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Empty Vision - Metaphor and Visionary Imagery in Mahayana Buddhism (Paperback)
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Empty Vision - Metaphor and Visionary Imagery in Mahayana Buddhism (Paperback)
Series: Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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Visual metaphors in a number of Mahayana sutras construct a
discourse in which visual perception serves as a model for
knowledge and enlightenment. In the Perfection of Wisdom
(Prajnaparamita) and other Mahayana literature, immediate access to
reality is symbolized by vision and set in opposition to language
and conceptual thinking, which are construed as obscuring reality.
In addition to its philosophical manifestations, the tension
between vision and language also functioned as a strategy of
legitimation in the struggle of the early heterodox Mahayana
movement for authority and legitimacy. This emphasis on vision also
served as a resource for the abundant mythical imagery in Mahayana
sutras, imagery that is ritualized in Vajrayana visualization
practices. McMahan brings a wide range of literature to bear on
this issue, Including a rare analysis of the lavish imagery of the
Gandavyuha Sutra in its Indian context. He concludes with a
discussion of Indian approaches to visuality in the light of some
recent discussions of "ocularcentrism" in the west, inviting
scholars to expand the current discussion of vision and its roles
in constructing epistemic systems and cultural practices beyond its
exclusively European and American focus.
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