Revisioning Reality: Transcending Space and Time in the Buddhist Writings of Lafcadio Hearn

IF 0.1 0 LITERATURE

Scrutiny2-Issues in English Studies in Southern Africa Pub Date : 2017-05-04 DOI:10.1080/18125441.2017.1304440

Antony Goedhals

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Abstract

ABSTRACT The Victorian writer Lafcadio Hearn has been credited with being one of the first Westerners to adopt “Eastern”, specifically Buddhist, ideas about reality. The effect of Hearn's neo-Buddhist, quasi-scientific vision is to deconstruct Victorian certainties and generate new ways of thinking – new metaphors for constructing an understanding of the world. Hearn's engagement with Buddhism and science caused him to revision his understanding of time and space – of our place in the universe. The effect of his meditations is to change the way he conceives of the self – and also the way he understands the very fabric of reality. This essay outlines the scientific and religious theories that interested Hearn and looks at Hearn's coming to terms with some of these ideas in selected Buddhist writings from his oeuvre. The new metaphors for describing reality apparent in them – though they are now commonplaces of both New Age and of scientific discourse – were radical at the time, and potentially played a part in the fundamental reconceptualisation of reality that took place in the early twentieth century, especially in the fields of physics and cosmology.

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修正现实：拉斐迪奥·赫恩佛学著作的时空超越

摘要维多利亚时代的作家拉夫卡迪奥·赫恩被认为是最早采用“东方”（特别是佛教）现实观念的西方人之一。赫恩的新佛教准科学视野的效果是解构维多利亚时代的确定性，并产生新的思维方式——构建对世界理解的新隐喻。赫恩与佛教和科学的接触使他修正了对时间和空间的理解——对我们在宇宙中的位置的理解。他的冥想的效果是改变他对自我的想象方式，以及他理解现实结构的方式。这篇文章概述了赫恩感兴趣的科学和宗教理论，并从他的作品中选择了一些佛教作品来看待赫恩对这些思想的接受。描述现实的新隐喻在当时是激进的，可能在20世纪初发生的对现实的根本重新定义中发挥了作用，特别是在物理学和宇宙学领域。

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Scrutiny2-Issues in English Studies in Southern Africa LITERATURE-

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0.00%

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期刊介绍： scrutiny2 is a double blind peer-reviewed journal that publishes original manuscripts on theoretical and practical concerns in English literary studies in southern Africa, particularly tertiary education. Uniquely southern African approaches to southern African concerns are sought, although manuscripts of a more general nature will be considered. The journal is aimed at an audience of specialists in English literary studies. While the dominant form of manuscripts published will be the scholarly article, the journal will also publish poetry, as well as other forms of writing such as the essay, review essay, conference report and polemical position piece. This journal is accredited with the South African Department of Higher Education and Training.