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Of similes and metaphors in Buddhist philosophical literature: poetic semblance through mythic allusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2010

Ulrich Timme Kragh
Ulrich Timme Kragh*
Affiliation:
Geumgang University, Korea
*
utkragh@gmail.com
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Abstract

It is a common supposition that to understand a philosophical writing, knowledge of the philosophical sources on which it draws suffices. Yet, abstract subtleties are often suitably dressed in poetic comparisons, whose threads are spun from a different source. While the body of logical argument appeals to the intellect, the dress of literary tropes allures the emotions. Philosophy is not simply mathematics, for it involves a sentiment, which in Mahāyāna Buddhism means susceptibility to its religious ethos embodied in its path, bodhicitta, and bodhisattvas. Through Candrakīrti's comparison of buddhas and bodhisattvas to the king of geese, I shall here examine the use of similes and metaphors in Indian Buddhist philosophical writing. The analysis illustrates the subtle influence that popular narratives eulogizing the deeds of saints had on such texts, and proposes to revisit philosophical texts as literary works.

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Articles
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Bulletin of SOAS , Volume 73 , Issue 3 , October 2010 , pp. 479 - 502
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 2010

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