Beat is Enlightenement

Some of my Thoughts on Beat Lit.
Beat Literature as a whole does not interest me as much as Beat History as a History of three friends living in New York, searching for new ideas about literature and life, and new ways to express themselves; and the journeys this desire, of essentially spiritual freedom, takes them on across the world. Like the beginnings of Zen, these Lunatics would deviate from conventional norms and approach life and enlightenment directly. If I were asked to define it, that's what Beat would be to me: American Zen: Direct Expression of Self: Enlightenment: No Way All Way Any Way Freedom of Self - but not little self: No! Big Self Baby! Big Big Big Self! Buddha Self! All Universe Open Heart Love Self: that's why Kerouac said Beat meant to be Sympathetic: Sympathy is Compassion: Compassion Is Enlightenment: Zen came over from Japan, but that was Japanese Zen; and the spirit of American Zen, the Universal Eternal Buddha Nature, was always here with Emerson and the Transcendental Maniacs: Just like the Buddha was always in China with Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu much before Bodhidharma brought the Language over: Then Huang Po and Lin Chi did exactly what Kerouac and Ginsberg did: they made it their own: Buddha Nature Now - Poems written on Stone Houses and Cold Mountains: that's what American Zen is: It's Beat. Zen is Chan; Chan is Dhyana; Dhyana is Meditation: Meditation is Real Buddhism; it's Buddha; it's Lotus Sutra Direct Transmission: who can see this? Clouds Flow overhead, and Chan Beat Buddha Lunatic Mystics Sing and Sing and Sing and Sing in the Eternal Love Blue Infinity: that's Beat: it's America Saying YES HERE IS MY ENLIGHTENMENT! Buddha Buddha Buddha!