Boston, MA (PRWEB) September 17, 2014
Wisdom Publications is proud to announce that for the second consecutive year its authors have been awarded the Khyentse Foundation Prize for Outstanding Translation. Mark Siderits and Shōryū Katsura were awarded the 2014 prize for "Nāgārjuna’s Middle Way: Mūlamadhyamakakārikā," the second volume in Wisdom’s acclaimed Classic of Indian Buddhism series.
This prize honors excellence in translations that make the Buddhist heritage universally accessible. The award was presented to the translators on August 20, 2014, at the Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (IABS), held at the University of Vienna.
“Wisdom is thrilled to have its authors honored two years in a row by the Khyentse Foundation,” says Wisdom’s publisher, Tim McNeill. “This prestigious award affirms Wisdom’s abiding commitment to producing the highest quality presentations of critical Buddhist texts.” Last year’s award was for Bhikkhu Bodhi’s translation from the Pali of "The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Aṅguttara Nikāya."
Nāgārjuna’s renowned twenty-seven-chapter Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way (Mūlamadhyamakakārikā) is the foundational text of the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. It is widely considered the definitive, touchstone presentation of the core doctrine of emptiness. Siderits and Katsura prepared this translation from the Sanskrit using the four surviving Indian commentaries in an attempt to reconstruct an interpretation of its enigmatic verses that adheres as closely as possible to that of its earliest proponents.
Mark Siderits has taught both Asian and Western philosophy at Illinois State University and Seoul National University, from which he retired in 2012. He is the author or editor of five books and has published numerous articles on a wide variety of subjects in Indian Buddhist philosophy and comparative philosophy.
Professor Shōryū Katsura has taught philosophy at Hiroshima University and Ryukoku University, Kyoto, until his retirement in 2012. He remains active at Ryukoku University, where he is the director of their Research Center for Buddhist Cultures in Asia. He is the author or editor of seven books and has published over sixty articles on various facets of classical Indian Buddhist thought.
Khyentse Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of
Buddhist study, practice, and scholarship throughout the world. Founded by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in 2001, its primary aim is to extend the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion as widely as possible, in order to benefit all beings.
Wisdom Publications is the leading publisher of contemporary and classic Buddhist books and practical works on mindfulness. Publishing books from all major Buddhist traditions, Wisdom is a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to cultivating Buddhist voices the world over, advancing critical scholarship, and preserving and sharing Buddhist literary culture.
"Nāgārjuna’s Middle Way" is the second entry in the Classics of Indian Buddhism series. It is published by Wisdom Publications and distributed by Simon and Schuster. Cost is $28.95 and the ISBN is 9781614290506. 368 pages, paperback, 6x9”.
Praise for "Nāgārjuna’s Middle Way"
“Katsura and Siderits’s translation and commentary renders the work accessible in an outstanding fashion. The scholarship is of the very highest quality. Vivid and illuminating.”—Graham Priest, author of "Logic: A Very Short Introduction"
“This new translation by Katsura and Siderits is accurate, faithful to the Indian interpreters, and clear.”—Tom Tillemans, Professor Emeritus, University of Lausanne
“It should certainly become the first translation of choice for all English-language work on the Madhyamakakārikās.”—Paul Williams, Emeritus Professor of Indian and Tibetan Philosophy, University of Bristol, author of "Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition"
“Siderits and Katsura have produced a masterful translation that is both philologically precise and philosophically sophisticated and sets extremely high standards for further work on the Madhyamakakārikā. Every student of Buddhist philosophy will want to own a copy of this book.”—Jan Westerhoff, Oxford University, author of "Nagarjuna’s Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction"
“Will justly be received as the go-to translation of one of the most important works of the Indian Buddhist philosophical tradition.”—Dan Arnold, University of Chicago Divinity School, author of "Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief: Epistemology in South Asian Philosophy of Religion"
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