Kerouac's dedication to contemplation and Buddhist meditative practice was highly criticized by his mother and by what he perceived to be society at large. In many of the choruses, he responds harshly to critics of the meditative life. He states first that:

"Eternity / Is the other side / Of the other part / Of your mind / That you ignore / Because you want to." And later that: "'Men are afraid to forget / their own minds, / Fearing to fall thru the void / With nothing to which they can cling."

In these statements the poet both explains and defends his retreat to Mexico in pursuit of the contemplative life. In other portions of the work, he describes the actual practice of stillness. The practice of meditation, to Kerouac, is one in which "Thinking has stopped" and one has "No direction to go but inward." He tells his readers to be "devout under trees," to "stop thinking, stop breathing," and to "Lie down / Rest." Throughout the work he reiterates "Buddha's Secret Moonlight: -- / the Ancient Virtue of laying up / and thinking happy & comfortable / thoughts."

Kerouac writes that the practice of meditation has led him to ecstasy and truth. His descriptions of these discoveries range from those reminiscent of his earlier writings during drug trips to those which portray a stillness which seems entirely unique to his Buddhist influenced writings. All of these depictions are characterized by a sense of serenity and inner revelation. He tells of instances when his "eyes were bright with seeing emptiness," when he encountered "a Golden Age of silent darkness in [his] happy heart," when he "listened to the eternal return with no expression," and when he witnessed "the clear sight of varied crystal mountains shifting in the air."

In Chorus 111, he writes of a height in his discoveries:

"When I attained Highest / Perfect / Wisdom / . . . / I even dropped my conception / of highest old wisdom / And turned to the world, / a Buddha inside, / And said nothing. / and I had no idea / what I was thinking about / and abided in blank ecstasy."

The Choruses of "Mexico City Blues" fully explore Kerouac's practice of meditation during his time in Mexico. He explains to his readers his reasons for retreating to this life of stillness, the actual practice of stillness, and his encounters with truth through meditation.

Kerouac's poetry clearly reveals his denial of Catholicism, acceptance of Buddhism, and experimentation with mediation. More subtle references to specific Buddhist principles reveal Kerouac's understanding of and belief in the Mahayana strand of Buddhism. Although Kerouac claimed to be drawn to Mahayana Buddhism's emphasis on compassion, "Mexico City Blues" reveals only a small influence of the compassionate, but examines in depth many less central Mahayana tenets.

Kerouac expresses the Mahayanan concepts of the transcendental, Buddha as Essence or dharma, and Shunyada (or non-self). Throughout the choruses, Kerouac makes
reference to the transcendental nature of Buddhist truth: a middleless center, the Universal mind, Madness rioting Everywhere, and One Light, One Transcendental Ecstasy .

In Chorus 132 he writes:

"Innumerable infinite songs. / Great suffering of the atomic in verse / . . . That's Buddhism. / That's Universal Mind." This obvious allusion to Whitman's "Song of Myself" identifies American Transcendentalism with Buddhist thought.

Still, Kerouac proves his Mahayana thought to be more complex than that of the Transcendentalists as he then incorporates the non-self into his understanding of the Universal Mind. Recognizing that "There is no selfhood that can begin the practice," Kerouac continually reminds himself and his reader: "no-self, no-self, no-self, Dass is the order of the Day." The 6th Chorus tells that:

Self depends on existence of other
self, and so no Solo Universal Self
exists -- no self, no other self,
no innumerable selves, no
Universal self and no ideas
relating to existence or non-
existence thereof --

This exploration of reality without self could potentially confound non-Buddhist readers.But Kerouac's incorporation of Buddha as essence (or dharma) elucidates the Mahayana belief. According to Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddha exists in three forms. The third form is known as the "body of essence" and is "the manifestation of the truth that is dharma."

Kerouac explains this concept in three separate choruses. He tells the reader that:

"Dharma law / Say / All things is made / of the same thing" and then that "all things is made / of the same thing / essence." Later, he completes his connection to the dharma when he writes that "essence is the word for the finger / that shows us bright blankness" and "The Essence of Existence / is Buddhahood."

Kerouac's writings on essence thus explain that the third manifestation of Buddha is the transcendental essence which both guides toward, and is, the Universal mind. This dual function is possible as there is no self by which to differentiate the guide, the guided, and the destination. Through exploration of the transcendental Universal mind, Shunyada, and dharma, Kerouac demonstrates the complexity of his faith in Mahayana Buddhism.

Kerouac's contemporaries and disciples surely overlooked the many complexities of "Mexico City Blues." Without previous knowledge of Buddhist principles, the American public could not have grasped Kerouac's full intent.

Still, analysis of the work reveals that Kerouac himself held an involved and educated faith in Mahayana Buddhism during his time in Mexico. Thus to dismiss Beat Buddhism as mere non-conformity is to severely misinterpret the significance of the religion to Beat literature.

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