Dharma Bums

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Summary: This Book's the Bomb
Review: This book was the most inspirational work I have ever read. No matter how silly it sounds, I want to go climb a mountain and become a Buddhist. I wish he was still alive, I'd have more to say to him than I do to most people

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Summary: Kerouac grasps literature with his rebellious nature
Review: To avoid the modern cliche of idolizing Kerouac and other writers and musicians, many whose lives are primarily concerned with the abuse of alchohol and drugs, Kerouac is truly and literary genius, and "The Dharma Bums" exemplifies this. Kerouac was all the things that were rebellious before rebellion became a dormant term, as it is today. Kerouac and "Japhy Rider" take you on a hike into the mountains that could inspire any soul to leave their materialsitic belongings behind for the life of a "Dharma Bum."

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Summary: A wonderful follow-up for anyone who enjoyed "On the Road"
Review: Dharma Bums is truly Kerouac at his finest. The book is about his "Zen Lunacy" and his wanderings on the west coast with his mad friend Japhy. This book makes you want to jump up throw together a rucksack and head for the mountains to meditate.This book just takes the classic On the Road philosophy and takes it a step further. If liked On the Road I highly recommend this book for it is a classic. Further Reading:The Subterraneans, Big Sur

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Summary: A wonderful emotional roller-coaster
Review: Jack Kerouac's fluid style of writing emphasizs the style and culture of the beat generation in one inspirating novel

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Summary: Definitive clues on how to be beat and know God.
Review: This is an absolute must for anyone who's found that Kerouac Knows...Mix a bit of Buddha in with his wild prose and innate fondness for cheap wine and wandering -- then throw it around the skies of North America -- you've got the real journeyman's bible. On the Road did start the whole thing; no denying. But this is where Jack shines and shows it all all all, When he's writing his Golden Scriptures in the snow and just being in a way we've forgotten how. Kerouac IS the Teacher, and if you pick this spiritual textbook up you will start to see everything that's been on your soul. The man can tell you where he and his brothers and therefore humanity took the turns. When you flip through this book on a rainy afternoon of your own Dharma discovery EVERY page is making you agree. You'll yes your way through and stop wishing for the answers. Close your eyes and dive into his madman's world of angels on Mountaintops and in the city streets...I Know you won't regret. Holy.

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Summary: Author's travels and ramblings
Review: Kerouac goes mountain climbing in the Sierras with buddies, gets job in Washington as fire lookout on Desolation peak, spends time in the jazz bars of San Francisco, drinks too much and talks of his life, its significance (none for him), and the meaninglessness of life in general... A great book!

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Summary: On the Road with The Dharma Bums
Review: I first met Kerouac in the early 70s, when I was finishing my sentence in college. He inspired me to actually go on the road and hitch hike across the country several times (something I would no longer recommend). I learned about America through Jack. Dharma Bums taught me that there was another side to thought and life than the ones I had been living. While he himself was self destructive, I have incorporated many of his philosophies thorughout my lfe, and continue to search for truth and beauty, even while amid lies and ugliness. Trying to explain Dharma Bums and its philosophies to my teenage daughter is a trip. She just looks at me as though I'd lost my mind, which I no doubt did years ago when I first ran in to the stories of Kerouac. It's sad to think that the ideas and lifestyles he enshrines are dying out, if not dead all ready. Anyone looking for a boost into the beat world, or an explanation for what made it so "in" 50 years ago would best be advised to read Dharma Bums, and On The Road. Nuff said.

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Summary: Worth every penny!
Review:
Man, I don't know where to start. "The Dharma Bums" is a masterpiece of the Beat Generation and a novel I will not soon forget. After The Loser's Club by Richard Perez, this is the best book I've read all year.

