Product Description

The Buddhist saint Nagarjuna, who lived in South India in approximately the second century CE, is undoubtedly the most important, influential, and widely studied Mahayana Buddhist philosopher. His many works include texts addressed to lay audiences, letters of advice to kings, and a set of penetrating metaphysical and epistemological treatises. His greatest philosophical work, the Mulamadhyamikakarika - read and studied by philosophers in all major Buddhist schools of Tibet, China, Japan,and Korea--is one of the most influential works in the history of Indian philosophy. Now, in The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, Jay L. Garfield provides a clear and eminently readable translation of Nagarjuna's seminal work, offering those with little or no prior knowledge of Buddhist philosophy a view into the profound logic of the Mulamadhyamikakarika. Garfield presents a superb translation of the Tibetan text of Mulamadhyamikakarika in its entirety, and a commentary reflecting the Tibetan tradition through which Nagarjuna's philosophical influence has largely been transmitted. Illuminating the systematic character of Nagarjuna's reasoning, Garfield shows how Nagarjuna develops his doctrine that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, that is, than nothing exists substantially or independently. Despite lacking any essence, he argues, phenomena nonetheless exist conventionally, and that indeed conventional existence and ultimate emptiness are in fact the same thing. This represents the radical understanding of the Buddhist doctrine of the two truths, or two levels of reality. He offers a verse-by-verse commentary that explains Nagarjuna's positions and arguments in the language of Western metaphysics and epistemology, and connects Nagarjuna's concerns to those of Western philosophers such as Sextus, Hume, and Wittgenstein. An accessible translation of the foundational text for all Mahayana Buddhism, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way offers insight to all those interested in the nature of reality.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #130980 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-18
• Released on: 2003-02-18
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .65 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From Library Journal
Professor of philosophy and director of Hampshire College's exchange program with exiled Tibetan scholars, Garfield provides the first Tibetan-to-English translation of eminent second-century Buddhist N ag arjuna's greatest work: M ulamadhyamik arik a. Reflecting Indo-Tibetan Pr asangika-M adhyamika (Middle Path) School commentaries by Buddhap alita and Candrakirti, it is aimed at Western philosophers, not philologists. Throughout this profoundly logical text, N ag arjuna meets contrasting dialectical arguments, thereby proving that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence and nothing originates independently of anything else. He forges a middle path between conventional and ultimate truths. In his comments, Garfield compares this complex doctrine with Western philosophical concepts of emptiness and essence, demonstrating its empirical stature. Kenneth Inada's Sanskrit translation, N ag arjuna (1970) is more accessible to general readers, emphasizing the Buddhist mentor as a benign mediator rather than a strict logician. Garfield's text successfully appeals to scholars and is recommended for academic rather than public libraries.?Dara Eklund, Los Angeles P.L.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A significant contribution....Garfield's translation has much to recommend it....He has succeeded admirably in producing a commentary on Nagarjuna's major work that is at once relevant to contemporary philosophy and yet chiefly informed by traditional Indo-Tibetan readings....This is a remarkably lucid and philosophically serious reading of an important Buddhist text, and one that...is strikingly free of Buddhological jargon. Not only is Garfield to be thanked for this, but his work is, in this regard, one that more traditionally trained scholars of Buddhism would do well to emulate." --Philosophy East and West

"Wonderful finally to have this text translated from the Tibetan tradition." --Professor Judith Simmer-Brown, Naropa Institute

"An excellent translation and commentary on the main text in Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. This is superior in may ways to previous translations and can be used effectively in the classroom." --Professor Steven Heine, Pennsylvania State University

"The first Tibetan-to-English translation of eminent second-century Buddhist Nagarjuna's greatest work: Mulamadhyamikarika....Profoundly logical....Garfield's text successfully appeals to scholars and is recommended for academic rather than public libraries." --"Library Journal"

"Excellent. Clear translation and discussion." --Tim Triplett, "University of New Hampshire"

About the Author
Jay L. Garfield is Professor of Philosophy at Smith College and Director of the Hampshire in India Program (an exchange program with the Tibetan universities in exile) at Hampshire College. He is the author of Belief in Psychology, Cognitive Science: An Introduction, and Western Idealism and Its Critics: A Textbook For Use in Tibetan Monastic Universities.