This is a case study of the metaphorical expressions in the Buddhist sutra “宝积经” (Bao Ji Jing, Ratnakūtasūtra) from the cognitive perspective provided by conceptual metaphor theory, aiming at discovering the conceptual system behind those metaphorical expressions and investigating what kind of role conceptual metaphors play in constructing and interpreting Buddhist doctrines. Altogether 64 metaphorical expressions in “Bao Ji Jing” are analysed, which centre around three themes: singing praise to Bodhisattva’s benefactions, looking on the emptiness and illusions of the mind and concluding persuasions. The key findings are that (1) metaphorical expressions are typically used for legitimising Buddhist doctrines and, to a lesser degree, delegitimising non-Buddhist doctrines; (2) the metaphorical expressions detected are usually highly consistent in structure, with a few or even over a dozen appearing in parallel; (3) often a metaphor is composed of a major source concept and a minor source concept on the one hand, and a major target concept and a minor target concept on the other, with the relationship between the former mapped onto that of the latter; and (4) a metaphor typically activates a series of projections between its source domain and target domain, giving rise to conceptual blends in the process.
2023. Kingdom of heaven versus nirvana: a comparative study of conceptual metaphors for Christian and Buddhist ideals of life. Applied Linguistics Review 14:4 ► pp. 875 ff.
Peng, Zhibin
2023. Cognitive Linguistics and Religious Language: An Introduction. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 41:2 ► pp. 219 ff.
RICHARDSON, PETER & CHARLES M. MUELLER
2019. Moving yet being still: exploring source domain reversal and force in explanations of enlightenment. Language and Cognition 11:2 ► pp. 310 ff.
Kang, Byongchang
2018. Unifying Opposites through Metaphor: A Cognitive Approach to the Buddhist Metaphors for the Mind in the Awakening of Faith Discourse. Religions 9:11 ► pp. 345 ff.
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