Zen and the art of ...
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Wed, 03 Mar 1999 18:02:09 +1100
Here, for one more time, is that thesis I was talking about. It was written
for my final year (of school) Religion assignment - got me full marks too
(the glosses which you may, appropriately enough, gloss over, are for the
benefit of my teacher) . Enjoy (or otherwise (: )
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
@ THE INVERTED FOREST http://www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest
-------
`What aspects of Zen Buddhism and other ancient religions has
J.D. Salinger utilized and expressed his own spirituality in his writings?'
J.D. SALINGER
Jerome David Salinger was born on January 1st 1919 in New York
City. His interest in writing was first engendered when he was
sent to the oppressive Valley Forge Military Academy at age
15, where he wrote a satirical column for the school's
newspaper. He later attended a short story writing course at
Columbia University and published his first story `The Young
Folks' in Story Magazine (1940). A stint in Army Intelligence
Corps and the 4th Army Division in the D-Day Invasion of
Normandy during WWII did little to stifle his productivity as
he published several stories during this time in various
magazines. However, as a result of the war he suffered a
nervous breakdown leaving a cavernous hole in his psyche and
ruptured views about the morality of the world. This emptiness
was filled in the early 1950's when a casual interest in
Eastern religion during the mid 1940's was aroused, most
probably by the installation of a Ramakrishna Centre near his
home, and the writings of Professor Daisetz Suzuki, who
popularized Buddhism in America. He avidly studied the
teachings of Ramakrishna, Bhagavad-Gita, Chuang-Tzu and the
non - rationality of Zen Buddhism, especially the simple but
enigmatic koans. From this time onwards his stories are imbued
with the sense of spiritual journey found in these
ecclesiastical writings. His first and only published novel
`The Catcher in the Rye' (1951) reflects this inner search and
struggle, and its random quality reflects the non linear
structure of the Zen Koans, in which sense is to be found from
apparent madness. It hit a chord with the equally
disillusioned youth of the world and went on to be one of the
world's best selling novels ever. His collection of short
stories `9 Stories' (1953 - also known as `To Esm‚ with Love
and Squalor and Other Stories') even begins with a Zen Koan,
and much of its content and structure is concerned (directly
or indirectly) with religion and enlightenment. His series of
stories on the Glass family, beginning with `Franny and Zooey'
(1962) have an even more blatantly religious bent.
Salinger's last published story appeared in 1965,
`Hapworth 16, 1924'. Always uneasy with his fame and believing
it to obstruct his search for enlightenment, he followed the
non materialism of his religious idols to the point of
refusing to publish his stories for the public. He lives today
in the same house he has lived in since 1953, notoriously
reclusive and more disdainful for publicity than ever, but
still seriously pursuing and exploring his search for
spiritual fulfilment.
ZEN BUDDHISM
Zen Buddhism is a form of meditative Mayhayana Buddhism which
originated in China. Its followers believe in and work towards
abrupt enlightenment. Much emphasis is placed on the identity
of nirvana and samsara and on direct transmission of the
enlightened state from master to pupil with a minimum of
words. Scriptures and ritual forms are minimized, while
continual meditation and practical physical labour are
stressed. In common with all forms of Buddhism, the Four Noble
Truths are the cornerstones of Buddhist life. These are :
1. Existence is suffering, and the selfishness inherent in
human nature is responsible for this.
2. The root of all suffering is craving and desire.
3. If humans let go of their craving, their suffering will end
and nirvana will follow.
4. To achieve nirvana, humans must follow the Noble Eightfold
Path (a system of living in which the maximum karma is
achieved.
Karma is accumulated and nirvana achieved through several
means - by obeying the principles of the Noble Eightfold Path,
by meditating and living and believing Bodhicitta - living to
work for the benefit of all beings. Once nirvana is achieved,
a person has become a Buddha, and is released from the
continual cycle of samsara. If they do not achieve it in their
lifetime, they will be reincarnated again and again until they
do. What they are reincarnated as depends on their karma from
the past life - the higher the good karma they have achieved,
the higher - up the person will be born.
Zen Koan : A riddle which is used by Buddhist teachers to
clear the mind from the obstruction of logic. Zen preaches
that enlightenment cannot be found in logic in the normal
sense. By using such limits as logic, the true scope of
thought is also limited. At the beginning of a stage of
training, the Buddist student will be given a koan to solve.
