Mythical Liminality in the Buddhist Bodhisattva Ideal

• Main Author: Darvas Gabriella
• Other Authors: Hùi-fēng Shì
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/985fg9

碩士 === 佛光大學 === 佛教學系 === 103 === Present research demonstrates that Arnold Van Gennep’s widely known anthropological theory, the “rites of passage” can be accommodated in stories of the Buddha’s previous rebirth. Connecting Buddhist myths with the notion of “liminality” is not a widespread nevertheless promising proposition in order to gain more knowledge on the Bodhisattva Path. In the first part of this paper we argue the relevance of mythology in human mculture and introduce the problems of applying European mythographical aspects in the research of Buddhist myths. In the second part we give an outline of Van Gennep’s theory and its possible usage in our study in form of a heuristic fourfold division: liminality of space, social attributes, outer and inner transformation of the hero. Then we apply these aspects, in the stories of Sadāprarudita and Sumedha.