rhythms
- Chapter 13 Kerouac’s Representations of Women
- Chapter 14 Kerouac and Blackness
- Chapter 15 Kerouac, Multilingualism, and Global Culture
- Chapter 16 The Two Phases of Jack Kerouac’s American Buddhism
- Chapter 17 Jack Kerouac’s Ambivalences as an Environmental Writer
- Chapter 18 The Essentials of Archival Prose
- Further Reading
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To …
Summary
This chapter examines Kerouac’s Buddhism and is informed by archival research of his unpublished Buddhist writing, which in provides a more complete understanding of Kerouac’s Buddhism than what can be learned from his published works. A detailed analysis of his published and unpublished writing reveals that Kerouac’s Buddhist period should be separated into an Early Buddhist Period (1953–58) and a Later Buddhist Period (1959–mid-1960s). Kerouac’s Early Buddhist Period is one of intense study and practice. And while his enthusiasm for the religion certainly decreased from 1959 to his death in 1969, it is inaccurate to state that he did not study Buddhism after 1958, as revealed by his unpublished diaries. Thus, 1959 through to 1967 should be identified as his Later Buddhist Period during which he continued his textual study, occasional meditation practice, and reworking of Buddhist texts. Additionally, this chapter argues that Kerouac believed himself to be a transmitter of Buddhism for Americans and that the Buddhism he believed helped his own suffering – and was, by extension, most useful for American practitioners – was largely rooted in the Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra) and in key Mahāyāna ideas.
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- The Cambridge Companion to Jack Kerouac , pp. 223 - 239Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024