This study explores the emergence of OM, the Sanskrit mantra and critically ubiquitous "sacred syllable" of South Asian religions. Although OM has remained in active practice in recitation, ritual, and meditation for the last three thousand years, and its importance in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions is widely acknowledged, the syllable's early development has received little attention from scholars. Drawing on the oldest textual corpus in South Asia, the Vedas, I survey one thousand years of OM's history, from 1000 BCE up through the start of the Common Era. By reconstructing ancient models of recitation and performance, I show that the signal characteristic of OM in the Vedas is its multiformity: with more than twenty archetypal uses in different liturgical contexts and a range of forms (oṃ, om̐, om, o), the syllable pervades the soundscape of sacrifice. I argue that music is integral to this history: more than any other group of specialists, Brahmin singers of liturgical song (sāmaveda) fostered OM's emergence by reflecting on the syllable's many and varied uses in Vedic ritual. Incorporating the syllable as the central feature of an innovative soteriology of song, these singer-theologians constructed OM as the apotheosis of sound and salvation. My study concludes that OM plays a crucial role in the development of South Asian religions during this period. As the foundations of South Asian religiosity shift, from the ritually oriented traditions of Vedism to the contemplative and renunciatory traditions of Classical Hinduism, OM serves as a sonic realization of the divine, a touchstone of Vedic authority, and a central feature of soteriological doctrines and practices. / South Asian Studies

Social breakdown and the failure of Han Confucianism in the middle of third century A.D. China turned the Shi literati to Daoism for inspiration to construct an authentic way of life. The subsequent one hundred and fifty years were a cultural process of dissonant cacophony, in which the synthesis of the two ideologies finally had to give way to Buddhism. The process, what is called the Neo-Daoist Movement, is to date still in demand of an interdisciplinary, vigorously historical, study. This writing traces a dialectical cultural and mental development by examining the Shi-literati's life and works, including philosophy and literature, and their often exaggerated behavior in everyday life. It reveals that, in yearning for a life of transcendence, the Shi also wanted to maintain their worldly engagement, and subsequently constructed a paradoxical world view that provided them a spiritual space in a time of social turmoil. By investigating the Shi's cosmology, and their sense of community and self-definition, the present study elucidates the possibilities, as well as the limits, of what they constructed as the authentic life. The possibilities and limits can be seen most clearly in the works of Tao Yuan-mind, a great poet who lived at the ending period of the era. Living the life of a farmer, Tao Yuan-mind roughed through life's hardship by taking a spiritual stance that was congenial to both Confucianism and Daoism. In its own way, Tao's poetry brought out what Neo-Daoism should have come to but never did. Precisely because of this nature, Tao's works were historical while transcending the times. In this detailed study of an individual writer and Neo-Daoism, we complete the spiritual-mapping of the era.

This comparative literary study of Lu Xun, from China, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, from America, spotlights and intensifies the cultural diversity of the East and the West. It thus provides a mutual and reciprocal ground where differences and similarities can be comprehended and accepted. This study explores cultural influences on the two writers' lives as well as their works. / Ah Q, from Lu Xun's "The True Story of Ah Q," and Gatsby, from Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, dramatize the primal forces of human desire in two distinctive cultures: the Chinese outcry in a culture which constrains personal desires; the American dream in a culture which liberates the widest possibilities. However, from Ah Q's defeatism and Gatsby's dream issues a basic human desire for honor, happiness, and a better life. / Ah Q's Wei Village and Gatsby's West Egg are microcosms of Chinese and American societies in the early 20th century. China has suffered from a long history of feudal oppression and foreign aggression, which have distorted the Chinese soul, paralyzed cultural consciousness, and dampened the national spirit. America has celebrated the democratic ideal in the new land, where the American dream based on limitless promises of material and capital development renders a destructive potential. / Both Lu Xun and Fitzgerald are realistic writers. The literary characteristics of realism have not only varied in historical periods as many Western critics have realized, but also in different cultures as in Lu Xun's China and Fitzgerald's America. / By comparing the East and West, one can gain insight into the foundation on which today's multi-cultural world has been built. The Eastern dragon and the Western eagle each displays its uniqueness, but finds some common ground of enduring values and aesthetic truth that can nurture mankind as a whole. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-04, Section: A, page: 0958. / Major Professor: W. T. Lhamon, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

"April 2003" / Bibliography: leaves 233-258. / vii, 258 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, Discipline of English, 2004

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2009. / Adviser: Amardeep Singh.

