The Dharma Bums-Jack Kerouac(Quote Responses) 200-223

"I think death is our reward. When we die we go straight to nirvana Heaven and that's that." (Kerouac, 202)

-This is said by Smith when Japhy and him are discussing, like they frequently do, their different opinions on buddhist teachings, and their own opinions derived from them. Ray and Japhy have just had their huge 3 day send off party for Japhy and are also discussing why when everyone has so much fun, you wake up feeling "sad and seperate" from everyone else. The way that Smith thinks about death reflects the way he feels about life. He feels life is such torture that death is your reward for going through it. He also believes there is no judgement and that this "nirvana Heaven" reflects biblical heaven but without the pearly gates, and entrance requirements. This just shows his desire for unquestioned acceptance, and understanding that you see him struggling for throughout the book.

"Adoration to emptiness of the divine Buddha bead." (Kerouac, 219)

-This is the one prayer Smith says over the beads Japhy gave to him. He's on his way to his mountain and is hitchhiking through California and Oregon to get to the Cascade Range on the "skirt of Canada." This prayer pays tribute to the incredible nothingness of Buddha, and the simple emptiness that is Buddhism. The bead of course is not what is empty or divine, but what stands for buddhism. In buddhism everything is everything else, they are all the same, so therefore if one thing is empty so is the bead, so is Smith, so is Japhy. This prayer was appropriate because he's getting ready to go to "his mountain" and he needs to remember the importance of that emptiness and respect that when he gets to that mountain nothing will be there for him because everything is nothing, he is nothing.