The foundation of all reflection on image and word is the joint thinking of Name, Nāmā, and Shape, Rūpa. In Vedic texts, Upanishad, and Buddhist texts, Theravada and Mahayana, this is a recurring thought. Originally, the two terms were formulated in clear separation; in a slow, logical and philosophical process, they offered themselves to intermingled thought and interdependence. A psycho-physical complex. Nāmā Rūpa. Namarupa. In the fusion of the two terms lies a great cosmogonic question. Co-existent in namarupa: the Everyday-Dawn, the Universe-multiplicative chiliocosms-archetypes, underlying forms, all processes of perception, all layers of ideation, and the very foundations of thought, mysterious processes of their own formation. Because it is in the body, as in transcendental yoga, the place of the transfusion of body and mind, of Name and Form. Nama is the dressee and Rupa is what is dressed. No unnamed form or unformed name is given. The name expresses the intimate essence of the thing, and perception is in the of the subject with the object, of the psychic aspect with the sensitive aspect of contingent reality. All thoughtfulness and all perceptibility gravitate around this body-to-body exchange between the body and the incorporeal. Rune Edvin Anders Johansson studies the bonds between consciousness and name-and-form: “Consciousness is the necessary condition of the namarupa part of us. Without an agency of consciousness, no conscious process can take place”. In conditioning the growth towards form as the growth towards formlessness, Namarupa is a mental device that gives substance to Appearance and Appearance to Substance. It combines a vital dialectical contrast between idea and perception. The psychophysical complex, name and form, opens to the sphere of infinite space. And to knowledge of pain. The Buddha declared, “I said that name-and-form is a condition of contact. All sensations are dependent on contact. The world is tormented by contact”. All things dependent on other things are impermanent. The linguistic, cognitive and ontological essence of namarupa is summarised by Johansson in two fundamental concepts: “Without psychological functions there would be no bodily expression [...]. Nama is thus the function of meaning and consciousness, and rupa the function of expression”. Asanga says all: “What is the place of Truth? Name and form. नामरूप Nāmarūpa”. Svāhā: Well said, so be it.

Nama Rupa. Nome è Forma. in Engramma numero 150, Zum Bild, Das Wort. ottobre 2017

Guglielmo Bilancioni
2017-01-01

Abstract

The foundation of all reflection on image and word is the joint thinking of Name, Nāmā, and Shape, Rūpa. In Vedic texts, Upanishad, and Buddhist texts, Theravada and Mahayana, this is a recurring thought. Originally, the two terms were formulated in clear separation; in a slow, logical and philosophical process, they offered themselves to intermingled thought and interdependence. A psycho-physical complex. Nāmā Rūpa. Namarupa. In the fusion of the two terms lies a great cosmogonic question. Co-existent in namarupa: the Everyday-Dawn, the Universe-multiplicative chiliocosms-archetypes, underlying forms, all processes of perception, all layers of ideation, and the very foundations of thought, mysterious processes of their own formation. Because it is in the body, as in transcendental yoga, the place of the transfusion of body and mind, of Name and Form. Nama is the dressee and Rupa is what is dressed. No unnamed form or unformed name is given. The name expresses the intimate essence of the thing, and perception is in the of the subject with the object, of the psychic aspect with the sensitive aspect of contingent reality. All thoughtfulness and all perceptibility gravitate around this body-to-body exchange between the body and the incorporeal. Rune Edvin Anders Johansson studies the bonds between consciousness and name-and-form: “Consciousness is the necessary condition of the namarupa part of us. Without an agency of consciousness, no conscious process can take place”. In conditioning the growth towards form as the growth towards formlessness, Namarupa is a mental device that gives substance to Appearance and Appearance to Substance. It combines a vital dialectical contrast between idea and perception. The psychophysical complex, name and form, opens to the sphere of infinite space. And to knowledge of pain. The Buddha declared, “I said that name-and-form is a condition of contact. All sensations are dependent on contact. The world is tormented by contact”. All things dependent on other things are impermanent. The linguistic, cognitive and ontological essence of namarupa is summarised by Johansson in two fundamental concepts: “Without psychological functions there would be no bodily expression [...]. Nama is thus the function of meaning and consciousness, and rupa the function of expression”. Asanga says all: “What is the place of Truth? Name and form. नामरूप Nāmarūpa”. Svāhā: Well said, so be it.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/948635
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