Dylan lyrics show religious themes

Heine said Dylan, who was born into a Jewish family and became an evangelical Christian from 1979 to 1983, was exposed to Zen Buddhism when he became friends with Allen Ginsberg and other beat writers in New York City's Greenwich Village during the early 1960s.

That coincided with the folk-revival period, when purists sought "authentic" singers like bluesmen Charlie Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Although the blues is formulated, Heine said, it's also impulsive, introspective and minimalist — like much Zen Buddhist art.

"What Zen and blues have in common is there's a sense of self-discipline, of expressing your personal truth, of not being boxed in and using few words," he said.

Heine said Dylan's lyrics went back and forth between the Judeo-Christian and the Zen worldviews until he found a middle path in the early '90s.

In "Man in the Long Black Coat," one verse refers to a preacher saying "every man's conscience is vile and depraved," which Heine said reflects the dualistic view. But another verse says, "There are no mistakes in life, some people say/It is true sometimes you can see it that way," which Heine said reflects the nondualistic view.

But he said Dylan's exploration of worldviews — regardless of which view he takes — is Zen-like.

"Zen Buddhism sheds light on that debate by saying that there isn't a firm and final answer," Heine said. "It's the exploring that's important; it's the pathway that's important, rather than a single conclusion."

Heine's lecture, "Bargainin' for Salvation: Bob Dylan, a Zen Master?" was the first in a series sponsored by USU's Religious Studies program.

So is Dylan a master of Zen Buddhism? Heine has a Zen-like answer.

"I would prefer to leave it with a question mark," he said. "I don't want to put him into another box."

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E-mail: mikewennergren@yahoo.com