While not working in any formal way on this subject, I'm curious to see what y'all think about this subject. After re-reading _The Mysterious Stranger_, I began musing over the possiblity of Eastern religous influence on Twain. _MS_ reflects a number of Buddhist concepts, notably the dream-self being uncluttered with the confusions of corporal life, and the final idea that we are vagrant thoughts, dreams, spirits more than individual selves parallels Buddhist thinking. For one recent critic, _MS_ resolves Twain's mind/body dualism by using the dream state, again, a notion strikingly Eastern. Alan Gribben tells me Twain was deficent in his reading of Eastern texts, and _Ah Sin_ certainly reflects stereotypical concepts of the Chinese rather than any attempt to explore the Confusciousism dominant in the immigrant population in the west. Still, there must be at least paralelles and indirect influences on Twain's thought, so I thought I'd throw the idea to the Forum and see what you think.