![]() ![]() The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac is the most explicit exploration of this need. ![]() Their congested thoughts found sanctuary in the Dharma, which nourished their need to be in the “here and now.” They often translated as being with “it” and searching for “it.” The Beats viewed mindful meditation as a wonderful coping mechanism for the fast-paced, capitalistic society of which they no longer wished to be a part. ![]() They stumbled upon Buddhism and in it they found an exciting and sympathetic way to understand humanity. They needed a respite and found it in Eastern Philosophy. ![]() Their encumbered, restive souls clashed with the reactionary Eisenhower administration and the ever-looming fear of the bomb. The Beats were a restless breed of young Americans who matured in the wake of World War II. At least for Kerouac and Ginsberg, Beat had a quasi-religious connotation. The world saw them as obscene hipsters (or dharma bums) who eschewed responsibility, but they viewed themselves as roamers of America and characters of a special spirituality. Sometime in the early 1950s, the Beat Generation helped bring Buddhism to the West, or at least they popularized it and expanded its influence. ![]()
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