There’s a tantalising affinity between Buddhist views of the insubstantial nature of the self and modern insights into the illusions created by literary texts. But there are also profound differences between deconstruction and Buddhist spiritual practice. A book...
Harold Bloom’s writing on literature and religion is a remarkable mix of almost supernatural erudition with a deep concern with spiritual life. He’s controversial and unfashionable, but I constantly read and reread his works. I think Bloom’s approach has much in...
Last week a Buddhist friend organised a celebration of the elements, inviting contributions to his Facebook page. This stimulated me to look out some favourite works, mostly modern and mostly poems. Here is a cento on the Buddhist elements – earth, water, fire, air,...
David Mitchell’s Ghostwritten is a novel for the interconnected, globalised times in which we are buffeted among billions; it offers not so much an answer as a neural network of thought, not so much an argument as ideas whirring like minds, and interacting like...
What is Shakespeare’s Wisdom and how does it match up to the Buddha’s? In this article I explore Shakespeare’s Richard II as a play about belief and identity, which are core concerns of Buddhism, and suggest parallels between Shakespeare’s insights...
Thought for the Day 3/1/2012 Looking ahead at a bad time, politicians cite the Golden Jubilee and the Olympics as sources of hope for 2012, but personally, I’m looking forward to the Dickens bicentenary. Perennially and globally popular, Dickens is celebrated as a...
