Buddhism

  • Decoding Dedalus: Yogibogeybox in Dawson chambers.

    This is a post in a series called Decoding Dedalus where I take a passage of Ulysses and  break it down line by line. The line below comes from “Scylla and Charybdis,” the ninth episode of Ulysses. It appears on page p.191-192 in my copy (1990 Vintage International). We’ll be looking at the passage that…

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  • Leopold Bloom’s Gorgonzola

    “He entered Davy Byrne’s. Moral pub. He doesn’t chat. Stands a drink now and then. But in leapyear once in four. Cashed a cheque for me once.”  Following a long, restless journey across Dublin’s city centre in “Lestrygonians”, Ulysses’ eighth episode, Leopold Bloom finally sits down to his lunch. After a close encounter in the…

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  • Ep. 82 – The Buddha in the Museum

    What did James Joyce think of Buddhism? Topics in this episode include: All Hallows or St. Andrew’s Church?, why Bloom hangs out in a church, the very reverend John Conmee S.J., sectarian scorekeeping, prayers for Gladstone, St. Peter Claver, the Opium Wars, racist poetry, the reclining Buddha statue in the National Museum of Ireland, Leopold…

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  • Decoding Bloom: The Lotus Eaters Sutra

    “Buddha their god lying on his side in the museum. Taking it easy with hand under his cheek.” — Ulysses, p. 80 This is a post in a series called Decoding Bloom where I take a paragraph of Ulysses and  break it down line by line.  The passage below comes from “Lotus Eaters,” the fifth…

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  • Ep. 47 – Tatters

    Kelly and Dermot talk dogs, specifically Tatters, the dog encountered by Stephen on the strand at Sandymount. Topics include Joyce’s belief that the dog is the most protean creature, Tatters’ many forms on the seashore, cocklepickers then and now, seamorse, heraldry, Stephen’s many phobias, reincarnation, sea gods, the ninth wave, pards, the Buddha-nature of a…

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