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Jack Kerouac's 'Fifth Dalai Lama'

668 Words3 Pages

Mary Drury
English – World Literature
Professor Kerri Gamache
21 December 2017
Lobsang Gyatso, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama In Jack Kerouac's Wake Up we learn that the Buddha Siddhartha sat under a bodhi tree and became enlightened (Kerouac). And this kind of enlightenment is represented today by Tibetan Buddhist Dalai Lamas. These Dalai Lama's are spiritual leaders in Tibetan Buddhist communities and thought to be a representation of both a human and divine being. The sculpture of this paper was chosen because it reflects a real person who once walked this earth. In this paper, we will look at why Dalai Lama's are important to Tibetan Buddhism, and why enlightenment is an essential part of Buddhism. The Sculpture of this paper is of the fifth Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso. It is a dark bronze statue of a bald man clothed in heavy Buddhist robes. He holds a sutra in one hand, and his right-hand touches the ground. He sits cross legged on a platform. His expression is neutral. He does not appear happy, sad, or anything else. He simply sits and stares at the world. An interpretation of this piece would reveal that Sutra are scriptures, many of which are regarded as records of the oral …show more content…

To understand the Dalai Lama, we must understand Buddhism. To this authors understanding, Buddhism is firstly about understanding and accepting the pain and suffering in the world. This is demonstrated in Jack Kerouac's novel when he writes how Siddhartha thought under the bodhi tree "I WILL NOT RISE FROM THIS SPOT, UNTIL FREED FROM CLINGING, MY MIND ATTAINS TO DELIVERANCE FROM ALL SORROW" (Kerouac). This is Buddhism at its base. This story of Siddhartha is about one man's quest to end his own sorrow. He was sad and disturbed by the suffering in the world. Why would he want to live in a world where people die, starve, and feel such pain as when a loved one dies? This question caused Siddhartha to leave home and seek out the

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He has this desire to quench the thirst of finding himself spiritually. “It often seemed near--the heavenly world-- not one who had completely quenched the eternal thirst”(8). The first part of his journey he departs from his restricted life with his father and goes and lives with the samanas becoming an individual. Through this experience, Siddhartha acknowledges many things from the semanas. “He traveled along the path of self-denial through

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