Items related to Buddhist Scriptures as Literature: Sacred Rhetoric...

Buddhist Scriptures as Literature: Sacred Rhetoric and the Uses of Theory - Softcover

Flores, Ralph

 
9780791473405: Buddhist Scriptures as Literature: Sacred Rhetoric and the Uses of Theory
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0791473406 ISBN 13: 9780791473405
Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2009

Synopsis

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 Nikayas, 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.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Ralph Flores teaches literature at Thammasat University in Thailand and is the author of A Study of Allegory in Its Historical Context and Relationship to Contemporary Theory.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
State University of New York Press
Publication date
2009
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0791473406
ISBN 13 
9780791473405
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
223