Subject: Re: unless ye become as little children
From: Jim Rovira (jrovira@drew.edu)
Date: Wed May 15 2002 - 00:08:07 EDT
yeah, while the monism of the Upanishads may be a bit foreign to
Buddhist thought, if you plug Salinger in with the transcendentalists
there's no reason he couldn't synthesize buddhism, the upanishads, the
the NT into his own brand of spirituality...which is probably what was
really going on.
Jim
Micaela wrote:
>
> I was thinking something along the same lines, Jim. American Zen Buddhism
> has a strong link with Transcendentalism. Thoreau was actually one of the
> first translators of Buddhist teachings in the US, which can be traced back
> to "The Dial", where he originally published the "Lotus Sutra". While he
> never called himself a Buddhist, there are many overlappings within the
> broader philosophies of Transcendentalism and Buddhism, particularly the
> American appropriation of such. I guess what I'm saying, in a long-winded
> way, is that I see connections between Salinger and Transcendentalism as
> well. And as a clarification on one of my earlier statements regarding
> Teddy's notion of "pouring God into God" as being Buddhist, I was merely
> pointing out the interconnection of all things, and not highlighting the
> idea of "God", because I don't think Teddy means God God [sic] exactly
> either...but rather some sort of pantheistic force or notion of an existence
> of a spiritual reality that we can know through intuition (in a Kantian
> way). Also, as a side note, I think Salinger was more influenced by Zen
> Buddhism particularly, than by Theravada (which seems most evident in
> "Teddy").
>
> -Micaela
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-bananafish@roughdraft.org
> [mailto:owner-bananafish@roughdraft.org]On Behalf Of Jim Rovira
> Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 5:57 PM
> To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> Subject: Re: unless ye become as little children
>
> yeah...it really is hard to definitely peg Salinger as being a straight
> out Buddhist or someone more influenced by the Upanishads. He does
> sound like a bit of both at times. The doctrine of reincarnation in
> Teddy sounds more Hindu than Buddhist too. I don't know if these are
> Salinger's personal quirks, or reflective of other influences -- say,
> American Zen Buddhists.
>
> Jim
>
> Steve Brown wrote:
> >
> > It seems so close to the ideals of Buddhism. To a baby, you are as much
> > the baby as the baby is you. This recalls a quote from Teddy about how
> when
> > he was six he realized that Booper was God and her milk was God and she
> was
> > "just pouring God into God."
> >
> > This would be strongly in contrast to the ideals of Buddhism which lacks
> any
> > God whatsoever. It does however strongly resonate with the upanisadic
> view
> > of brahman and these are texts which occasionally creap into JDS's
> > literature.
> >
> > Steve Brown
> > Religion & Classics
> > University of Rochester.
> >
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