Franny and Zooey and Buddhism

One interesting way to analize J. D. Salingers Franny and Zooey is from the Buddhist perspective. The story follows a conflict line that touches on the constant search for spirituality, simplicity found in everyday things and the progress from a state of ignorance to the rise of enlightment and wisdom. All of these notions can be explained and understood under the light of Buddhism, which is defined as a path of practice and spiritual development leading to the qualities of awareness, kindness and wisdom. In the following essay, three main conflicts will be studied: polarized thinking, lack of awareness in the search for spirituality and No Knowledge, elements stated in the story, which will shed a light on how Franny can grow at heart and mind and balance her life. The first important issue inside Salingers story is polarized thinking. According to Buddhism, we, as human beings, see everything separated from each other thing. We tend to classify all elements into separate entities such as men and women, you and me, friends and enemies, among others. What the Buddhist perspective claims is that these differences are illusory and only lead to confusion and conflict. We have to learn to perceive ourselves and our universe but we need to consider that we are not different entities but part of the same reality and we complement each other not only with other people but with nature and the rest of the world also. This can be seen in the following quotes about Buddhism: The way we believe things are is based on a polarized understanding, a polarized thinking on a cultural collective unconscious level, resulting in wars, famine and general suffering in the world. Communication becomes impossible when we believe that we are in an essentially antagonistic relationship with the other. We lack the profound understanding that actually polar pairs in a seemingly irreconcilable fight are actually complementary and harmonic. Actually, what we interpret as conflict is a balance of tensions through which a system rebalances, renews, and expands itself. We need to rise above the terms of the conflict, or look deeply into them, and see the system as a whole. This concept called Non-Duality proposes that Polar Pairs are not in an antagonist position but rather in a competitive collaboration. If we get to understand this and accept it, we will avoid conflict and misunderstanding and communication and treatment with the others will become clearer and more peaceful. In the story, this important perspective is reflected in Frannys constant search for spiritual guidance. As she and her bothers were raised under a blend of different religions, she felt confused and she could not find God. Moreover, she felt frustrated because everybody and everything seemed vain to her eyes. To help Franny in this search for answers, her brother Zooey takes part and explains that is not by looking for a person that she would find God but by looking to everyday things and forgetting about the differences among such things and institutions, such as religious. This is seen in the books next quote:

Seymour once said to me in a crosstown bus, of all places that all legitimate religious study must lead to unlearning the differences, the illusory differences between boys and girls, animals and stones, day and night, heat and cold (27). Here, the meaning of unlearning the differences is understanding that every single thing is not separated from other things but that they complement each other. In this quote Zooey is telling Franny that God is everywhere in everything. When Franny understands this, she finds peace and liberates herself from confusion. This is exactly what Buddhism claims. RAVI The last concept taken from the Buddhist perspective which is reflected in the story is called No Knowledge. This means that before accepting new notions of the Buddhist knowledge, such as Non Dualism, spirituality and simplicity, among others; we need to forget any preconceived ideas that we already have about the world and any information that we stored in our minds about our relationship with the universe. It is necessary to leave this knowledge of Duality behind, to empty our thoughts and accept the new Knowledge completely. With this, we do not want to exclude conflict but to change our relationship towards it. If we do this, we become pure and leave sorrow in the past. The following quotes reflect this perspective: The Buddhist perspective suggests that change must first come in the way we perceive ourselves, the world and the universe. We must learn how our own minds work, which is the instrument by which we give meaning and sense to the world. The first step is to recognize the nature of the problem. In this case it is the dual and fragmented way of seeing the world, which only perpetuates struggle and conflict. In dual thinking, opposing views are seen as antagonistic, lacking the understanding that conflict is the way a system has to renew, rebalance and grow. As it was stated in the quotes above, it is through conflict that we can achieve new knowledge, renew our views and reborn in our minds. According to the Buddhist perspective, it is from mere knowledge that purity is reached, not by achievements or virtue. This concept of No Knowledge is clearly seen in the Franny and Zooey story. Zooey talks about this point very explicitly in a specific part of the book when he mentions how Seymour, his brother, thought the ideal education should be. This is portrayed in the next quote taken from the book: Seymour had already begun to believe (and I agreed with him, as far as I was able to see the point) that education by any name would smell as sweet, and maybe much sweeter, if it didnt begin with a quest for knowledge at all but with a quest, as Zen would put it, for noknowledge. Dr. Suzuki says somewhere that to be in a state of pure consciousness satori is to be with God before he said, Let there be light (65). The quote selected reflects the idea of mind emptiness to be with God. This means that the only way to reach peace and purity is through Knowledge. However, what it is really important is that first of all, we need to clear out our minds from previous information, and then accept the new knowledge of Non Dualism, a new way to see the world around us.

References: Definition of Buddhism: http://thebuddhistcentre.com/text/what-buddhism Info: http://classiclit.about.com/od/frannyandzooey/a/aa_frannyquote.htm Info no knowledge: http://www.budsir.org/buddhism.htm