The main insight of this dissertation is that we can commit to recognizing diversity by sounding others' voices with our voices. I argue that articulations of 'unity' using the familiar sounds of linguistic diversity enables ideological change in the practice of performing poetry in Bahasa Indonesia. Multiple types of data in Bahasa Indonesia are examined and presented to support this argument including newspaper articles, literature textbooks, personal interviews, conference papers, and recordings of poetry performances. In these data, we hear a variety of voices in Indonesia articulate two ideologies about the function of literature in society, which are: 'Literature develops the citizens'' and 'Literature enables unity in diversity'. We also hear various voices articulate an ideology about the proper form of performed poetry, which is: 'Proper reading (or sounding) of a poem results from deeply understanding another's heart'. Transcriptions and descriptions of poetry readings illustrate how these ideologies are realized in performance. I have called the complex interaction of these component ideologies 'Language Celebration in Bahasa Indonesia.' This dissertation makes several important contributions. This analysis brings together two separated approaches to language study (i.e., linguistic anthropology and formal linguistics) to show that both are needed to provide an account of an interaction between phonetics and ideologies. Further, this analysis articulates a theory of sound as one kind of physical (or material) aspect of language that can be exploited to produce ideological change. As a reflexive written document, this analysis examines differences between modes of linguistic production, specifically literary and scientific modes. Finally, by analyzing the structural differences between American and Indonesian language ideologies, I demonstrate why these two cultures differently value giving 'voice' to their internally diverse populations. Combining ethnographic description with formal modeling of language, as well as juxtaposing usually separated genres (like poetry and social theory) I hope to enable readers to arrive at empathetic trans-cultural understandings of Other values 'on their own'.

Jokes were considered low and insignificant in traditional Chinese literature. Ssu-shu hsiao is witty and provocative, different from other conventional and contemporary jestbooks for its parodic relationship with the Four Books, which were the core-texts of Neo-Confucianism and civil service examinations. The purpose of this study is to examine the late Ming jestbook, Ssu-shu hsiao, and analyze its cultural value, sociopolitical implications, and psychological concepts. This dissertation is divided into four chapters. Chapter one contains two important parts: It establishes the ground of historical studies relevant to the significance of the Four Books and Five Classics as well as the tradition of humor and jest. Part two provides an introduction of the text Ssu-shu hsiao and a description of my interpretive strategy. In order to help the reader understand the Chinese and Western theories of humor and literary tropes related to Ssu-shu hsiao, I direct my discussion to the following issues: imitation, allusion, quotation, parody, intertextuality, and paradox. Through the comparison between Ssu-shu hsiao and two other contemporary jestbooks, Hsien-hsien p'ien and Hsiao-fu, we can understand that the jokes of the late Ming were considered as public property used by people regardless of authorship. Chapter two investigates jokes in relation to the civil service examinations. Through examination books in the bookmarkets, we know the commercialized texts available for the prospective examinees; such a cultural phenomenon sheds light on the derailing of educational function from the level of self-cultivation to that of profit-making. The downward transformation of intellectual status from the Sung dynasty to the Ming resulted from defects in various factors. Jokes concerning the examination consisted of those making fun of the forms and contents of the eight-legged essays. The methods that enable one to become an expert of this type of prose include the memorization of the Four Books, Five Classics, and their commentaries, imitating the words and teachings of ancient sage-kings. Chapter three deals with the Sung-Ming pedagogical authority, Neo-Confucianism or the so-called "True Way Learning," and its activity of "learning by discussion" (chiang-hs Ueh). The factional disputes, philosophical debates, and the problem of legitimacy are signaled by the jokes targeting the Ch'eng Brothers and Chu Hsi. The equalization of the scholars of "True Way Learning" and "mountain-recluse" ("shan-jen") was an indication of the decline of intellectual status in the late Ming. Chapter four discusses gender and sexuality in the bawdy jokes of Ssu-shu hsiao. Dirty jokes expose the conflict of moral principle and pleasure-pursuit. The male jokesters manipulated gender stereotypes humorously by which we can probe into the problems such as the practice of concubinage, the remarriage of widows, and female same-sex relationship and adultery. Joking on male same-sex sexuality is also discussed. A conclusion recapitulates the key issues of the previous chapters.

