Dharma Bums

Erica Schlecht Professor George Dorsty English 223 2 April 2013 A True Dharma shutout angiotensin converting enzyme of the most powerful reiterates in the entire book that I looking at sums up what it is to be a dharma rotter, I felt free and therefore I was free. This paraphrase from Ray smith shows that a dharma basis must always cogitate in unmatchedself and become the journey to becoming a Dharma bum from within. Although unriv in alled nates learn from fellow dharma bums such as the Saint Teresa bum, Han Shan, and Japhy the net truth of being Dharma bum comes from within.Saint Teresa Bum is the first genuine dharma bum that Ray smith, the main character is Dharma Bums has ever met. The book starts off with smith jumping into a box car where he runs into the Saint Teresa bum. The bum found a prayer written by Saint Teresa that he cut out of a reading room magazine in Los Angeles a few years before. He reads this poem to himself every atomic number 53 day as he roams around staying out of everyone elses way. When Smith asked the bum intimately his religion he was very modest almost it.Smith also noticed that the bum was much more patient than he when it came to the boxcar being so cold. Although Smith never fully reveals why he thinks he is the first current dharma bum he has met, I think it is because he humbles Smith and teaches him more about being a dependable(p) dharma bum than he could have ever imagined. Before meeting the bum, Smith felt very secure and sure that he was a true bum. After realizeing how loyal this bum was to reading his prayer and staying true to himself he re thinks what it means to be a dharma bum.The Saint Teresa bums patience, focus on prayer, and spirit about manners pasture him a dharma bum. Another Dharma Bum that squatting Kerouac learns from is Han Shan. From the book we see that, Han Shan you see was a Chinese scholar who got sick of the big city and the human and took off to hide in the mounta ins (14). He wrote Cold Mountains a yard years ago scribbled on the sides of clips hundreds of miles away from human beings. He and had one human friend, a funny Zen lunatic Shin-te who was a poet but did not write down his poems.Hand Shan was Japhy Ryders hero because he was a poet, mountain man, a Buddhist dedicated to the principle of guess on the essence of all things, vegetation. A man of solitude who could take off by himself and live purely and true to himself. From Han Shan one can take away that a Dharma Bum is one who imitates the same life that Han Shan does. A dharma bum must be able to live in solitude and be dedicated to meditation. Both things that all of the dharma bums written about in this novel strive to do.The truest dharma bum that is written about in the novel Dharma Bums is the one of the main characters, Japhy Ryder. Japhy teaches Dharma Bums refusing to subscribe to the general demand that they shoot production and therefore have to piss for the privil ege of consuming, all that hamper they didnt really want anyway such as refrigerators, TV sets, cars, at least new fancy cars, certain hair oils and deodorants and general toss out you finally always see a week later in the gar pockete anyway, all of them imprisoned in a system of work, produce, carry, work, produce, consume (Chapter 13). A dharma bum according to Jack Keroac is on that does not make up into the traps of society such as those who find happiness in work and lay possessions. This comes back to the idea that your car is driving you to work. If you did not feel the need to purchase the car then you would not have to work. The relief of life is praised and sought after in the life of a dharma bum. One must be okay with the solidarity and embracing oneself. The dharma bums also tend to follow a buddhist life style.In chapter 24 the same idea is brought up, maybe Ill be rich and work and make a lot of funds and live in a big house. But a minute later And who want s to enslave himself to a lot of all that, though? (Chapter 24). Jack Kerouacs writing about this shows that dharma bums do not need to couple into the mold of working society to be happy. At the same period a dharma bum is not one that sits around doing nothing, but one who constantly searches for oneself in nature and the things around him.This is shown in another quote from the book, by God, youre right, all those sedentary bums sitting around on pillows earreach the cry of a triumphant mountain smasher, they dont deserve it (Chapter 12). Smith discusses what he has learned from Japhy here, I realized I had indeed learned from Japhy how to cast off the evils for the world and the city and find my true pure soul, entirely as long as I had a decent engage on my back. I got back to my camp and spread the sleeping bag and thanked the Lord for all He was giving me (156). Japhy has taught Smith that the Lord gives us all that we need and to look within the find true Dharma Bum pe ace.Being a Dharma Bum is not something that can be defined as one particular thing. Following certain procedures such as disposing of worldly possessions to look within and find oneself is a good step, but cannot authentically define ones journey. The Dharma Bums that Smith learns from, the Saint Teresa bum, Han Shan, and Japhy are all great examples and can be learned from. Many things can be taken away from their own personal journey such as the focus on nature and looking inward. Works Cited Kerouac, Jack. The Dharma Bums. New York Penguin, 2006. Print.