7/6/2023 0 Comments Murasaki meaningA brief summary of the first part of the chapter follows. The opening section of this chapter abounds in references to Buddhism and its texts, and many expressions in the chapter text are familiar to students of Buddhism. 4 The short quotations in the following summary are taken from NKBT vol. 14, pp. 177-180.ģThe passage under consideration appears in Chapter 5, “Wakamurasaki” (Lavender). This suggests that a Buddhist dimension must be considered in interpreting the work.ĢI will attempt to demonstrate, using a specific example that has apparently not yet been interpreted in this light, that acknowledging the role of Buddhist texts in the Genji yields a more accurate understanding of certain significant episodes. 1 As Kūkai writes at the beginning of his Indications of the Goals of the Three Teachings, “A man writes when moved.” 2 In my own case, I was moved-after having made a cursory reading of the Genji monogatari in the Iwanami Bunko edition, edited by the great scholar Yamagishi Tokuhei 3-to astonishment on discovering numerous, subtle Buddhist allusions embedded in the text. 6 vols.ġThat one as unacquainted with Japanese literature as myself should be participating in a symposium on The Tale of Genji calls for some explanation, if not an apology. Yamagishi Tokuhei, Iwanami Bunko (Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, 1965-1967).
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