The Dharma Of Dragons And Daemons ─ Buddhist Themes In Modern Fantasy

Sure to appeal to anyone with an interest in fantasy literature, The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons employs a Buddhist perspective to appreciate some of the major works of modern fantasy, and uses modern fantasy fiction to elucidate Buddhist teachings. In the tradition of David Loy's cutting-edge presentation of a Buddhist social theory in The Great Awakening, this pioneering work of Buddhist literary analysis, renown scholar David Loy and Linda Goodhew offer ways of reading modern fantasy-genre fiction that illuminate both the stories themselves, and the universal qualities of Buddhist teachings. Authors examined include J.R.R. Tolkien, Philip Pullman (of The Amber Spyglass trilogy, from whose works the word "daemon" is borrowed in the title), Ursula K. LeGuin, and the anime movie Princess Mononoke.

David R. Loy's previous books include the acclaimed Money, Sex, War, Karma, The Great Awakening: A Buddhist Social Theory, and The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons, a finalist for the 2006 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award. He was the Besl Professor of Ethics/Religion and Society at Cincinnati's Xavier University.

Linda Goodhew is a professor of English literature at Gakushuin University in Japan. She lives in Kamakura, Japan.

Jane Hirshfield is the author of seven collections of poetry, including Come Thief and After, which was named a ""Best Book of 2006"" by The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and England's Financial Times. Hirshfield was born in New York City in 1953 and was a member of the first graduating class at Princeton University to include women. She studied Soto Zen intensively for eight years, including three in monastic practice at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in the wilderness inland from Big Sur, and received lay ordination in 1979. She has cooked at Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, driven 18-wheel trucks, worked as the independent editor of several books that have sold in the millions, and spent four years living without electricity. She now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area in a small white house surrounded by fruit trees, a vegetable garden, lavender, and roses, with scientist Carl Pabo.