Emptiness we live by: Metaphors and paradoxes in Buddhism's Heart Sutra
Resource
Metaphor and Symbol 22 (4): 331-355
Journal
Metaphor and Symbol
Journal Volume
22
Journal Issue
4
Pages
331-355
Date Issued
2007
Date
2007
Author(s)
Louis Wei-lun Lu
Abstract
This paper attempts to delineate the intersection of the Buddhist understanding of mind and cognitive linguistics by exploring conceptual metaphors at both micro and macro levels of the Heart Sutra, a pivotal Buddhist text. Taking a key Buddhist concept, EMPTINESS, to mean transcending the self, Buddhism may be misunderstood as promoting a view of the human mind as disembodied. Micro-level linguistic analysis, however, reveals a paradox between the central message of non-attachment to the body or to the sensations and the pervasiveness of lexical metaphors in the text involving sensori-motor experiences. Investigations of the overarching metaphors and oxymora at the macro-level, such as “FORM IS EMPTY” and “EMPTINESS IS FORM” suggest that Buddhism in fact bears some striking similarities to cognitive philosophy in its recognition of embodiment and categorization as key aspects of mind, whose figurative nature becomes comprehensible through EMPTINESS as a reflection of the dependent nature of all phenomena.
Type
other
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