Sanskrit

taiyaki

Some interesting things about this language that I've found out. Please share what you've found.

He went becomes he did going (gamayam cakara).
You will go becomes you are the one who goes. (gantasi)
Directing the attention away from the action to the stable state of the actor.


Sanskrit denominative:
putriyata formed from putra (son) and means "to desire to have a son"
svamiyati formed from svamin (master) means "to regard as a master".
Notice how the real emphasis is on the noun.


Conjunctions "and" or "then" in western language.
Adding the demonstrative pronoun "sa" to the subject of the sentence in sanskrit.
"John runs and jumps" becomes " John running he jumping."
The conjunction emphasizes the separateness of events. Demonstrative focuses on the subject.

Westerners comprehend action through change. Indians consider action as an unchanging aspect, even an attribute of existence.
So action is view as a static phenomena.

taiyaki

I think it's important to frame this around what the Indians believe. They believe in the notion called the Atman which is the timeless Absolute reality, it is static rather than dynamic. For example: Don't look at the flow of water but look at the river itself, unchanging and universal. To them change existed but it was also seen as static.
The Atman brought class segregation, brahmans and untouchables.

Since reincarnation is basically an assumption in their culture, to have infinite lives is to suffer infinitely. This made life into a form a nihilism.
Also for Indians history is expressed quite differently than here in the west. Indians for the most part do not care about exact dates or figures or details of events, etc. They tell their history using religion and poetry.

Buddhism grew out of India in response to these ideas. For Buddhists the focus was on the transience of time and the problem of suffering. Buddha found that detachment to suffering brought nirvana or liberation. This was revolutionary and marked a striking difference to the notion of the Absolute and reincarnation. Now you can end your suffering and end your reincarnation process. And anyone could be enlightened, brahman and even the untouchables.

Joshua

Where did you get those examples?

taiyaki

"Time in Indian and Japanese thought" by Hajime Nakamura which is an article in the book, "The Voices of Time" by J.T. Fraser. Been reading it here and there.