Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha
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Book Overview
"The long, streaming style makes the book majestic and something that you absorb in one sitting, like a symphony."--Robert A. F. Thurman, from the Introduction In the mid-1950s, lifelong Catholic Jack Kerouac became fascinated with Buddhism, an interest that had a profound impact on his ideas of spirituality and later found expression in such works as Mexico City Blues and The Dharma Bums. Originally written in 1955, Wake Up is Kerouac's retelling of the life of Prince Siddhartha Gotama, who as a young man abandoned his wealthy family and comfortable home for a lifelong search for enlightenment. Distilled from a wide variety of canonical scriptures, Wake Up serves as both a penetrating account of the Buddha's life and a concise primer on the principal teachings of Buddhism. This edition includes an insightful introduction by Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman addressing Kerouac's engagement with Buddhism in his work and his life.
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Customer Reviews
Rated 4 starsUnremarkable but useful
The main thing I got from this book was that, prior to his descent into alcoholic psychosis, Jack Kerouac was truly persuaded of the doctrines espoused by Gautama, the man we have historically come to call "the Buddha." The book itself is very short--almost 30 pages of introduction by a Buddhist scholar, and about 140 pages by Kerouac. As much as half of Kerouac's writing is a direct lift (in quotation marks) from classical...
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Rated 5 starsKerouac's Biography of the Buddha
In the early 1950s, Jack Kerouac (1922 -- 1969)became fascinated with Buddhism. In 1955, he wrote this short, highly personalized biography of the Buddha, "Wake Up". The biography was serialized in 1993 in the Buddhist magazine "Tricycle" but it has never before appeared in book form. The book was published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Kerouac's most overtly Buddhist novel, "The Dharma Bums" which has also appeared...
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Rated 5 starsExcellent Description of Buddha and Buddhism
This is the first Jack Kerouac book that I have ever read, so I am not a follower of his. However, I have read many books on Buddhism, and this is one of the best. It covers the story of Buddha's life and his enlightened teachings in concise, but rich language, much of which is attributed to direct quotes from the Buddha. So even though this book is from a "famous" writer, its value is the remarkable story of the Buddha...
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Rated 5 starsSUPER ENLIGHTENING
ANOTHER "new" Kerouac book...denied publication until now...originally penned in the mid 1950's. Amazing. Make no mistake, this book is great great great and; as a source of enlightenment, unsurpassed. It's every bit as enlightening as his other Buddhist book, "Some of the Dharma," every bit as enlightening as selelcted poems from Mexico City Blues and many other poetry books as well. Kerouac's poetic abilities shine clear...
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