<p>This dissertation examines the place of traditional songs in the Tibetan Buddhist culture of the former Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh. I look at how Buddhism and pre-Buddhist religion informed the texts and performance contexts of traditional songs, and how Ladakhi songs represent cultural self-images through associated musical, textual, and visual tropes. Many songs of the past, both from the old royal house and the rural Buddhist populations, reflect the socio-political structure of Ladakhi society. Some songs reflect a pan-Tibetan identity, connecting the former Namgyal dynasty to both the legendary King Gesar and Nyatri Tsangpo, the historical founder of the Tibetan Yarlung dynasty. Nevertheless, a distinct Ladakhi identity is consistently asserted. A number of songs contain texts that evoke a mandala or symbolic representation of the world according to Vajrayana Buddhist iconography, ritual and meditative visualization practices. These mandala descriptions depict the social order of the kingdom, descending from the heavens, to the Buddhist clergy, to the king and nobles, to the common folk. </p><p> As the region has become more integrated into modern India, Ladakhi music has moved into modern media space, being variously portrayed through scholarly works, concerts, mass media, and the internet. An examination of contemporary representations of &ldquo;tradition&rdquo; and ethnic identity in traditional music shows how Ladakhis from various walks of life view the music and song texts, both as producers and consumers. </p><p> Situated as it was on the caravan routes between India, Tibet, China, and Central Asia, Ladakhi culture developed distinctive hybrid characteristics, including in its musical styles. Analysis of the performance practices, musical structures, form, and textual content of songs clearly indicates a fusion of characteristics of Middle Eastern, Balti, Central Asian, and Tibetan origin. Looking at songs associated with the Namgyal dynasty court, I have found them to be part of a continuum of Tibetan high literary culture, combined with complex instrumental music practices. As such, I make the argument that these genres should be considered to be art music. </p>

<p> The <i>Wanling lu</i> is an important text in the history of Chan and Zen Buddhism. The text contains the teachings of a Chan Master in the lineage that would become the orthodox in China during the Song dynasty, and later spread to Japan and Korea. According to traditional accounts, the text originated from the notes taken by the government official, Pei Xiu, during a visit with Chan Master Huangbo in 849 C.E. Recent scholarship has called the traditional accounts of the origins of this text into question, though the text can still be reliably dated to the Tang dynasty. The <i> Wanling lu</i> was first translated into English in 1958. In this thesis, I summarize the history of the text and include biographical material concerning the text's central figure, Huangbo. I also provide my own translation of the Wanling lu with annotation, replacing the outdated 1958 edition.</p>

I created a comprehensive analytic concordance of the first two books of the Man'yousyuu, an Old Japanese anthology of poetry. In addition, I transcribed all 234 poems in the corpus using a transcription system which faithfully and consistently indicates consonant and vowel distinctions reflected in the orthography, and likewise shows where these are not so reflected. The poems were also translated into English. Using the concordance as a database of linguistic forms, I wrote a short grammatical sketch of Old Japanese, including discussions of historical phonology, inflection, and syntax, and furthermore, I briefly explored a few selected topics of relevance to Old Japanese textual study, including discussions of clause types, genitive constructions, emphatic particles, and tense and aspect suffixes. A primary goal of the project was the creation of a good introductory primer to some of the earliest Old Japanese poetry encountered in the Man'yousyuu.