Quotes: Thomas Pynchon tells a Buddhist parable

 Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon:

"Shawn tells her the Buddhist Parable of the Burning Coal. “Dude is holding this burning-hot coal in his hand, obviously suffering a lot of pain. Somebody comes by—‘ Whoa, excuse me, isn’t that a burning-hot coal in your hand, there?’ “‘ Ooh, ooh, ow, man, yes and like, like it really hurts, you know?’ “‘ I can see that. But if it’s making you suffer, why do you keep holding on to it?’ “‘ Well, duh-uhh? ’cause I need to, don’t I—aahhrrgghh!’ “‘ You’re . . . into pain? you’re a nutcase? what is it? Why not just let it go?’ “‘ OK, check it out—can’t you see how beautiful it is? lookit, the way it glows? like, the different colors? and aahhrrhh, shit . . .’ “‘ But carrying it around in your hand like this, it’s giving you third-degree burns, man, couldn’t you like set it down someplace and just look at it?’ “‘ Somebody might take it.’ “So forth.” “So,” Maxine asks, “what happens? He lets go of it?” Shawn gives her a nice long stare and with Buddhist precision, shrugs. “He lets go of it, and he doesn’t let go of it.”"

There are some other fun quotes:

"And who, really, is so fancy-schmancy they can’t appreciate “Volare,” arguably among the greatest pop tunes ever written? Young man dreams he’s flying in the sky, above it all, defying gravity and time, like having midlife early, in the second verse he wakes up, back on earth, first thing he sees is the big blue eyes of the woman he loves. And that will turn out to be sky enough for him. All men should grow up so gracefully."

and

"...sounds of jollification and a music track including Motor City psychobilly Elvis Hitler, at the moment singing the Green Acres theme to the tune of “Purple Haze” and providing Maxine an unmeasured moment of nostalgia so unlikely that she begins to feel targeted personally."