Allen Ginsberg Dharma Talk: Buddhism and the Beats :: Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics Audio Archive

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Title	Allen Ginsberg Dharma Talk: Buddhism and the Beats
Performer(s)	Ginsberg, Allen
Subject 1	Meditation--Buddhism.
Subject 2	Beat generation.
Subject 3	Kerouac, Jack, 1922-1969.
Abstract	Allen Ginsberg gives a dharma talk in which he mostly relates anecdotes about his introduction to Buddhism and the practice of sitting meditation. He discusses Jack Kerouac at length as well as the evolution of his meditative/contemplative practice, including meeting and developing a relationship with Chögyam Trungpa.
Content	0:17 Allen Ginsberg begins the talk by describing his relationship to sitting practice. He talks about his spiritual bent with Jack Kerouac when he was seventeen/eighteen years old. What they called ‘supreme reality’ and ‘new vision.’ Reading Arthur Rimbaud who thought poets should be seers. Rimbaud’s idea of ‘derangements of the senses.’ Along with Kerouac, exploration of sensations, especially pain. 4:03 His naïve, expansive desire to save mankind. The universality of this desire. 6:37 William Burroughs' interest in nonverbal states. What would total silence be like? What is behind language? Burroughs said art has no built in meaning. Words are not identical with thoughts. 9:35 Kerouac’s discovery of Buddhist texts, in response to Neal Cassidy’s fascination with Edgar Cayce and reincarnation. Things Kerouac relayed to Ginsberg: 1) Refuge vows. 2) Quotation from Diamond Sutra, “All conceptions of the existence of the self…” 14:58 Ginsberg relays anecdote about his psychedelic/spiritual experience in 1948. Difficulties in trying to both communicate and repeat that experience. 20:32 Quotes William Blake’s "Eternity.” Discusses trip to India many years later; meeting swamis and lamas while seeking answers on how to experience ‘open mind’ again. Best advice he’s ever had, “If you see something horrible don’t cling to it and if you see something beautiful don’t cling to it.” 24:03 Discusses how meditation instruction was not offered to him and describes first learning to sit in 1970. How his meditation practice evolved. 29:00 Q & A touching upon many topics including Gary Snyder’s meditation practice, Kerouac’s “The Scripture of the Golden Eternity,” and meeting and developing a relationship with Chögyam Trungpa. 35:50 Recording ends.
Type of Event	Talk
Date Recorded	1988-07-01
File Format	.mp3
Performance Length	35:50
Rights Information	Copyright release given to Naropa University for the purposes of preservation, marketing and educational use. All other rights reserved to individual performers.
Department	Writing
Original Format	Audio cassette
Tape Order	1 of 1
Publisher	Allen Ginsberg Library and Naropa University Archives
Type	Sound
Language	eng
File Name	88P012.mp3

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Allen Ginsberg Dharma Talk: Buddhism and the Beats

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