Subject: RE: unless ye become as little children
From: Micaela (mbombard@middlebury.edu)
Date: Tue May 14 2002 - 18:56:46 EDT
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.
>
> -
> * Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
> * UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Tue Sep 17 2002 - 16:26:07 EDT