Some of the Dharma

by Jack Kerouac

Book Overview

Written during a critical period of his life, Some of the Dharma is a key volume for understanding Kerouac and the spiritual underpinnings of his work

While his future masterpiece, On the Road, languished on the desks of unresponsive editors, Kerouac turned to Buddhist practice, and in 1953 began compiling reading notes on the subject intended for his friend Allen Ginsberg. As Kerouac's Buddhist meditation practice intensified,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140287078
• ISBN13: 9780140287073
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 8.5" x 10.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A true Arhat is a Tao Hobo

Wow! I am soooo glad that this book was finally published- and that it was executed so well! This is more than perhaps the all time best example of personal spiritual exploration by a major writer- it is a storage battery of spiritual energy. I've never seen a work this dense with meaning- both in terms of what is in the lines, between the lines, and in mystic juxtaposition between the two. It is a shame that probably not one American in thousand will "get" it- and even fewer outside the culture. It is obvious to me that Jack understood the Dharma. He also had the concept of Tao intuitively nailed. I just can't understand why he said that he wasn't a Mahayana Buddhist- a person with his great heart and soul was hardly "cold enlightened." It also hit me for the first time that "beat" means "extinguished" in the sense of approaching Nirvana. I had thought that I had read everything that Kerouac had published (except for that first straight-jacket of a Wolfe-clone novel) but this is perhaps the best of all. Think of it as _The Scripture of the Golden Eternity_ raised to the third power. Every time I pick this book up I find something new. It is no doubt going to occupy me for years and years to come.

THE BEST of Kerouac's work

He did not realize these notebooks would be published, so this is Kerouac at his very core. I have been an avid, hungry devotee of Kerouac's work not since reading On the Road, but since getting my hands of a copy of THIS BOOK. Some of the Dharma is the most inspirational book I own - dare I say even more inspiring than my Bible - his random poems about everything ranging from vulgar liquids all conjoined in your earthly body, to the serious issue of the Boddhisatva... Every writer, reader, English teacher, English learner should all read at least parts of this book at some point in their lives.

a book to grow with

This is one of my all time favorite books. It's a journal that spans years, with thoughts that are illuminating. Not a book to be read cover to cover, it's a companion in a journey, and it will spark the light of truth in you...it's certainly added to my life and growth, for which I'm thankful. No one is perfect, and Kerouac never claimed to be. This is a record of his struggle and search for enlightenment. Should those who judge his method and life ever attain 10% of what this man achieved, it will surprise me. "The Book of Pure Truth consists of a bunch of mirrors bound in a volume". You tell 'em Jack !

Value Kerouac as Kerouac, Not as a Tulku

I agree with most of my fellow reviewers that the Kirkus review is rather harsh. To attack Kerouac on the basis of his alcoholism, his Catholic upbringing, and his lack of being able to live up to the aspirations of Buddhism is more a critique of him as a person rather than him as a writer. This book (if you read the foreword) was more a series of personal notes to Allen Ginsberg, rather than a finished piece of work for publication. To compare it with, say, 'On the Road,' is like comparing Camus's 'First Man' with 'The Stranger'- one is a preliminary sketch, the other a polished novel. If you read this, read it as a study of someone who was struggling to understand buddhism within his own personal context, not as a manual to buddhism. Read it as poetry, not scripture. Value it as a personal journey, a personal struggle. If you want to view it as a text on buddhism primarily, view it as something which enriches your own faith and desire for liberation.Learning to benefit from all things, good or bad, is part of the path to liberation. Learn to benefit from this, and you WILL benefit from it.

Some of the Dharma unlocks new doors to Kerouac's genius.

Some of the Dharma, a maze of journal entries, prayers, thoughts, meditations set in a typeset facsimile of the original manuscript by the author is so vast and informed, it is hard to key in on the text with just a perusory glance in time for the hasty review written anonymously by Kirkus.What it does is reveal Kerouac for the wandering soul he truly was. He was set apart from the writers of his time (other than his fellow Beat writers),so that his Buddhist texts were rejected in 1950's America.They are every bit as profound, mystical, and holy as those who practice Buddhism on a lifetime basis. Kerouac was an experimenter in his prose, his life, and his faith. That all religions tie into one Universal belief succintly displays Kerouac's objective in this book. It develops Kerouac's vast grasp of intellect in ways that On the Road doesn't. That is the true heart and gem of this book