David R. Loy's books include the acclaimed Money, Sex, War, Karma: Notes for a Buddhist Revolution; The Great Awakening: A Buddhist Social Theory; The World Is Made of Stories; A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency; 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 and is qualified as a teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition of Japanese Buddhism.
His articles appear regularly in the pages of major journals such as Tikkun and Buddhist magazines including Tricycle, Turning Wheel, Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma, as well as in a variety of scholarly journals. He is on the editorial or advisory boards of the journalsCultural Dynamics, Worldviews, Contemporary Buddhism, Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, and World Fellowship of Buddhists Review. He is also on the advisory boards of Buddhist Global Relief, the Clear View Project, Zen Peacemakers, and the Ernest Becker Foundation. He lives in Boulder, CO.
Linda Goodhew is a professor of English literature at Gakushuin University in Japan. She lives in Kamakura, Japan.
"The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons delves into the magical worlds
created by these artists and provides a successful entertaining
demonstration of how a segment of popular literature can be
examined through a Buddhist lens. I appreciate the character
analysis throughout this book and enjoy how various Buddhist
masters are cited in the development of the authors thesis for each
chapter."-- "Full Contact Enlightenment"
"Kate Wheeler's introduction to Nixon Under the Bodhi Tree and
Other Works of Buddhist Fiction suggested that everyone--even
vigilantly rational Buddhists!--needs stories and myth. In The
Dharma of Dragons and Daemons, David Loy and Linda Goodhew advance
this discussion by surveying Buddhist themes in speculative
fiction. They illustrate how--despite the fact that they don't
refer to Buddhism by name--J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin and
others bring some aspect of Buddhism's teachings to life in a way
that speaks to contemporary people."-- "Shambhala Sun"
"This delightful book finds Buddhist wisdom in Tolkien's The Lord
of the Rings, the novel Momo by Michael Ende, Ursula LeGuin's
Earthsea novels, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.
Buddhists and others familiar with these fantasy classics will be
fascinated by the authors' take on them."-- "Turning Wheel"
"The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons is an accessible and inspiring
interpretation of some modern fantasy novels and films. The authors
convincingly reveal how the myths and stories, the wizards, hobbits
and princesses, the expeditions to lands of the dead, bring alive
truths of existence in ways that illuminate traditional Buddhist
teachings. The book offers a first glimpse from a Buddhist
perspective into why many of us find fantasy so enriching and
important, and along the way addresses many important questions
about the meaning of Buddhist teachings when translated into modern
Western terms."--Thomas Jones PhD, co-editor of Urthona, the
magazine of Buddhism and the Arts.
"Readers who love fiction and Buddhism will be twice rewarded by
The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons. First, because Loy and Goodhew
beautifully discuss the buddhadharma in ways immediately relevant
for contemporary life and Western practitioners; and, secondly, in
the fiction of beloved fantasy authors ranging from Tolkien to Le
Guin they reveal how those classic stories achieve the
dramatization of ancient spiritual wisdom."--Charles Johnson,
National Book Award-winning author of Middle Passage
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