Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums
Pg. 5

“He ate the cheese and bread and drank the wine with gusto and gratitude. I was pleased. I reminded myself of the line in the Diamond Sutra that says, “Practice charity without holding in mind any conceptions about charity, for charity after all is just a word.”

While Ray Smith was traveling on a train to Santa Barbara he met this bum in the box. When they stopped Ray went and got some food when he came back he noticed that not only did the bum look cold but he also looked hungry out of compassion Ray offered to share his food and drink. By helping this person in need it was like charity but instead of doing it for the feeling of he helped someone out for later satisfaction towards God, Ray did it out of the goodness of his heart, no where in his mind was he thinking of what satisfaction it would bring to him later but that the bum was in need and he had the supplies to help him out. From the beginning of the book there is already characteristics about Ray that are pleasant and friendly.

Pg. 24

“Nobody knows, some monk, or monks, long ago. But there is a definite mysterious form in the arrangement of the rocks. It’s only through form that we can realize emptiness.”

When Ray went to visit Japhy, he found him trying to translate Han Shan’s poem called Cold Mountain, which was written one thousand years ago while they were there Ray saw arrangements of rocks that were in shapes of stories or poems. From the form of which the rocks were aligned you can figure out a story that is personal to the one who made it.