Abstract
By applying the contemporary theories of schema, metonymy, metaphor, and conceptual blending, I argue in this paper that salient cognitive categories facilitate a deeper analysis of Tantric language. Tantras use a wide range of symbolic language expressed in terms of mantric speech and visual maṇḍalas, and Tantric texts relate the process of deciphering meaning with the surge of mystical experience. In this essay, I will focus on some distinctive varieties of Tantric language with a conviction that select cognitive tools facilitate coherent reading of these expressions. Mystical language broadly utilizes images and metaphors. Deciphering Tantric language should therefore also provide a framework for reading other varieties of mystical expressions across cultures.
Highlights
Introduction to the CategoriesThis essay explores an interface between the domains of cognitive linguistics and Tantric traditions.The specific concepts I have borrowed from the field of cognitive studies involve the concepts of schema, metonymy, and metaphor, and the theory of cognitive blending
Most deities have three eyes, while others come with multiple heads. To make it even more perplexing, each of the heads is associated with a different deity. In contrast to these perplexities, when we apply the framework of metonymy and metaphor, a fluid transaction among ritual, text, and imagery occurs, and the images express what has been institutionally retained behind the articulated language
Tantric language illustrate how the system of reference is established in mantras in particular and in other forms of symbolic expression
Summary
This essay explores an interface between the domains of cognitive linguistics and Tantric traditions. On the other hand, reading Tantric literature by applying cognitive theories has a meaningful role to play This helps us use some devices that possess the methodology to unravel the layered meaning nesting beneath opaque practices and mystical texts. To make it even more perplexing, each of the heads is associated with a different deity In contrast to these perplexities, when we apply the framework of metonymy and metaphor, a fluid transaction among ritual, text, and imagery occurs, and the images express what has been institutionally retained behind the articulated language. The image of Durgā, is not one of the most complex images in Tantras
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