saying collection; aphorism; Gospel of Thomas; Nag Hammadi library; itivuttaka=如是語經; form
摘要
This essay is a review of the Gospel of Thomas and the Itivuttaka, which are known to be sayings collections attributed to Jesus and Buddha, respectively. Both texts will be looked over based on the forms, the composition, the way of the development in each collection, and any descriptive device to raise the delivery effect. Interestingly, it was observed that both collections have the signal that denotes to whom this saying is attributed in every unit and emphasize the importance of getting wisdom. The uniformity in format, the repetition, the self-description and the prophetic remarks, and the narrative are the factors that make a formal difference between the two collections noticeable. Unique qualities in their arrangement that each unit in both collections is arranged in parallel and arbitrarily without necessary order nor subordinate constitution can give readers a chance to leave the door open for interpretation.
