「雖作是說而不如說」之去蔽顯實的語言觀 — 以《大般若經．第十六會》為依據=“But Again It Is Not So As One Speaks of It.” with a View from Language to Remove Mask and Reveal Reality: Based on the 16th Assembly of the Prajñāpāramīta-sūtras
般若波羅蜜多=the perfection of wisdom; 雖作是說而不如說=But again it is not so as one speaks of it; 去蔽顯實=removing mask so as to revealing reality; 離言法性與不可說=unsayable dharma-nature and ineffability; 沉默=silence
The purpose of this paper is to explore the philosophy of language in the 16th Assembly of the Prajñāpāramīta-sūtras, with particular emphasis on the saying, “But again it is not so as ones peaks of it.”, which appears 19 times in the 16th Assembly and expresses, from the perspective of language, the idea of removing mask so as to reveal reality. Then through analysis of the four main elaborations reconstructed from the meanings in these repeated sayings, we discovered two philosophical insights into language: (1)To disclose dharma-nature, which cannot be expressed by any word and ineffability in doctrinal meaning. (2) To display silence, which is more expressive than any spoken word in dharma-practicing.Both philological and doctrinal methodologies were used in this paper. To achieve these two philosophical insights into language,four steps were taken: firstly, the key phrases “linguistics and the philosophy of language”, “the perfection of wisdom”, “But again it is not so as one speaks of it.”, and “removing mask to reveal reality”were expounded upon and defined clearly. Secondly, the core of the present analysis stemmed from discussion of the four main elaborations on the key phrases, which can be stated as “rise and disappearance”, “extinctive wisdom and nirvana limit”, “following the enlightenment”, and “from wisdom to the perfection of wisdom”, respectively. Thirdly, the two philosophical insights into language were stated and reflected upon. Lastly, this paper concluded with a comprehensive summation, presenting the findings of the present analysis and proposing future research directions and goals.
