How religious space is constituted by means of metaphors. The Buddhist Sīmā as a semiotic case study – with special consideration of the distinction between the urban and the wilderness
The question of how religious space constitutes as a socio-cultural fact is explored by means of a case study on determining the boundary (sīmā) of a Buddhist monastery. Drawing on Peirce’s semiotics, combined with system-theoretical considerations, it can be pointed out how a religiously determined...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Religion
Year: 2025, Volume: 55, Issue: 1, Pages: 179-221 |
| Further subjects: | B
boundary demarcation
B Material Religion B Religious space B Buddhist sīmā B Buddhist monastery B semiotics of religion |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The question of how religious space constitutes as a socio-cultural fact is explored by means of a case study on determining the boundary (sīmā) of a Buddhist monastery. Drawing on Peirce’s semiotics, combined with system-theoretical considerations, it can be pointed out how a religiously determined space initially refers metaphorically to a physically qualified space in order to be understood metonymically, i.e., within a single domain and thus literally. Physically qualified space serves as a source domain that is mapped onto religious space as an unknown target domain in order to make the latter visible, tangible, and understandable. However, the oscillation between metonymy and metaphor remains and is mediated by symbols. In this way, the semiosis of religious space can develop further, as the varying relationship between civilization, wilderness, city, and monastery as well as additional regulations for the establishment of a sīmā show. |
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| ISSN: | 1096-1151 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2024.2413331 |
