Buddhist scriptures as literature : sacred rhetoric and the uses of theory / Ralph Flores.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Flores, Ralph.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Buddhist literature--History and criticism.

Buddhist literature.

Tripiṭaka as literature.

Buddhism and literature.

Tipiṭaka. Suttapiṭaka--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Tipiṭaka.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (233 pages)

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Buddhist Scriptures as Literature explores the drama, lyricism, and compelling storylines in Buddhist sacred writings, while illustrating how rhetoric and ideology are at work in shaping readers' reactions. Ralph Flores argues that the Buddha's life story itself follows an archetypal quest-romance pattern: regal surroundings are abandoned and the ensuing feats are heroic. The story can be read as an epic, but it also has a comic plot: confusions and trials until the Prince becomes utterly selfless, having found his true element—nirvana. Making use of contemporary literary theory, Flores offers new readings of texts such as the Nikāyas, the Dhammapada, the Heart Sutra, Zen koans, Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva, and the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Understanding these works as literature deepens our sense of the unfolding of their teachings, of their exuberant histories, and of their relevance for contemporary life.

Contents:

Fictions of reading: Westerners and Buddhist texts

A prince transformed: the Nikāyas, the Nidānakathā, Aśvaghoşa's Acts of the Buddha

The Buddha awakening: the Nikāyas

Winning conversions: the Nikāyas

Passing on: the Nikāyas

Figures of right speech: the Dhammapada

Joyous negations: the Heart sutra

Masters of emptiness: The gateless barrier and Zen folktales

Extreme giving: The vessantara jātaka and Shantideva's A guide to the bodhisattva way of life

Final emergency reading: The Tibetan book of the dead

Epilogue: Images in the reader.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-218) and index.

ISBN:

9780791478837

0791478831

9781435632127

1435632125

OCLC:

212086388