Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Jack Kerouac


"here's to the crazy ones. the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers. the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently. they're not fond of the rules and have no respect for the status quo. you can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. about the only thing you can't do is ignore them. because they change things, they push the human race forward. and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."


Before all the Western Buddhist Organizations appeared, before the great influx of spiritual masters invaded the West, before the orthodoxy of Zen and Buddhism appeared in the West, there were a handful of poets and thinkers who were known as the 'beats.'

For us to miss the original insight that evolved into the hippie movement, we have to realize that the American manifestation of Zen and Buddhism has already been cast; was it too radical for those who followed or is the bone of their vision still shining brightly in our lives today? 

I bow in reverence to the few who changed so much for all of us today. Much of what they stood for is now being challenged in the twenty-first century, its time to reflect and realize that the simplicity of what was imagined can still be manifest in all of our lives.

dochong, psn

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Tessa said...

That quote is absolutely NOT Jack Kerouac's. It is all over the internet as Jack's but it is not. It is Steve Jobs from an Apple ad. Jack's is far more poetic...

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”

I wish people would actually read Kerouac instead of mis-quoting him. It is not cool.

September 8, 2010 at 6:22 AM  
Blogger Uku said...

I love Kerouac! Dr. Sax rules!

September 8, 2010 at 1:03 PM  
Anonymous Chana said...

I read some article on Shambala a few years back that asked the question "Where have all the crazy/mad teachers gone?" It was a women who had lived in the "early days" of the hippie movement and followed the type of personal anarchy
that the "beats" wrote about and lived. It was anti-establishment. That seems to be something that is missing from Buddhist practice these days. Instead it has turned into doing the things that are acceptable to the teachers and rules of Buddhism. People now expect to find "friends" and a place of safety and a comforting atmosphere. Maybe society has turned too harsh for taking chances on not fitting in. At any rate i ask the same question "Where have all the crazy/mad teachers of Buddhism gone?!"

Chana

September 12, 2010 at 3:08 AM  
Blogger Mike said...

Tessa is right.

March 12, 2012 at 4:49 AM  
Blogger JC said...

Actual Kerouac quote (from On the Road) that's sometimes cited as an inspiration for the Apple Computer ad: “the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”

Apple computer ad using the originally posted quote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmwXdGm89Tk

October 24, 2014 at 2:30 PM  

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