The Dharma Bums: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

Ray sees the eternal beauty of nature in the trail leading up to Mount Matterhorn. He and Japhy glance back down the road, looking for Henry, and see a dust cloud that may or may not be him. Ray feels like he might have hiked this path in a past life—it seems so familiar. He starts to feel dizzy and tired from the altitude, and he and Japhy fall silent as they walk. Japhy remarks that he feels like they’re communicating telepathically.

Ray and Japhy clear the top of a hill, and the trail ends: they only see a meadow, a pond, and a field of boulders ahead. Japhy points out “ducks,” small piles of rocks that other climbers have put up to signal the best path. Past the end of the boulders, Japhy tells Ray that before getting to the summit, they still have to reach a plateau; a section of “scree” (loose rocks); another bunch of boulders; and an almost vertical final section.

Ray says that they should make camp right where they are, in the meadow, but Japhy insists on getting to the plateau, where it’s less likely that anyone else will show up. They briefly rest and then start making their way up the boulders, jumping from one to the next for miles. Ray admires how gracefully Japhy moves, and Japhy tells Ray that climbing is just like Zen Buddhism: it should be automatic and subconscious. They make their way up, slowly exhausting themselves in the late afternoon.

Eventually, Japhy drops his backpack and says that he’ll cover the last short section alone to scout for their campsite. Ray rests, and Japhy returns a half-hour later to lead him up. They pass through a snow-filled meadow and a little creek before reaching their campsite, under an enormous concave rock. Japhy shows Ray the direction to Matterhorn, which is still a few miles away.

Ray and Japhy they set up camp and chat about the silence and beauty of the mountains, which Japhy says are like patient, meditating Buddhas. They make tea and debate where the giant rock they’re sleeping under could have come from. Japhy tells Ray that he loves to come out and spend weeks in this spot, wandering around naked and enjoying himself. And Ray tells Japhy about a special prayer he says for his friends, enemies, and relatives alike. He says the person’s name, then “equally empty, equally to be loved, equally a coming Buddha,” while thinking of the person’s eyes. Japhy writes this down in his notebook and says that he’ll show it to monks when he makes it to Japan. He says that Ray’s only fault is that he doesn’t spend enough time in nature, and then he starts making dinner out of his bulgur wheat and dried vegetables.

Ray and Japhy have seen no sign whatsoever of Henry Morley, and they start to worry that he might have gotten lost or injured. They wander around for awhile, but it gets dark. Then, they hear Henry yodeling in the distance, somewhere near the beginning of the boulders. They decide to sit on a cliff above the valley and wait.

Japhy prays with prayer beads and Ray meditates on the valley’s silence and their utter solitude there. Henry yodels at them from time to time, but he doesn't seem to be getting any closer. Meanwhile, as Ray observes the stunning sunset, he realizes that “rocks are space […] and space is illusion.” He contemplates Japhy’s brilliance and compares him to a saint, then remembers that people are “born just to die.” He nearly says all this to Japhy but decides to preserve the moment’s holy silence instead. Henry yodels again in the distance, and Ray and Japhy figure he’ll have to set up his own camp further down the mountain, which he does.