"The Dharma Bum"

Gary Snyder (1930-), one of the leading contemporary American poets, has always been regarded by many critics as "the only beat poet who is unbeaten". His greatest contribution to American poem is to integrate Eastern cultures and values into poem creation in hope of finding ways to solve a variety of social problems in western countries. Finally, he turns his eyes to Zen Buddhism, the ancient Eastern religion. Mountains and Rivers Without End, as Snyder's master work, is the fruit of such approach which get its inspiration from an ancient Chinese hand scroll painting "Stream and Mountains Without End". Through forty-year effort to create Mountains and Rivers Without End, Snyder contemplates the relationship between humanity and society, between humanity and nature. In view of this, this research sets out to explore Snyder's relation to Zen Buddhism via his poem collection Mountains and Rivers Without End in hope of gaining new insight into life and our existence.This thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter one gives a brief introduction about Snyder's achievement in poetry realm and his life experience related to poetic creation. Meanwhile, the issue and purpose of this research is defined. The second chapter begins with the introduction of Mountains and Rivers Without End and its relevant information before a review of the existent criticism on this collection. It is found that in spite of the much attention that it receives, little is discussed about its underlying theme---pursuit of original mind as is inspired by his attachment to Zen Buddihsm. Therefore, Chapter Three offers a brief account of Zen Buddhism and "original mind", and explains the poet's intimate connection with them. In Chapter Four, Mountains and Rivers Without End is interpreted as an intercultural journey through the analysis of the relation between this poem collection and traditional Chinese paintings of landscape, which, with their intangibility and impressionist expression, are believed to serve as a bridge over cultural and language barriers for westerners to understand Zen Buddhism. In the fifth chapter, capitalism is criticized as the root cause for the alienation of human existence and the necessity of finding remedy for modern diseases is explained. One of such remedies is the recovery of original mind, which has a healing effect and can be best achieved with the aid of artistic creation. Accordingly, we follow the poet's journey toward "original mind" in Mountains and Rivers Without End and consider the authenticity of our being.As a conclusion, Chapter Six indicates that although capitalism is the major force in alienating people from their original mind, it is not the sole one. Many other forces of modern society make it nearly impossible for people to retain the authenticity of their lives. In spite of the abundant material wealth and consumer goods, are we really happier than our ancestors? Moreover, even if these approaches the poet presents in this poem collection are not practicable to many people, it at least provides a chance for us to see a possibility of living otherwise.