Abstract This paper argues that excavated manuscripts of the Daodejing (Guodian, Mawangdui, and Beida) recover a primordial Daoist phenomenology that offers a more existentially rich conception of the good life than the subsequent, dominant metaphysical reading. This study provides a semiotic analysis of Daodejing Chapter 1 to demonstrate that the text’s transmission history involves a...
Abstract Over its long period of development, Zen Buddhism in ancient China has adopted a unique method of enlightenment for the direct individual understanding of the Buddha-nature in the interaction between Zen masters and their disciples, instead of merely depending on written classics or oral teaching, which constitutes so-called “independence-from-words.” Communication between monks in Zen...
Abstract Charles Peirce insisted that representation is a genuine three-part relation, irreducible to a complex of two-part relations. Demonstrations that two-part relations (like stimulus and response) can be described as three-part are chaff in the wind. Ironically, Peirce’s well-known description in semiotic language of sunflowers makes that error. Until recently, there was scant reason to...
Abstract Rarely do the worlds of classical music and video games collide explicitly; when they do, as in the 2007 JRPG Eternal Sonata, the result is of marked semiotic interest. The game’s complex metafictional plotline – involving multiple levels of narrative seeking to blend fantasy and reality – invites speculation and interpretation, particularly concerning its multivalent ending. This...