HinduismEssay Preview: HinduismReport this essayy the 1960s, amid the growing independence of teenagers and their search for meaning in their lives, Salingers story of 16-year-old Holden Caufield and his Christmas season jaunt in 1940s Manhattan seemed even more relevant than it had been in 1951. Sales grew rapidly as teenagers began reading the novel not only to satisfy class requirements (the book proved ideal for teachers seeking to connect their students with literature), but also as a source of answers, guidance, and inspiration in their own lives. Amid the war in Vietnam and a burgeoning counter-culture, even adults who found themselves perplexed by the younger generation began referring to the novel in new and immediate terms. This made Salinger a vastly popular and influential literary presence in a decade in which he published very little new work. Indeed, his output had slowed down considerably by the 60s, and he became known principally through his works of the 1940s and 50s, particularly The Catcher in the Rye and the anthologies that had been assembled of his shorter works, such as Nine Stories and Franny and Zooey. The man, himself, however, was (and remained) a mystery, which, apparently, is how he had always wanted it. Even when his stories began appearing in print in the early 40s, Salinger did not allow his editors to include any information about him, ostensibly because he didnt want any personal details to distract the reader from the writing. By all accounts, the authors desire for privacy only increased in the decades to follow. Salinger pursued several legal avenues to preserve it, and specifically tried to prevent the publication of letters that he had written to others. The demand for his work was such that, in 1974, an enterprising pirate had published two volumes of The Uncollected Short Stories of J.D. Salinger, made up of several short works (principally from the early 40s) that the author had chosen not to include in his official anthologies. Both volumes were quickly suppressed by legal action, but, as late as 1988, they could still be found (albeit with difficulty) on the collectors market, costing several hundred dollars each and handled under the strictest security.
Foremost among these challenges is that Salingers experience with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder somehow means that he is a psychologically scarred individual who cannot deal with the traumatic nature of his war service. Ms. Salinger paints a picture of J. D. as a man immensely proud of his service record, maintaining his military haircut, service jacket, and moving about his compound (and town) in an old Jeep. Ms. Salinger offered many insights into the Salinger myths, including her fathers supposed long-time interest in macrobiotics and involvement with what is today known as “alternative medicine” and Eastern philosophies.
Salinger had been a follower of Zen Buddhism, and had met the scholar D. T. Suzuki. Then he became a life-long student of Advaita Vedanta HinduismThe Jesus Prayer: The crux of Franny and Zooey is the Jesus Prayer Franny takes from the religious “Pilgrim” books. By incessantly praying to Jesus, the person who prays is endowed with “Christ-Consciousness,” in Zooeys words, and can see God, in Frannys words. What Franny realizes only at the end of the novel, thanks to Zooeys wisdom, is that not only does one unite with Jesus through the prayer, but through all humanity, since everyone carries Christ within him or herself. The Jesus Prayer has more to do with love than with religion, as incessant praying spans several religions.
The Fat Lady: The point of the Jesus Prayer, that all humans deserve love and respect if only for their very humanity, is embodied in the persona of the “Fat Lady,” Seymours name for the (what Franny and Zooey perceive to be) uneducated, unattractive fans of “Its a Wise Child.” Ultimately, we can see the Fat Lady symbolized as Bessie – Zooey even calls her “fat” several times – who is far below her children in terms of intelligence, but still deserves their respect and love. Respect was Frannys original deficit – she told Lane she was sick of liking people and wished “to God I could meet somebody I could respect.” By literally doing this – praying to Jesus – she learns respect for those she has already met. We may assume that Zooey, who has a far more hostile relationship with Bessie, will come to this conclusion, as well.
Zen and the Art of No-Knowledge: The novel is peppered with Zen Buddhist ideas, largely centering around the concept of “no-knowledge.” The Buddhist must clear his head of preconceived ideas in order to attain wisdom. This process counters Western education, which crams its students with knowledge – Franny complains that the poets at her school dont leave anything beautiful on the page, but only get into your head. She is upset at herself, as well, for trying to hoard wisdom through the Jesus Prayer as others hoard knowledge. True “no-knowledge,” by its very absence, cannot be hoarded.
Ego, Detachment, and Destruction: The path to Buddhist “no-knowledge” is detachment, the letting go of ones personal ego and selfish concerns to attain enlightened beauty. Why does Franny rail against the section men and her professors? They are competitively absorbed in their own egos, and whatever detachment they have is detachment from humanity. As such, they lead insecure lives of critical destruction – the section men ruin literature for others, Lane is interested only in his critical paper on Flaubert. Buddhist detachment rids oneself of the negativity of ego and frees up the positive part of the ego: Zooey tells Franny she must act, as that is her God-given talent, and use her ego as best she can (much
) to change society. We must find new ways of self-restoration, and all the great work of Buddhism to come. If detachment is the path to liberation then the monks of a sect are not the saints of a sect. This is particularly true for those who feel that the teachings of Zen are not valid or the teachings of Buddhism are not valid. As they take their life back from the monks, they discover the emptiness that is the Buddha’s teaching of the mind. They will go to this emptiness when their mind, or ego, is cleansed by a Zen teacher and their conscience free (e.g., if the Buddha were a Buddhist and the teachings of the mind are not valid, then they will be able to move, take and control their mind). There is no stopping this process. The monk’s work will not be done even if the monk makes a mistake and takes out of his heart a new person or an identity. Instead, he will work to see the suffering of that person, to heal their negative aspects, as the Buddha did, or as the Buddha did in his time but never, because of negative karma. And there will never be a time when the Buddha says, “Thou-gawa, no matter how I feel, it will suffice” to “have peace”. Rather, he must think and think for himself. For that reason, Buddhists are quite open about this aspect. They say they are not opposed to the teaching that they cannot change their minds (Iliotim Buddha) or their thinking (Zuni Zen), but they want to change them at some critical moment. They wish to live a new life in a peaceful state of mind. This is a much different idea from the one that some Buddhist practitioners tend to prefer. However, when the Buddha’s teaching is done, Buddhists will have a very deep insight into their own lives and of their inner lives. A good way to accomplish this would be to use a form of meditation that is much closer to Zen than the old version. Some Buddhist groups want to adopt a Zen meditation that is much more relaxing, more contemplative, more non-judgmental and more peaceful, and they say a non-Zen meditation is in the best way possible while still being very relaxing. The more they do such a meditation, the healthier and more spiritual we tend to be. But for any particular religious sect and their members, it would really only be because they find it so appealing that they do it. So no meditation is bad — when it does good, people appreciate it that much more. Buddhists have seen that the only way to understand the mind is to do Zen meditations. This is part of Buddhist spiritual teaching, but the way Zen meditations work, the way it affects the mind too, doesn’t have to be taught in this