George Saunders, who was raised in the Catholic Church and became a Tibetan Buddhist as an adult, incorporates prayer into many of his short stories. Using Catholic and Buddhist definitions and conceptions of prayer, this essay examines prayers in three short stories—“Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz,” “My Flamboyant Grandson,” and “Tenth of December”—and argues that, though Saunders incorporates prayer that formally and content-wise appears Christian, the instances ultimately reflect a Buddhist idea of prayer as a means of self-change and as a practice that affirms the enlightenment of the person praying.

中文翻译：

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作为自我改变的呼唤：乔治·桑德斯对祷告的运用

乔治·桑德斯（George Saunders）在天主教堂长大，成年后成为藏传佛教徒，他在许多短篇小说中都融入了祈祷。本文使用天主教和佛教的定义以及祈祷的概念，考察了三个短篇小说中的祈祷：“为施瓦茨夫人减负”，“我的华丽孙子”和“ 12月10日”。尽管桑德斯正式采用了祈祷，并且在内容上看来是基督教徒，这些实例最终反映出佛教徒的祈祷观念是一种自我改变的手段，也是一种对祈祷者的启迪的实践。