Ray Smith lives with Alvah Goldbook in a small, ramshackle house near the University of California at Berkeley campus. The house is surrounded by a garden, which is overgrown with mint. The house is old and unremarkable and is full of numerous books on a variety of topics, including a strong emphasis on canonical literature. Japhy Ryder lives in a tiny house, more of a shack, without furnishings on the other side of the university campus. Ray goes to Japhy's house, and the two men drink tea, talk about poetry and translation and discuss Zen Buddhism. Japhy also casually mentions something called yabyum, which Ray does not understand. When Ray asks for an explanation, Japhy declines to answer.
Chapter Three continues to develop the friendship between Ray and Japhy that will.....
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