Wake up
Subtitle: a life of the Buddha
By: prepared by Jack Kerouac ; introduction by Robert A. F. Thurman
Contributors: Thurman, Robert A. F.
Publisher: Viking
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 146
ISBN-13: 9780670019571
Subjects: Doctrines; Religious biography; Buddhism; Buddhists; Biography
Other titles: Life of the Buddha
Description: Though raised Catholic, in the early 1950s Jack Kerouac became fascinated with Buddhism, an interest that would have a profound impact on his ideas of spirituality and their expression in his writing. Published for the first time in book form, this is Kerouac's retelling of the story of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who as a young man abandoned his wealthy family and comfortable home for a lifelong search for enlightenment. As a compendium of the teachings of the Buddha, Wake Up is a meditation on the nature of life, desire, wisdom, and suffering. Distilled from a variety of canonical scriptures, Wake Up serves as both a concise primer on the concepts of Buddhism and as a document of Kerouac's evolving beliefs. It is the work of a devoted spiritual follower of the Buddha who also happened to be one of the twentieth century's most influential novelists.--From publisher description.