Japhy’s Prayer Beads Symbol in The Dharma Bums

While Japhy and Ray are climbing Mount Matterhorn, Japhy gifts Ray a string of prayer beads as a token of their friendship. The beads come to represent Japhy's wisdom and the way friendship, knowledge, and spiritual practice are linked for Ray. Namely, Japhy is a kind of spiritual master for Ray: he is far more knowledgeable about Buddhism, and Ray constantly turns to him for advice. He gives Ray the prayer beads during the trip that shows Ray the spiritual value of camping and hiking, so the beads become a symbol of the way their friendship is based on Japhy’s wisdom and the specific spiritual practices they share (meditation in the wilderness). Accordingly, when Ray later says a prayer with Japhy’s beads, this represents his appreciation for everything that Japhy has taught him and his attempts to put Japhy’s spiritual beliefs into practice.

Japhy’s Prayer Beads Symbol Timeline in The Dharma Bums

The timeline below shows where the symbol Japhy’s Prayer Beads appears in The Dharma Bums. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...up on a farm in Oregon and working as a fire lookout, skiing, and climbing mountains during his summers off from college. Afterward, Japhy explains, he started logging, which he remembers... (full context)

The guys drive up into the mountains and get a drink at a bar full of hunters who obsessively ask if they’ve... (full context)

...them, but they soon give up when they realize that the three men are just mountain climbers. (full context)

...gone, Ray and Japhy have a much more interesting conversation on their way up the mountain. Ray admires how comfortable Japhy seems in nature—he even repairs the trail on the way,... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...Ray and Japhy figure he’ll have to set up his own camp further down the mountain, which he does. (full context)

Ray writes that he admires Japhy’s charitability—when they reunite, Japhy gives him a string of wooden prayer beads , and Japhy makes sure that Ray sleeps closer to the fire at night. (This... (full context)

...of existence and the Zen Buddhist aphorism “When you get to the top of a mountain, keep climbing,” which horrifies him in this context. Japhy yodels at him from the top... (full context)

...Ray remarks that he now understands why Japhy told him “you can’t fall off a mountain,” and Japhy says that this is what “when you get to the top of a... (full context)

...evening, the party’s attendees are three couples: Japhy and Polly Whitmore, a beautiful, recently divorced mountain-climber; Sean and Christine; and Christine’s brother Whitey Jones and Patsy, his fiancée. The odd men... (full context)

Inclusion, Exclusion, and Community Theme Icon

...eager to start their hike, so they pack their things and sneak off toward the mountains. Japhy excitedly proclaims that they should take a trip to Alaska later, in the winter,... (full context)

Japhy starts talking about Japan, where he recalls that Rol Sturlason is currently climbing a mountain. When Japhy arrives in Japan, he plans to wear traditional robes so that he can... (full context)

...him to Crescent City. A gold miner and avid fisherman brings him to a nondescript mountain town where he naps in the woods, and then a used-car salesman and morose young... (full context)

...and then various farmers and miners bring him across the Skagit River and up into mountains on a road flanked by steep cliffs. (full context)

...River, while everyone else parties at carnivals. The river flows fast down from the cloud-covered mountaintops; Ray watches birds fish in it and logs float down it. The trees and leaves... (full context)

When it’s time to head up the mountain, Ray buys groceries and drives up the Skagit River with a muleskinner named Happy. They... (full context)

Japhy’s Prayer Beads Symbol Analysis

Japhy’s Prayer Beads Symbol Timeline in The Dharma Bums