No-Self; Poststructuralism; Sri Lanka; Inessentiality
摘要
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.
