Ratchaneekorn Ratchatakorntrakoon
MA Student, Department of Thai Language, Chulalongkorn University
This paper aims to study the use of verbs regarding consumption, such as to drink, to eat, to be hungry, and to be thirsty, that appear in conjunction with something that is not food, for example, “Best to be full of wisdom” in Jātakaṭṭhakathā, the Buddhist text. This paper also seeks to study the relationship between the dharma message conveyed by this technique and the function of Jātakaṭṭhakathā. The data used are 300 Jātakaṭṭhakathās.
The results reveal that the use of verbs about consuming when used in conjunction with something that is not food is an implicit food metaphor used to convey the idea that kāma is similar to food. When a person consumes kāma, they have a craving, that means, they are hungry or thirsty to consume kāma forever, so craving is the cause of suffering. On the other hand the intellectual person is full, which means they do not have a desire to consume kāma, therefore, they have the insight for the cessation of suffering. The implicit food metaphor accomplishes the function of creating the idea of the intellect for the readers.
(Presented in the 2012 Asian Food Heritage Forum: Harmonizing Culture , Technology and Industry, 20-21 August 2012, Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Institute of Asian Studies, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Chinese Dietary Culture Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University, and Ministry of Culture, Thailand)