The Sound of One Hand

About the author xi

Publisher’s acknowledgements xii

Preface to the second edition xiii

1 Stumped 1

2 The breakfast table 10

3 Ontology 25

4 Out of my head 44

5 A long way to go 60

6 Buddhists in Bethnal Green 71

7 Very strange, very okay 83

8 Cult 91

9 Freedom within 103

10 Moon metaphors 111

11 My guru reads the Daily Telegraph 128

12 Funny teeth 137

13 The Middle Way 147

14 Cats and dogs 163

15 After the ecstasy, the laundry basket 174

16 On solitary 181

17 It makes sense at every level, except the one on which I live 190

18 Prosthetics 205

19 We are where we are 217

20 Big mind 230

21 Making merit 242

22 In the bardo 255

23 Death and rebirth 262

24 Lineage 279

Author’s Note 292