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The Katha Upanishad (Devanagari: कठोपनिषद्) (') is one of the ''mukhya'' (primary) Upanishads, embedded in the last short eight sections of the ' school of the Yajurveda.〔Johnston, Charles (1920-1931), The Mukhya Upanishads, Kshetra Books, ISBN 9781495946530 (Reprinted in 2014)〕〔Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 269-273〕 It is also known as ' Upanishad, and is listed as number 3 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Katha Upanishad consists of two chapters (''Adhyāyas''), each divided into three sections (''Vallis''). The first ''Adhyaya'' is considered to be of older origin than the second.〔 The Upanishad is the legendary story of a little boy, Nachiketa – the son of sage Vajasravasa, who meets Yama – the Indian deity of death. Their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of man, knowledge, Atman (Soul, Self) and moksha (liberation).〔 The chronology of Katha Upanishad is unclear and contested, with Buddhism scholars stating it was likely composed after the early Buddhist texts (fifth century BCE),〔Richard King (1995), ''(Early Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism: the Mahāyāna context of the Gauḍapādīya-kārikā )'', SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-2513-8, page 52〕 and Hinduism scholars stating it was likely composed before the early Buddhist texts in 1st part of 1st millennium BCE.〔 The Kathaka Upanishad is an important ancient Sanskrit corpus of the Vedanta sub-schools, and an influential Śruti to the diverse schools of Hinduism. It asserts that "Atman (Soul, Self) exists", teaches the precept "seek Self-knowledge which is Highest Bliss", and expounds on this premise like the other primary Upanishads of Hinduism. The Upanishad presents ideas that contrast Hinduism with Buddhism's assertion that "Soul, Self does not exist", and Buddhism's precept that one should seek "Emptiness (Śūnyatā) which is Highest Bliss".〔Robert Altobello (2009), Meditation from Buddhist, Hindu, and Taoist Perspectives, American University Studies - Series VII, Peter Lang Publishers, ISBN 978-1433106927, pages 73-101〕〔John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120801585, page 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism".〕 The detailed teachings of Katha Upanishad have been variously interpreted, as Dvaita (dualistic)〔Ariel Glucklich (2008), ''(The Strides of Vishnu: Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective )'', Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-531405-2, page 70, Quote: "The Upanishadic age was also characterized by a pluralism of worldviews. While some Upanishads have been deemed 'monistic', others, including the Katha Upanishad, are dualistic. Monism holds that reality is one – Brahman – and that all multiplicity (matter, individual souls) is ultimately reducible to that one reality. The Katha Upanishad, a relatively late text of the Black Yajurveda, is more complex. It teaches Brahman, like other Upanishads, but it also states that above the 'unmanifest' (Brahman) stands Purusha, or 'Person'. This claim originated in Samkhya (analysis) philosophy, which split all of reality into two coeternal principles: spirit (purusha) and primordial matrix (prakriti)."〕 and as Advaita (non-dualistic).〔SH Nasr (1989), Knowledge and the Sacred: Revisioning Academic Accountability, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791401767, page 99, Quote: "Emerson was especially inebriated by the message of the Upanishads, whose nondualistic doctrine contained so lucidly in the Katha Upanishad, is reflected in his well known poem Brahma".〕〔(Kathopanishad ), in The Katha and Prasna Upanishads with Sri Shankara's Commentary, Translated by SS Sastri, Harvard College Archives, pages 1-3〕〔Patrick Olivelle (1996), The Early Upanishads: Annotated Text & Translation, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195124354, Introduction Chapter〕 It is among the most widely studied Upanishads. Katha Upanishad was translated into Persian in 17th century, copies of which were then translated into Latin and distributed in Europe.〔Philip Renard (1995), Historical bibliography of Upanishads in translation, Journal of Indian philosophy, vol 23, issue 2, pages 223-246〕 Max Müller and many others have translated it. Other philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer praised it, Edwin Arnold rendered it in verse as "The Secret of Death", and Ralph Waldo Emerson credited Katha Upanishad for the central story at the end of his essay ''Immortality'', as well as his poem "''Brahma''".〔〔R White (2010), Schopenhauer and Indian Philosophy, International Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 50, issue 1, pages 57-76〕 ==Etymology== Katha (Sanskrit: कठ) literally means "distress".〔(KaTha ) Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, Germany〕 Katha is also the name of a sage, credited as the founder of a branch of the Krishna Yajur-veda, as well as the term for a female pupil or follower of Kathas school of Yajurveda.〔 Paul Deussen notes that the Katha Upanishad uses words that symbolically embed and creatively have multiple meanings. For example, a closely pronounced word ''Katha'' (Sanskrit: कथा) literally means "story, legend, conversation, speech, tale".〔 All of these related meanings are relevant to the Katha Upanishad. Nachiketa, the boy and a central character in the Katha Upanishad legend, similarly, has closely related words with roots and meanings relevant to the text. Paul Deussen〔 suggests ''Na kṣiti'' and ''Na aksiyete'', which are word plays of and pronounced similar to Nachiketa, means "non-decay, or what does not decay", a meaning that is relevant to second boon portion of the Nachiketa story. Similarly, ''Na jiti'' is another word play and means "that which cannot be vanquished", which is contextually relevant to the Nachiketa's third boon.〔 Both Whitney and Deussen independently suggest yet another variation to Nachiketa, with etymological roots that is relevant to Katha Upanishad: the word ''Na-ciketa'' also means "I do not know, or he does not know".〔WD Whitney, (Translation of the Katha-Upanishad ), Transactions of the American Philological Association (1869-1896), Vol. 21, page 91〕 Some of these Sanskrit word plays are incorporated within the Upanishad's text.〔 Like Taittiriya Upanishad of Yajurveda, each section of the Katha Upanishad is called a ''Valli'' (वल्ली), which literally means a medicinal vine-like climbing plant that grows independently yet is attached to a main tree. Paul Deussen states that this symbolic terminology is apt and likely reflects the root and nature of the Upanishads in Black Yajur veda, which too is largely independent of the liturgical Yajur Veda, and is attached to the main text.〔Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 217-219〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Katha Upanishad」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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