Preliminary Study on Eye in the Tibetan Language (with Reference to Literature)

The chapter focuses on the Tibetan usage of ‘eye(s)’ in its neutral (mig) and honorific (spyan) forms with regard to their bodily and figurative meanings. While like in other languages, ‘eyes’ in Tibetan expressions refer to the faculty of seeing and perceiving, due to the influence of Buddhism the honorific form is used to denote many more mental activities. The name of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, translated into Tibetan as Spyan ras gzigs (‘the one who sees mercifully’), broadened the association of eye(s) with compassion. In addition, a significant role of the eye(s) in religious practices relating to the bodhisattva (‘one whose goal is awakening’) and holy images is discussed, as well as some examples of the ‘eyes’ in Tibetan literature.