Bargainin' for Salvation: Bob Dylan, a Zen Master?

by Steven Heine

A thoughtful examination of Dylan's oeuvre through the lens of Buddhism
One of the mysteries of Bob Dylan's incredible corpus is why he seems to veer and zigzag so drastically and dramatically from one extreme standpoint to another. Throughout his career, rapid, radical transitions in musical style and public persona have either inspired or shocked different sectors of his fans. Is Dylan's work complex and contradictory, or is there an underlying consistency and continuity to its seemingly chaotic ebb and flow?


Steven Heine argues that Dylan actually embraces two radically distinct worldviews at alternating periods. One is prevalent in his Protest (early '60s), Country (late '60s), and Gospel (late '70s) phases; it finds Dylan expressing moral outrage by endorsing a single higher truth based on a right-versus-wrong philosophy. The second view appears during periods of Dylan's disillusionment in the mid '60s ("Desolation Row"), mid '70s ("Tangled Up in Blue"), and mid '80s ("Jokerman"), finding him disenchanted with one-sided proclamations of truth, and wandering, seemingly aimless, amid a relativistic world of masks and disguises where nothing is ever what it claims to be.


Throughout his various stages, Dylan's work reveals an affinity with the Zen worldview, where enlightenment can be attained through meditation, self-contemplation and intuition rather than through faith and devotion. Much has been made of Dylan's Christian periods, but never before has a book engaged Dylan's deep and rich oeuvre through a Buddhist lens. Forgoing Christianity and Western views for Zen and Buddhism, Bargainin' for Salvation will capture your attention and direct it toward the East.

270 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

Reviews

[Reid · Rating 1 out of 5]

An interesting idea, but I found most of the connections made from Dylans lyrics to Zen to be flimsy at best. Some of Dylan's lyrics are so vague and surreal that they could be interpreted towards any ethos, if you pick the right ones. This could still be compelling, but I found Bargainin' for Salvation to be grasping at straws.

[Mark Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read many books on Bob Dylan and when this one first came out I avoided it as yet another 'interpretation' of Dylan's life and lyrics via an obscure frame of reference. I was surprised when I did read this just how much I liked it. There is a lot of very good analysis of the lyrics contained in the book and the Zen 'angle is interesting - particularly when applied to the trajectory of Dylan's work over the years.

[Book Grocer]

Purchase Bargainin' for Salvation here for just $12!

Any serious Dylan scholar must read this book. It is extremely entertaining and well constructed. Truly a unique and astounding accounting of Dylan's creative output and career.

Alicia - The Book Grocer

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

more like 3.5 stars, really. heine makes a persuasive argument re: the presence of a zen sensibility within some of dylan's work; however, i'm not sure that all of these instances were intended by dylan. this points more towards the malleability of meaning within dylan's songs, as analyzed through the interests of any particular listener. a good read nonetheless

[Jacque Bona]

Gave up on this book. Best thing is the cover photo of Bob.