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Contents: Nirvana: Concept, Imagery, Narrative |
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Introduction |
1 |
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What is this book, and who is it for? |
1 |
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The discourse of felicity: imagining happiness |
3 |
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The Pali imaginaire |
4 |
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Eu-topia and ou-topia |
7 |
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Notes on the words 'Theravada' and 'religion' |
8 |
1 |
Systematic and narrative thought: eternity and closure in structure and story |
12 |
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Closure in systematic thought |
16 |
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Closure in narrative thought |
19 |
2 |
Nirvana as a concept |
29 |
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Action, conditioning, time, and timeliness |
29 |
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Nirvana in life and after death |
39 |
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Nirvana exists |
47 |
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Can one desire nirvana? |
55 |
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Silence and the production of meaning |
58 |
3 |
Nirvana as an image |
61 |
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The words (pari)nirvana and (pari)nibbana; other referring terms and definite descriptions |
63 |
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Two aporias: consciousness and happiness |
69 |
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Imagery and expressibility |
78 |
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Appendix: happiness in meditation |
94 |
4 |
Nirvana, time, and narrative |
100 |
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The myth of 'the Myth of the Eternal Return' |
100 |
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Individual versus collective time: can history end? Was Gotama unique? |
105 |
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The sense of an ending |
110 |
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Ending(s) in narrated time (erzahlte Zeit)1: non-repetitive time |
112 |
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Ending(s) in narrated time (erzahlte Zeit)2: repetitive time |
114 |
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Ending as an event in the time of narration (Erzahlzeit) |
122 |
5 |
Past and future Buddhas |
126 |
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Vamsa as a genre |
136 |
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Voice and temporal perspective in the Chronicle of Buddhas: repetitive and non-repetitive time interwoven |
139 |
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The Story of the Elder Maleyya and The History of the Future: unprecedented well-being |
148 |
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Appendix 1: Selections from the Buddhavamsa |
153 |
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Appendix 2: The Anagatavamsa |
172 |
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Conclusion: modes of thought, modes of tradition |
185 |
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Notes |
189 |
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Index |
194 |