Gary Snider and Zen

In the spirit of The Dharma Bums I am writing about Gary Snyder who influencec Japhy Ryder in the novel, as well as Zen's connection to the beat movement. While the beat movement (as movements do) had many different influences, there was a point in time where some of the bigger poets sought to be influenced by Zen. Snyder, along with Philip Whalen (who he lived with at the time) became interested with the idea. However, the reason that Gary is so important in this regard is that he was the poet who took the idea of Zen the most serious. In fact, he actually moved out to Japan as well as parts of Asia in order to get better connected with the culture and ideals. He then went forward to become a monk.

Zen is an aspect that largely influnced many different beat poets (including Kerouac and Walden) and was something they became very interested in. An example of this is The Dharma Bums but, also other works as well. Ginsberg, whon traveled throughout India with Snyder of his quest, also used Zen to fuel his poetry and Walden had traces of Zen sprinkled throughout his work. The idea of Zen seen in The Dharma Bums is an idea that travels beyond just that work. It was an idea integrated with the beat movement and prolific beat authors. However, perhaps none were as influnced as Snyder who, besides living a Zen lifestyle during the peak of the movement, also lives it today on a large plot of land he and other poets purchased in the Sierra Nevadas.