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Reading the No-Self: Points of Convergence and Disjuncture Between the Concepts of the Poststructuralist No-Self and the Buddhist No-Self

Senanayake, Samitha Sumanthri
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9032-9736
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1501047392661818

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Arts, Miami University, English.
The Poststructuralist interpretation of meaning is founded on a rejection of essentialism, and therefore a rejection of an essential self. Similarly, the core concept of Buddhism is no-I. In this thesis, I explore how these two concepts converge in their dismissal of the essential self, but diverge in the way the no-self is perceived. The Poststructuralist no-self is realized by making the self fluid, and identity broader and multiple. The Buddhist no-self, however, is a recognition that there is no identity and no self, that it is an illusion. I read the novels chosen for analysis through both the lens of the Poststructuralist No-Self and the Buddhist No-Self, applying them alternatively in order to explore the text’s potential for meaning as regards the self, but also to allow the text, in turn, to elucidate the different effects of the two concepts of the no-self. I consider the no-self as a core Buddhist teaching, but acknowledge that Buddhism participates in different meaning making processes based on its location geographically and culturally. Looking through the Poststructuralist no-self alongside the Buddhist no-self enables an understanding of these contexts without reducing the Buddhist no-self to merely a product of context and culture.
Stefanie Dunning (Committee Chair)
Nalin Jayasena (Committee Member)
Yu-Fang Cho (Committee Member)
74 p.
British and Irish Literature; Literature; Philosophy; Religion; South Asian Studies; Spirituality
Buddhism; no-self; Poststructuralism; Sri Lanka; inessentiality

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Senanayake, S. S. (2017). Reading the No-Self: Points of Convergence and Disjuncture Between the Concepts of the Poststructuralist No-Self and the Buddhist No-Self [Master's thesis, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1501047392661818

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Senanayake, Samitha. Reading the No-Self: Points of Convergence and Disjuncture Between the Concepts of the Poststructuralist No-Self and the Buddhist No-Self. 2017. Miami University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1501047392661818.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Senanayake, Samitha. "Reading the No-Self: Points of Convergence and Disjuncture Between the Concepts of the Poststructuralist No-Self and the Buddhist No-Self." Master's thesis, Miami University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1501047392661818

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1501047392661818
72
© 2017, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Reading the No-Self: Points of Convergence and Disjuncture Between the Concepts of the Poststructuralist No-Self and the Buddhist No-Self by Samitha Sumanthri Senanayake is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.