Once they have solved it, they are ready to move on to their
next stage of learning. The more educated they become, the
more cryptic the koans are. There is no correct answer, but an
answer which shows a realisation on the part of the student is
what is aimmed for. A skilled teacher will know when their
student is `correct'.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE WRITINGS OF J.D. SALINGER and ZEN
BUDDHISM.
Often the first thing a reader of Salinger's writings will ask
him or her self after reading one of his stories is `What did
that mean? What was the point behind my journey?'. As one
critic puts it `Salinger's mode of Zen Buddhism offers for
this uneasy and unresolved conflict' ). The teacher/student
relationship is integral to Zen Buddhism. Often Salinger's
characters or will play the part of teacher, while we the
student, and/or another character will recieve from them (and
their author) a koan to solve and thus reach our next stage of
enlightenment. This is very much the case in `The Catcher in
the Rye'. While it appears in the second last chapter that
Holden Caulfield has achieved his moment of enlightenment; his
nirvana, in the last page-long chapter Holden tells us `that's
all I'm going to tell you' and proceeds to ask the kind of
questions which have plagued him throughout the book. It seems
that he has returned to square one, and that is the last
glimpse we recieve of him. However, we realise that the fact
that Holden's quest never ends is an end in itself . Like the
Buddhist cycle he has been reborn and given a new start, and
we realise through this that like Holden, we have undergone a
learning experience. Examining our mind's reactions to this
seeming irrelevance, we realise that with extreme subtlety,
the the story has, like the Zen koan, stimulated the mind into
other planes of thought to the ones we are used to, and as
with the koan we are compelled to find an answer within
apparent non - logic.
One of the main ways Salinger uses this student / teacher
relationship to express his spirituality is to equate his
characters to various real religious figures and principles,
in a way updating their teachings to educate a modern audience
who, like Holden, do not realise until after the journey how
much they have learned.
THE SIMILARITY BETWEEN SALINGER'S CHARACTERS AND PROMINENT
RELIGIOUS FIGURES
There has always been speculation on just how
autobiographical Salinger's stories and characters are. The
media has undertaken many exhaustive searches for the details
that will conclusively prove that he is in fact Buddy Glass,
Sergeant X or Holden Caulfield. In fact, a letter supposedly
exists wherein J.D. Salinger admits that Holden is a portrait
of himself as a young adult ). However, it is also easy to
find the religious figures he embraces in his spiritual life
imbued in the characters he creates in his writing life. Sybil
of `A Perfect Day for Bananafish' is an obvious example, her
name itself meaning in ancient times a mystic or seer. But
Holden Caulfield is the most intriguing, and the similarities
between himself and various religious figures irrefutable.
Like Buddha, Holden recieves his flash of enlightenment after
`meditating' amongst wild animals (at the Zoo). He recieves it
not at a river, but in the rain, water being a baptismal
symbol in many religions - he says
`My hunting hat really did give me a lot of protection,
in a way, but I got soaked anyway. I didn't care, though. I
felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept
going around and around.'
Holden says at the conclusion of the second last chapter, as
he witnesses his sister who he has worried about being exposed
to the harshness of adult life and change, sitting happily on
the carousel - itself a `cycle'.
THE USE OF TECHNIQUES OF ZEN BUDDHIST WRITINGS IN SALINGER'S
WRITINGS.
Salinger also uses the techniques of Zen Buddhist
writings in his own writings. Often, as stated before, his
stories are koans which the reader is beseeched to solve. But
he has also been quoted as saying in relation to his writing
(and before `Catcher' was published) `I'm a dash man, not a
miler. I will probably never write a novel.') He is more
content with short story writing - a method of writing
characterised by its compactness of narration and message. And
one important aspect of Zen is to `convey the message in as
few words as possible'. One of the Four Statements of Zen is
`no dependence on words and letters', and Salinger's message
always comes across in the most direct way possible and always
with the feeling that the rationality of words can never
wholly describe his message - as one critic puts it `When the
gesture aspires to pure religious expression, language reaches
into silence' . The attraction of the koan (and the Japanese
haiku poem, another of Salinger's fixations which is named
after the great koan writer Haikun) is its compactness, its
emotional detachment yet quiet passion - qualities best
characterised by the term `moksha'. Moshka is a state of
impersonal compassion, an attempt to avoid worldliness and
replace it with an effortless and continuous love. And this is
the main aim of nearly all of Salinger's characters. One book
puts it as `a condition of being without losing our identity,
at one with the universe, and it requires... a certain harmony
between our imaginitive and spiritual responsiveness to all
things.' This is an almost perfect description of the aims of
Salinger as a writer and his characters as people. They crave
a oneness and sense from the nonsense-koan that is the world,
but instead are hindered by the human egos of themselves and
those around them. This is the spiritual search Salinger
expresses in his writing.
