birth-death-rebirth cycle of samsSra, chooses to remain in the world of suffering until all other
sentient beings achieve enlightenment. If anything, he has more in common with the older
HTnayana school of Buddhism in which the enlightened arhat leaves the world of suffering
behind forever. Labeling the him an arhat—one who needs no further learning—would
certainly be a stretch in this reader’s opinion. For, contrary to Reed’s assessment of the fi lm,
our narrator is not “a confident and caring individual free of all things tying him to the world”
(Reed par. 25). There is no real indication at the end of either the novel or film that he has
attained spiritual enlightenment, for, echoing Tyler, "Sticking feathers up your b u tt. . . does not
make you a chicken” (Palahniuk 60).
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Todd Giles
Works Cited
Collado-Rodriguez, Francisco, ed. Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, Choke.
New York: Bloomsbury Academia, 2013.
Dogen, Eihei. “Principles of Seated Meditation." Trans. Carl Bielefeldt. On Zen Practice: Body,
Breath, & Mind. Eds. Taizan Maesumi and Bernie Glassman. Somerville, MA: Wisdom
Publications, 2002. 13-15.
Goddard, Dwight. A Buddhist Bible. 1938. Intro. Robert Aitken. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994.
Palahniuk, Chuck. Choke. 2001. New York: Anchor Books, 2002.
— . Fight Club. 1996. New York: Henry Holt, 1997.
— . Invisible Monsters. New York: Norton, 1999.
Reed, Charlie. uFight Club: An Exploration of Buddhism." Journal of Religion & Film 11.2
(Oct. 2007): 35 pars, http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/
Suzuki, D.T. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. 1934. Intro. Carl Jung. New York: Grove Press,
1964.
Two Zen Classics: The Gateless Gate and The Blue Cliff Records. Trans. Sekida, Katsuki.
Boston: Shambhala, 2005.
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