Writing As Enlightenment: Buddhist American Literature into the Twenty-first Century

210 Pages·2011·7.756 MB·English

by  John Whalen Bridge, Gary Storhoff, Jan Willis

Writing as
Enlightenment
Buddhist American Literature into
the Twenty-first Century
Edited by John Whalen-Bridge and Gary Storhoff
Foreword by Jan Willis
Writing as Enlightenment
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SUNY series in Buddhism and American Culture
—————
John Whalen-Bridge and Gary Storhoff, editors
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Writing as Enlightenment
Buddhist American Literature into the
Twenty-first Century
Edited by
John Whalen-Bridge and Gary Storhoff
Foreword by Jan Willis
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Cover photo credit: © Photographer: Stephen Coburn / Dreamstime.com
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2011 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic
tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in
writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production by Diane Ganeles
Marketing by Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Writing as enlightenment : Buddhist American literature into the twenty-first century /
edited by John Whalen-Bridge and Gary Storhoff.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in Buddhism and American culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-3920-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-3919-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. American literature—Buddhist authors—History and criticism. 2. American
literature—Buddhist influences. 3. Buddhism and literature—United States.
4. Buddhism in literature. I. Whalen-Bridge, John, 1961– II. Storhoff, Gary,
1947– III. Title: Buddhist American literature into the twenty-first century.
PS153.B83W75 2011
810.9'382943—dc22 2011005365
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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John Whalen-Bridge would like to dedicate his work on
Writing as Enlightenment:
Buddhist American Literature into the Twenty-first Century
to Professors John L. Abbott and Milton R. Stern.
Gary Storhoff would like to dedicate his work on this volume
to Professor Yakira Frank.
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Writing is the final enlightenment.
—Don DeLillo
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Foreword xi
Jan Willis
Introduction 1
John Whalen-Bridge & Gary Storhoff
Part I. Widening the Stream: Literature as Transmission
Chapter 1
The Transmission of Zen as Dual Discourse: Shaku Soen and
Okakura Kakuzo 19
Jane Falk
Chapter 2
Black American Buddhism: History and Representation 37
Linda Furgerson Selzer
Part II. The New Lamp: Buddhism and Contemporary Writers
Chapter 3
Some of the Dharma: The Human, the Heavenly, and the
“Real Work” in the Writings of Gary Snyder 71
Allan Johnston
Chapter 4
“Listen and Relate”: Buddhism, Daoism, and Chance in the Poetry
and Poetics of Jackson Mac Low 89
Jonathan Stalling
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viii Contents
Chapter 5
A Deeper Kind of Truth: Buddhist Themes in Don DeLillo’s Libra 109
Gary Storhoff
Part III. Speaking as Enlightenment:
Interviews with Buddhist Writers
Chapter 6
“The Present Moment Happening”: A Conversation with Gary Snyder
about Danger on Peaks 133
Julia Martin
Chapter 7
Embodied Mindfulness: Charles Johnson and Maxine Hong Kingston
on Buddhism, Race, and Beauty 141
John Whalen-Bridge
Chapter 8
Poetry and Practice at Naropa University 157
John Whalen-Bridge
List of Contributors 185
Index 189
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Acknowledgments
Reprinted with permission from the University of Massachusetts Press: pp.
107–26 from the introduction to Chapter 3, “The Emergence of Black Dharma
and Oxherding Tale, in Charles Johnson in Context by Linda Fergerson Selzer.
Copyright 2009 by University of Massachusetts Press and published by the
University of Massachusetts Press.
For Jackson Mac Low’s poetry, permission granted by Anne Tardos and
the Jackson Mac Low Papers in the Mandeville Special Collections Library at
the University of California, San Diego.
We wish to thank our families especially, and writers who have made so
much time for this project: Keith Abbott, Reed Bye, Charles Johnson, Maxine
Hong Kingston, Joanne Kyger, Elizabeth Robinson, Andrew Schelling, Gary
Snyder, and Jan Willis. We wish to thank our authors for perfect patience—this
has been a slow train comin’. Several research assistants kept the slow train
a-movin’: Angela Faye Oon, Nirmala Iswari, Loh Waiyee, Heidi Virshup, and
Jane Wong.
We have had the pleasure of working with Nancy Ellegate, Diane Ganeles,
Janice Vunk, and Diana Altobello. It is always a great pleasure to work with
Team SUNY.
John Whalen-Bridge would also like to thank National University of Singa-
pore for sabbatical release in 2009 and Lenz Foundation & Naropa University for
the opportunity to hunker down in the Allen Ginsberg Library for four months.
ix
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