THE STORY OF SRI
RAMAKRISHNA
At the age of sixteen he
went to Calcutta but was
disgusted by the material-
istic ideals of the people
of the great metropolis. He
eventually became a priest
in the Dakenshineswar Temple
and practically without the
help of any teacher obtained
the vision of God.
THE STORY OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA
At the age of sixteen
Gautama faced the reality of
adulthood. His family was
rich and he lived a life of
luxury but was not satisfied
by it and made a journey.
For 6 years he wandered the
Ganges, learning from famous
religious teachers, none of
which satisfied him.
Meditating by the river
Neranjara after years of
meditation in a forest full
of wild animals, he suddenly
experienced unexpected and
indescribable enlightenment.
He realised that once a man
stops trying to control his
life and environment, and
attempting the impossible,
he feels liberated from the
everlasting round of birth
and death.
THE STORY OF
`THE CATCHER IN THE RYE'
A sixteen year old boy named
Holden Caulfield (the son of
wealthy parents) runs away
from school to his home in
New York. Wandering the city
alone, he is disillusioned
by the superficiality of it
and its citizens. However,
it is through witnessing his
young sister Phoebe going
round and round on a merry-
go-round after a trip to the
zoo that he recieves any
sort of answer or joy, not
from the advices of the
school teachers, girl friend
and other acquaintances he
meets along the way.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ZEN
`Zen has always specialized
in nonsense as a means of
stimulating the mind to go
forward to that which is
beyond sense.'
- ALDOUS HUXLEY
`The basic idea of Zen is to
come in touch with the inner
workings of our being, and
to do this in the most
direct way possible, without
resorting to anything super-
natural or added.'
- PROFESSOR DAISETZ SUZUKI
SYBIL : A character in the
short story `A Perfect Day
for Bananafish' which begins
the Glass family stories
with the suicide of its
eldest son Seymour soon
after frolicking happily in
the surf with Sybil, a small
girl at his hotel.
BUDDY GLASS : A member of
the Glass family
immortalized in stories such
as `FRANNY AND ZOOEY',`RAISE
HIGH THE ROOF BEAMS, CARP-
ENTER' and `SEYMOUR, AN
INTRODUCTION', which he
narrates. His auto -
biographical details are
nearly identical to those of
Salinger, leading many to
believe that this is the
author's `Hitchcock' style
cameo role in his own story.
SERGEANT X : Narrator of one
of Salinger's most famous
short stories `TO ESME WITH
LOVE AND SQUALOR'. In the
story Sergeant X suffers a
nervous breakdown during
WWII - as did Salinger in
his time in the army.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA : A Hindu
mystic whose teachings of a
`Universal Religion were
popularised by a disciple,
Swami Vivekanda. His
writings `THE GOSPELS OF SRI
RAMAKRISHNA' were published
by Salinger's publisher
Hamish Hamilton at his
suggestion.
DEFINITION OF THE ZEN KOAN:
`Those surrealistic, un-
answerable conundrums
designed to stir up and re-
adjust one's view of things'
: JAMES LUNDQUIST )
NIRVANA : The ideal and goal
of all religious effort.
Freedom from delusion,
complete enlightenment. The
final freeing of the soul
from all that enslaves it.
SAMSARA : The course of
mundane existence, the cycle
of birth, death, and
rebirth.
A FAMOUS KOAN
`We all know the sound of
two hands clapping. But what
is the sound of one hand
clapping ?'
- Haikuin (1685 - 1768)
This koan appears at the
beginning of Salinger's
`Nine Stories'.
KARMA : The results of
actions taken. Beneficial
actions will result in good
karma, while harmful will
result in bad karma and more
suffering.