American Buddhism's Literary
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Reviews AMERICAN BUDDHISM’S LITERARY WAY harma is everywhere, but sometimes THE EMERGENCE it takes an adroit finger to point it OF BUDDHIST AMERICAN Dout to us. This is an art, which is LITERATURE one of many possible translations for the Edited by John Whalen-Bridge Sanskrit term upaya, or skillful means. and Gary Storhoff Consider the ox-herding sequence from twelfth-century China, equally a cul- SUNY Press, 2009 tural masterpiece and a timeless tool for 272 pages, $80 (hardcover) teaching dharma. As the Japanese say- ing goes, “The Buddha Way is no dif- ferent than the Art Way.” Now comes Reviewed by Gary Gach a groundbreaking anthology of critical writings making vital new connections between buddhadharma and American literature, bringing the ox home. Who is a Buddhist writer? What par- adoxes and stereotypes might the Bud- dhist American writer encounter and Second, the exchange is mutual. Just here, naturally aren’t isolated and water- transcend? How has Buddhism influ- as American literature has been enriched tight. Yuemin He, for instance, touches enced American literature—and vice by our encounter with Buddhism, so too on all of them as she looks deeply at Gary versa? The dozen or so contributors has literature facilitated how Americans Snyder’s translation in the late 1950s of a to The Emergence of Buddhist Ameri- have perceived and received Buddhism. then relatively obscure Tang dynasty poet, can Literature address such matters as The literature of the Beats, for example, Han Shan (Cold Mountain). She unfolds these, which naturally resonate with helped to spread the ideas taught by D.T. a thesis showing how his selection and readers and students of the Way, as well Suzuki and Alan Watts to an even wider rendering of poems provided “a mirror as academics. audience. that gave Americans their own reflec- Editors John Whalen-Bridge and Gary And, third, the scope of the Ameri- tions,” rather different from how Chinese Storhoff have carved out a varied selec- can experience is by definition diverse, perceive him. Her analysis offers up criti- tion of well-crafted materials, using three which is acknowledged here in a sec- cal tools that we as dharma practitioners broad themes to guide their arrange- tion highlighting Buddhist American could employ to avoid getting trapped in ment. First, there’s the recognition that literature by people of color. In the the mirror of orientalism, exoticizing an there’s no adoption of Buddhism by any immigrant experience and with racial other to establish a flattering position for culture without adaptation. Buddhism identity, “experience” and “identity” ourselves. Indeed, Emergence is admirably isn’t some free-ranging abstraction float- are ultimately provisional concepts, as rich throughout in such unflinching, pro- ing around in the ether. with all things. But just as literature can vocative relevancies. (Snyder also is fea- inspire or embody inner practice, so too tured later in the book in Tom Lavazzi’s can it look outward to the individual’s appreciation of the iconoclastic but vital GARY GACH teaches meditation in San Francisco at mindful engagement in the world, pro- intertwining of a poet’s deep reading of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples. He’s editor of What Book!? Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop viding helpful insights along the way. ecology and anthropology, in tandem and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Buddhism. These three themes, quickly summed up with Eastern sources.) buddhadharma: the practitioner’s quarterly FALL 2009 76 Reviews Emergence doesn’t favor any one for instance, Johnson imagines King, in approach. Some contributions are sharply 1954, raiding the icebox for a midnight focused topics, such as Jane Falk’s study snack before working on what would of Zen in the poetry of Philip Whalen; become one of his most famous sermons. Jane Augustine’s essay on Vajrayana in And, lo!, he discovers the whole universe the poetry of Allen Ginsberg and Anne inside his refrigerator. Storhoff uncovers Waldman; and Marcus Boon’s discus- the more serious subtexts beneath this sion of the transgressive poetry of John humorously treated revelation, and its Giorno. Hanh Nguyen and R.C. Lutz, deeply profound implications. Johnson’s on the other hand, collaborate to unlock own fourteen-page afterword, also well multiple dimensions of karma layered in worth the read, testifies to the ample Lan Cao’s under-recognized novel, Mon- range and plainspoken depth of his key Bridge. insight, and his graceful, freely associa- Other pieces are free-form. Poet tive, nuanced but incisive style. Michael Heller, for example, surveys The authors of these critical essays Vajrayana, phenomenology, and the may keep office hours in English depart- Objectivist poets as mutual influences ments, but the scope of an English major on his own poetry. He maintains that has changed quite a bit since I was a awakening can occur equally through lad. It now spans a Swiss Army knife poetry or meditation—and without need of multiple disciplines: cultural studies, of credentials. critical theory, comparative literature, Maxine Hong Kingston and Charles literary translation studies, post colo- Johnson also speak experientially about nialism, etc. Be prepared for challeng- their own work. In addition to the ing yet rewarding reading, expanding insights in her pithy foreword, Kingston the horizons of the Humanities (what it is revealing in a 2004 interview with edi- means to be human) as well as American tor Whalen-Bridge, in which she speaks Buddhism. publicly for the first time about her Bud- The pages of Emergence contain but dhist influences. Whalen-Bridge hails her a handful of leaves from a vast conti- first book,The Woman Warrior (1976), nent, yet together they reflect the viable as “one of the four or five most influ- field of criticism emerging alongside ential books in postwar American writ- Buddhist American literature. As literary ing. In a creative, genre-bending form, critics help to open our eyes and minds it achieves three kinds of liberation at and hearts, we may come to see them once: women’s liberation, Asian-Amer- as a vital part of the dharma too. In so ican imaginative empowerment, and doing, we acknowledge what our best the insistence that personal utterance critics always do, in any field—assist us has a rightful place in the open world.” in renewing and sharpening our vision, This reviewer would add that her two so that we may learn to cultivate for most recent works remain largely under- ourselves the art of discernment, also appreciated: The Fifth Book of Peace known as deep seeing. (which took her fifteen years to write), As further cause for celebration, and her subsequent anthology, Veterans this title is the first of a new series on of War, Veterans of Peace. Buddhism and American culture from The editors are no less laudatory SUNY Press. Judging from this initial about Charles Johnson, praising him as entry, we can look forward to further “the leading spokesperson for Buddhism illumination along the trail. And if you and literature in America today.” In sup- happen to see a big blue ox named Babe, port of this, Gary Storhoff offers close you might ask him if Paul Bunyan has readings of the many meditation reso- considered trying Manjushri’s nondual nances in Johnson’s Dr. King’s Refriger- sword of awakened wisdom in place of ator and Other Stories. In the title story, his axe. 77 FALL 2009 buddhadharma: the practitioner’s quarterly.