'Dharma Bums\r'

'Erica Schlecht professor George Dorsty English 223 2 April 2013 A True Dharma idler One of the most powerful quotes in the integral book that I feel sums up what it is to be a dharma bugger finish up, â€Å" I felt free and thus I was free”. This quote from Ray metal wagerer shows that a dharma back must always recollect in iodineself and take the move around to becoming a Dharma bum from within. Although one tooshie learn from fella dharma bums much(prenominal) as the holy man Teresa bum, Han Shan, and Japhy the ultimate justice of being Dharma bum comes from within.Saint Teresa foot is the â€Å"first unfeigned dharma bum” that Ray smith, the main character is Dharma flashs has ever met. The book starts off with metal civiliseer jumping into a box elevator 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 long clip before. He reads this poem to himself both single day as he roams just almost staying out of everyone else’s way. When smith asked the bum nigh his religion he was very modest close to it.Smith also noniced that the bum was much more(prenominal) patient than he when it came to the boxcar being so cold. Although Smith never fully reveals why he thinks he is the first unfeigned dharma bum he has met, I believe it is because he humbles Smith and teaches him more about being a true 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 square offing how truehearted 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 bum’s patience, focus on prayer, and warmheartedness about aliveness make him a dharma bum. other Dharma Bum that rapscallion Kerouac learns from is Han Shan. From the book we reckon that, â€Å"Han Shan you see was a Chi nese scholar who got sick of the oversize city and the world and took off to hide in the batchs” (14). He wrote â€Å"Cold Mountains” a thousand years ago scribbled on the sides of clips hundreds of miles away from human beings. He only had one human friend, a â€Å" curious Zen lunatic Shin-te” who was a poet save did not write down his poems.Hand Shan was Japhy Ryder’s hero because he was a poet, mountain man, a Buddhist give to the principle of meditation on the essence of on the whole 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 follows 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 whole of the dharma bums written about in this apologue extend to to do.The truest dharma bum that is written about in the novel Dharma Bums is the one of the main c haracters, Japhy Ryder. Japhy teaches â€Å"Dharma Bums refusing to subscribe to the general implore that they consume production and therefore have to work for the privilege of consuming, all that cramp they didnt really take anyway such as refrigerators, TV sets, cars, at least new fancy cars, certain fuzz oils and deodorants and general junk you finally always see a week later on in the drool anyway, all of them imprisoned in a brass of work, produce, consume, work, produce, consume… (Chapter 13). A dharma bum according to Jack Keroac is on that does not fall into the traps of society such as those who find happiness in work and worldly possessions. This comes back to the idea that your car is cause you to work. If you did not feel the calculate at to purchase the car then you would not have to work. The simplicity of life is praised and sought after in the life of a dharma bum. One must be okay with the solidarity and embrace oneself. The dharma bums also tend to follow a Buddhistic life style.In chapter 24 the same idea is brought up, â€Å" maybe Ill be rich and work and make a lot of money and live in a big house. ” But a minute later: â€Å"And who wants to enslave himself to a lot of all that, though? ” (Chapter 24). Jack Kerouac’s writing about this shows that dharma bums do not need to fit into the mold of functional society to be happy. At the same time a dharma bum is not one that sits around doing nothing, but one who constantly searches for oneself in character and the things around him.This is shown in another quote from the book, â€Å"by God, youre right, all those sedentary bums sitting around on pillows hearing the cry of a triumphant mountain smasher, they dont deserve it” (Chapter 12). Smith discusses what he has learned from Japhy here, â€Å"I realized I had indeed learned from Japhy how to suck up off the evils for the world and the city and find my true pure soul, just as long as I had a decent pack on my back. I got back to my camp and spread the dormancy bag and thanked the Lord for all He was boastful me” (156). Japhy has taught Smith that the Lord gives us all that we need and to look within the find true Dharma Bum peace.Being a Dharma Bum is not something that can be defined as one particular thing. chase certain procedures such as disposing of worldly possessions to look within and find oneself is a good step, but cannot truly define one’s 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 character and looking inward. Works Cited Kerouac, Jack. The Dharma Bums. New York: Penguin, 2006. 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