Jack Kerouac wrote this story about his days as a Zen Buddhist and rucksack wanderer. His alias in the book is Raymond Smith, and he is living in Berkley with his good buddy Alvah Goldbook(Allen Ginsburg). Ray meets a Zen Lunatic named Japhy Ryder(Gary Snyder), and together they travel the mountains and pastures of Central California trying to find themselves and find the true meaning of life. Ray also journies to Desolation Peak in Washington and lives there alone for the summer, which is just another chapter to this amazing piece of literature.

Another part of this book that impressed me was the beginning, when Kerouac wrote about his experience at the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance, and spoke of Alvah Goldbook's first reading of his poem "Wail", which in reality was Allen Ginsburg's legendary first reading of "Howl", which to this day is a Beat Literature classic.

While reading this book, I was constantly marking lines and passages, because some of the descriptions and poetry Kerouac included in this novel are simply amazing. "The Dharma Bums" is one of those books I will treasure forever and read over and over again.


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Summary: On the Dharma Road
Review: I think that The Dharma Bums is probably Kerouac's best novel. It has all the exitement and electricity of On the Road, plus a lot of Buddhist instrospection and meditation. This is Kerouac at his best. He had mastered his craft, and had yet to slip into alcoholism and self destruction. In fact Kerouac does have a sweetness and innocence and a love of life, of nature, of dharma; and it makes me sad to think of what became of him later. One might get the wrong idea about Buddhism. Kerouac and his buddies spend a lot of time drinking wine and smoking tea which really doesn't go very well with Buddhist practice. But they were truly pioneers as there were very few Buddhist teachers and no Buddhist practice centers in the US. They either had to invent their own form of Buddhism (as Kerouac did) or go to Asia. One thing this book has in common with On the Road is that it does involve a lot of travel. He journeys northward from southern California to San Francisco in a boxcar. Then travels across country to stay with his sister in North Carolina where he meditates and prays in the woods. And the book closes with a journey north to Washington state instead of south the Mexico as On The Road does. Instead of Neal Cassady we have Gary Snyder as Kerouac's friend. Finally, after a series of adventures in the bay area and on a back packing trip with a character whom I believe is based on Kerouac's friend Philip Whalen, Snyder departs for a zen monestary in Japan (he wouldn't return from Asia until the mid sixties and the two friends never saw each other again). Its a bit ironic that Allen Ginsburg (Goldberg in the novel) was initially skeptical of the Buddhist teachings but later became more devoted to it than Kerouac, becoming a diciple of the Tibetan teacher Chogyam Trungpa. Whalen became a zen priest and lived for years at the San Francisco Zen Center. But this was Kerouac at his peak. His most blissful and holy. His golden dream of life in the Buddhalands.

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Summary: "The Dharma Bums"- A search for Truth in the woods
Review: Jack Kerouac wrote this story about his youthful days as an ebullient Zen Buddhist and rucksack hitchhiker in the 60's. His alias in the book is Raymond Smith, and he is living in a shack in Berkley, CA with his good friend Alvah Goldbook. Ray meets a Zen Lunatic named Japhy Ryder(Gary Snyder), and together they travel the wilderness of Central California where they recite poetry, drink wine, meditate, make haikus about every natural object, while trying to find themselves and seek the true meaning of life as beatniks. Ray Smith also criss-crosses the country again, home for the holidays, and then back to Berkeley. While at home he wanders through forest time and again, to center himself with nature and his surroundings, meditating there through the cold months like a real Buddhist Monk.

I was surely impressed by this book. I even jotted down many meaningful Buddhist passages and quotes that Kerouac mentioned in the novel This work of literature by Kerouac is less "experimental" in literary terms compared to something like "Satori in Paris" by Kerouac. For those of you who have not had any past experience with Kerouac's writing style this will not be of any difficulty. The language is simple, the prose is right to the point, and there is hardly a bit of surrealism. Many of the sections are quite humorous because of the quirkiness and new ideas on Buddhism that are slipped in between the sentences, along with predictable scenes of the beatnik life hood (drug use and slang). Ray Smith purely goes about making light comments about life without being the author's speaker. This is a positive and heart fulfilling youthful adventure that displays immense compassion.