| Summary: | 碩士 === 法鼓佛教學院 === 佛教學系 === 103 === This dissertation aims to delineate the ideas and contexts of “love” in early Buddhism and to explain why concepts of “love” in early Buddhism are very different from other religions’ concepts of love. General impressions on this issue center around the eighth chain of the Twelve Nidānas or Dependent Origination, namely cravings/ longings/ desires (Pāli: Taṇhā). Therefore, in Chinese Āgama, we read how “love” was refuted by Buddha, who taught the way to separate oneself from this “love” and entertain negative feelings towards it. However, in other scriptures, we also see how Buddha taught householders how to cultivate “love” towards self, spouse, parents, brothers and sisters, and friends; it would seem Buddha support the concept of “love.” To clarify this seeming paradox, this dissertation examines Chinese Āgama, locates the term and contexts of “love” in Chinese Buddhist scriptures, and compares these entries to the scriptures in Pāli. We find the Pāli term used in the original scriptures and translated as “love” is generally Taṇhā, which means craving and thirst and has the connotation of greed. Examination Chinese Āgama of shows that positive and negative description of love multiply; essentially, positive descriptions are generally about dealing with people while negative descriptions are more related to Buddha’s teachings. In other words, positive sense of love is about happiness and joy while negative sense of love is about seeking pleasure, which will lead to pain. The next step is to see how contemporary scholars talk about “love” in their works of different languages. To sum up, we can say the Chinese translation of love/ greedy love derives from Taṇhā, which in Pāli refers to craving or thirst and connects to the Chinese connotation of greed. The Chinese translation of compassion derives from mettā, which in Pāli refers to love and has the connotation of empathy. Finally, following the suggestion from the defense committee members, we changed the title of this dissertation into “ To Love? or Not to Love?” in Terms of the Buddhist Perspective according to Chinese Āgama
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