Doors and minds

The open and shut door is an image used of the mind: the open and closed mind. An open mind lets things pass to and fro, while a closed mind shuts out both that...

Doors

The characteristic of a gate is that it swings back and forth but is never permanently shutting the observer out of viewing one side or another. Perhaps it is l...

Gates

The gate is a universal metaphor. In the Gospels, Jesus speaks of the narrow gate, and refers to himself as the gate. The Lotus Sutra speaks of the gate of know...

Demons within

Why do we not see the banal evils of society and culture (and of our own mundane selves) as the norm, and view creative breakthroughs and inspiration as the pro...

Demons without

Demonic infestation — the presence of bothersome demons — is common in the writings of historical Christianity, Mahayana Buddhism (especially Tibeta...

Surowiecki on crowds

So brazen a title as The Wisdom of Crowds, a recent book by James Surowiecki, was bound to attract my attention, especially the presumptuous subtitle: “Wh...

Joshu and the hermits

The koan about Zen master Joshu meeting two hermits goes like this: Joshu came upon a hermit’s hut. He leaned in and called, “Anyone here? Anyone he...

Frog mirror

Two frogs lie opposite one another on the window pane. Each is a less than a thumb’s length (well, my thumb), a shimmering green with dull yellow eyes, al...