Acknowledgements
Many thanks go to my family for allowing me to follow my dreams here at Reed in Portland, Oregon. I have been a long way from home for four years now, enjoying maximum freedom in the life of my mind with their overwhelming support. Thanks also to my advisor, Zirwat Chowdhury, for pushing me to meet deadlines throughout a process entirely new to both of us. And thanks to Michele Matteini for his mentorship to my Buddhist studies: on the surface of the vastest ocean, the Buddha said, there is a floating golden yoke. He said it is less likely to be reborn as a human with the opportunity to practice the dharma than it is for the tortoise to surface for its centennial breath with its head through the hole in the golden yoke.