In the Diamond Sutra, there are more than thirty instances of the peculiar declarative sentences which I propose to call “the statements of expression-reference.” For instance, “World is not world. Therefore is it called world.” or “Particles of dust are not particles of dust. Therefore are they called particles of dust.” Those statements have made the reading of the Sutra notoriously difficult, not only for the common readers but also for the commentators of the Sutra. I suggest that the linguistic distinction between “use” and “mention” be applied to the statements of expression-reference: “‘World’ is not a world. Therefore is it called ‘world’.” or “‘Particles of dust’ are not particles of dust. Therefore are they called ‘particles of dust’.” Rewritten this way, the statements of expression-reference turn out pretty mundane utterances, with nothing difficult to understand. They simply indicate the basic linguistic fact that the verbal expressions only refer to particular things in the world, rather than identifying themselves with the things. Then the question arises why Lord Buddha utters such mundane linguistic facts in his sermon. I suggest that Lord Buddha tells us the limitation of a human language: it is of no use to explicate the Buddhist Truth in a language and so you had better abandon the language in your efforts to learn the Truth and reach enlightenment. I refer to Buddha's way of explication of this type as a “transcendental mode of explication.” However, Wonhyo (617~686), one of the foremost Buddhist monks and scholars in the Shilla dynasty, points out that one can only abandon one's own language only by means of the language. This paramount paradox is part of Wonhyo's Buddhist teaching known as the Logic of Hwajaeng, literally “harmonious quarrel or dispute.” Based on Wonhyo’s Logic of Hwajaeng, Shin (2003b) proposes a new way of approaching the semantics of human language: a “transcendental semantics” as opposed to our usual empirical semantics. I see a possibility in his proposal that transcendental semantics organized in terms of the logic of Hwajaeng can lead to the “Buddhist semantics of noble silence” beyond visible and audible utterances. However it is yet to be explored how we establish a full-fledged theory of transcendental semantics.
목차
1. 서론: 사용(use)과 언급(mention) 2. 離言絶慮에서 因言遣言으로 3. 맺는 말 인용문헌 [Abstract]
키워드
Diamond Sutranoble silenceuse vs. mentionstatements of expression-referencetranscendental semanticstranscendental mode of explicationWonhyo's logic of hwajaeng(harmonious quarrel or dispute)
국제언어인문학회 [INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR HUMANISTIC STUDIES IN LANGUAGE]
설립연도
2000
분야
인문학>언어학
소개
국제언어인문학회는 '언어를 통한 인문학 연구'의 필요성에 동감하는 여러 전공분야 학자들의 뜻을 담고 있습니다. 언어에 초점을 맞추는 것은, 다양한 전공분야의 참여에서 생겨날 수 있는 '이질적 집합'의 상황을 극복하기 위한 장치입니다. 현재로서는 작은 불씨를 지핀 것에 불과합니다. 그러나 이렇게 일구어진 불꽃이 새로운 학풍의 바람결에 커다란 섬광으로 빛나게 될 날이 올 것을 우리는 확신합니다. 우리의 학회와 학술지는 인문학 불변의 가치와 시대적 사명을 인식하는 국내외의 학자들을 향해 활짝 개방되어 있습니다. 특정 전공의 범위를 넘어서서 철학, 문학, 언어학, 종교, 역사, 문화, 예술 등의 시각에서 언어의 본질을 토론할 기회가 될 것입니다.