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Article published In: Cognitive Linguistic Studies
Vol. 9:2 (2022) ► pp.243–265

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Divine and human agency in figurative language from John’s Gospel and Jodo‑Shinshu Buddhism

ORCiD logo with link | Hokkaido Bunkyo University
ORCiD logo with link | Hokkaido University
Published online: 6 December 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.20011.ric
Abstract
This paper seeks to extend the focus of previous analyses of agency and metaphor in Christianity and Buddhism ( (2017). Fire metaphors: Discourses of awe and authority. London: Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Chilton, P. (2004). Analysing political discourse: Theory and practice. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Richardson, P. (2012). A closer walk: A study of the interaction between metaphors related to movement and proximity and presuppositions about the reality of belief in Christian and Muslim testimonials. Metaphor and the Social World, 2(2), 233–261. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Richardson, P., & Nagashima, M. (2018). Perceptions of danger and co-occurring metaphors in Buddhist dhamma talks and Christian sermons. Cognitive Linguistic Studies, 5(1), 133–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) by comparing the results of a previous cognitive linguistic analysis of John 14:6 ( (2011). The biblical story retold: A cognitive linguistic perspective. In Brdar, M., Gries, S. T. & Fuchs, M. Z. (Eds.), Cognitive Linguistics. Convergence and Expansion (pp. 325–353). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) with an analysis of figurative language and agency patterns in an extract from a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist text (Wilson, J. (2009). Buddhism of the heart: Reflections on Shin Buddhism and inner togetherness. Somerville: Wisdom Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). The comparative analysis highlights both locally contingent and more stable differences in both texts. However, we also discuss some highly schematic conceptual similarities that deserve further study. These include some similarities in their use of journey and light source domains, the role of the divine agent in the salvation process, one aspect of the divine entity embodying and acting as instrument for another aspect of the same divine entity, and the divine act being a paragon for human action.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Cognitive linguistics and Christian language
  • 3.An interpretation of John 14:6
  • 4.Wilson’s Buddhism of the Heart and Jodo Shinshu Buddhism
  • 5.Method
  • 6.The analysis
  • 7.Discussion
  • 8.Conclusion
  • References
References (38)
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