著者

稲垣 眞美

出版者

美学会

雑誌

美學 (ISSN:05200962)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.33, no.3, 1982-12-31

---

"Daigomi", which we find in such expressions as "daigomi of the piano-play" and "daigomi of fiction", is commonly used as a critical term to signify an ideal taste beyond description. "Daigo" originally comes from the passage in the sutra of Nirvana- "the cow gives milk ; the milk turns to sour thick milk ; the sour thick milk to fresh butter ; the fresh butter to rich butter ; and the rich butter to "daigo"-creamy essence-which is the best of all." "Daigo" is called sarpir manda in Sanskrit, which means the supremely tasty food finally produced from milk. In Buddhism this is compared to Nirvana, the ultimate spiritual state as was explained in Milinda Panha, - "As in daigo there are colour, smell and taste of excellent quality, so in Nirvana there are colour called virtue, and taste and smell called commandment." On the other hand, in the Western aesthetics Hegel and E. v. Hartmann regarded these senses as inferior to the senses of sight and hearing, and excluded them from the aesthetic category, which has become prevalent since then. But such Encyclopaedists as Condillac, Voltaire and Diderot were against the idea, and did justice to the senses of taste and smell. Especially Diderot almost grasped the meaning of "daigomi" and Nirvana in his definition of "delicieux". So we shall have to revaluate those senses in aesthetics, giving a deeper insight into their sensual and spiritual pleasure and beauty.