An opaque pun

• Verfasst von: Chen, Ruixuan [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: An opaque pun
• Titelzusatz: tentative notes on Kāsyapaparivarta § 68
• Verf.angabe: Ruixuan Chen
• E-Jahr: 2018
• Jahr: 10 Dec 2018
• Umfang: 27 S.
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Indo-Iranian journal
• Ort Quelle: Leiden [u.a.] : Brill, 1957
• Jahr Quelle: 2018
• Band/Heft Quelle: 61(2018), 4, Seite 369-395
• ISSN Quelle: 1572-8536
• DOI: doi:10.1163/15728536-06104005
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: *Buddhadhātusāstra
• Sach-SW: *Kāsyapaparivarta-ṭīkā
• Sach-SW: Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit
• Sach-SW: Kāsyapaparivarta
• Sach-SW: Madhyāntavibhāga-ṭīkā
• Sach-SW: Madhyāntavibhāga-bhāṣya
• Sach-SW: Mahāyāna literature
• Sach-SW: Middle Indo-Aryan
• Sach-SW: Sanskritization
• Sach-SW: Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda
• Sach-SW: play and seriousness
• Sach-SW: puns
• K10plus-PPN: 1684095972

Abstract

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.