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佯狂

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: feigned madness

Senses:

  • To pretend to be crazy—especially played out by Chan masters. See the entry for 風顚 and its contrast with the Buddhist idea of cognitive distortion 顚倒. The verb 佯 indicates a false show of something—for instance, pretending to be dead 佯死. See also the Chinese expression referring to someone who pretends to be drunk or insane 佯醉假癫. Whether these can be regarded as expressions of skillful means 方便 or simple deception 欺誑, obviously, depends on the depth of the realization of the individual who plays the fool. In his book Zen shisō: sono genkei o arau 禪思想—その原型をあらう (Zen Thought: An Examination of Its Original Form) Yanagida Seizan 柳田聖山 dedicated a chapter to discussing the theme of 佯狂 (Tokyo: Chūō kōron, 1975, 154–206). [Michel Mohr; source(s): Gakken, Ina-Z]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Dai kanwa jiten Vol. 1, p. 730

    A Glossary of Zen Terms (Inagaki) 427

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    Entry created: 2013-02-18