An opaque pun: tentative notes on Kāsyapaparivarta § 68
Various interpretations of Kāsyapaparivarta §?68 have been attempted in the Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda tradition. This passage, which consists in a simile likening a magician devoured by his own creation to a monk involved in meditation practice, appears prima facie absurd, insofar as the similarity betwe...
| Published in: | Indo-Iranian journal |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
10 Dec 2018
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| In: |
Indo-Iranian journal
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| Further subjects: | B
Madhyāntavibhāga-bhāṣya
B Mahāyāna literature B Kāsyapaparivarta B Madhyāntavibhāga-ṭīkā B *Buddhadhātusāstra B MIDDLE INDO-ARYAN B *Kāsyapaparivarta-ṭīkā B Sanskritization B play and seriousness B YOGĀCĀRA-VIJÑĀNAVĀDA B Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit B puns |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Various interpretations of Kāsyapaparivarta §?68 have been attempted in the Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda tradition. This passage, which consists in a simile likening a magician devoured by his own creation to a monk involved in meditation practice, appears prima facie absurd, insofar as the similarity between the tenor and the vehicle is not readily apparent. This article mainly consists of two parts: The first part examines the received interpretations of the simile and reconstructs their interrelationship from a historical perspective. The second part explores the literary dimension of the simile and argues that its ostensible absurdity is rooted in a pun which is visible only in Middle Indo-Aryan and seems to serve no purpose. Coming to terms with the opaque and pointless pun, this essay is aimed at a new interpretation of Kāsyapaparivarta §?68 and, it is hoped, a deeper understanding of the literary playfulness inherent in the making of the Kāsyapaparivarta as a so-called early Mahāyāna sūtra against the backdrop of the Sanskritization of Buddhist sūtra literature. |
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| ISSN: | 1572-8536 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Indo-Iranian journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15728536-06104005 |