Lafcadio Hearn's books have charmed and captivated readers, just as the exotic subjects about which he has written have captivated him. GLEANINGS IN BUDDHA-FIELDS presents more Hearn magic as he enters into the spirit of Buddhism as though he were born into it. This collection of stories, subtitled "Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far East," takes the reader on a journey into the soul of Hearn's adopted land as no other writer--especially a non-Japanese native--could. He writes of Kyoto in "Notes on a Trip to Kyoto" with such passion and realism he transports you to that place and time; "Dust" juxtaposes a children's playground and death, but shows death as it is to a Buddhist: "The real sorrow and fear of death arise in us only after the slow accumulation of experience with doubt and pain; and these little boys and girls being Japanese and Buddhists will never, in any event, feel about death as you and I do...they have died a million times already, and have forgotten the trouble of it, much as one forgets the pain of successive toothaches."