Re: Hand clap Zen koan
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Wed, 04 Nov 1998 13:47:59 +1100
> I personally really tend to think that this is reading just way into
something
> that was merely meant as a sort of subtle zen addition in the beginning,
as
> almost an introduction the buddhist philosophies presented in the book.
Well, um ... yes. Isn't that the point though? I think you're taking this
too literally. Salinger obviously put the koan at the beginning of his
collection for *some* reason - to set the mood or mindset that we are
intended to read the stories in. Likewise, I doubt that absolutely no
thought was put into the sequencing of the book - thus it is no coincidence
that Bananafish and Teddy bookend the collection. That's not to say that
the collection has anything tangible to do with Zen (other than Teddy of
course) but like I said before, it's in there, in between every line. The
miraculous one hands clapping are a *very* sly little allusion to this.
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
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