A Study On The Construction And Organization Of One Hundred Fables Sutra From The Perspective Of Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Metaphorical researches in the academic field have enjoyed a long history, dating back to the times of Aristotle in his Poetics and Rhetorics. Up to contemporary times, the study on metaphor has mainly experienced many study phases including the Comparison Theory, Interaction Theory and so on. Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) predicts that metaphor is about thinking, concept and behaviour shared by common people, and a way of reasoning because it attempts to understand one thing in terms of another from the cognitive perspective. The various theories show the perspective shifts from Rhetorics, to Semantics, and finally to the latest Cognitives. This study on the discourse organization of One Hundred Fables Sutra (OHFS) in CMT is undertaken from the cognitive perspective.The thesis approaches from two levels:the surface level and the deep level. The surface level analyzes interactive correlation models between the title and body, and mapping models within the body. Those models make great contribution to the establishment of discourse organization. In the deep level, it is found that tenor and vehicle in the high discourse level show positive correspondence, and the same is true for the low discourse level. Nevertheless, in the middle discourse level they might and might not match each other. The thesis does not only disclose the discourse organization from a new angle, but also present some novel explanations on certain issues in OHFS.The employment of CMT can help us better understand the one of the important Buddhist classics OHFS, and further experience the deep thought and the exquisite speech skills of the Buddha. The study of the discourse construction and organization from both the superficial and deep levels in CMT can not only provide a new angle to explore the Buddha’s thought and way of thinking, but also to testify the relevant arguments and models developed in CMT.