Blogs

Two Tales of Horse-Training

Two Tales of Horse-Training

Contrasting thoughts on the metaphor of horse-training, from Buddhism and Daoism.

A Centre for Laziness - A Proposal

A Centre for Laziness - A Proposal

Unless we are accustomed to moving across the borderlands between hard work and laziness, then we are not going to live optimally

Strange Happenings in Yangzhou

Strange Happenings in Yangzhou

A tale of the unexpected from 11th century China.

On Drinking Tea

On Drinking Tea

A Chinese text on the twenty-four occasions on which to drink tea.

Storytellers and Anthroplogists

Storytellers and Anthroplogists

Thoughts on storytelling and anthropology

Boredom, Flow and the Eggs of Experience

Boredom, Flow and the Eggs of Experience

Boredom, creativity and Walter Benjamin

The Rhetoric of Urgency

The Rhetoric of Urgency

Why so urgent?

Big Beasts, Little Beasts, and the Value of Creative Writing

Big Beasts, Little Beasts, and the Value of Creative Writing

Creative writing teaching is about more than churning out big-shot novelists.

Turning About Once Again

Turning About Once Again

Thoughts on meditation and research, and a return to Bodhgaya, after a gap of 17 years.

Knowledge and Friendship at the End of the World

Knowledge and Friendship at the End of the World

On Tove Jansson and the apocalypse