The Reason Sixty

Presents two key Indian Buddhist philosophical masterpieces that integrate the Buddhist ethos of wisdom and compassion, with their profound relevance to contemporary thought clarified by a renowned scholar of contemplative science.

This volume contains English translations of two critical treatises of the Middle Way (Madhyamaka) Buddhist philosophical school: the Reason Sixty, by the most important of Indian thinkers, Nagarjuna (2nd CE), and the commentary by his most influential successor, Chandrakirti (7th CE). These two treatises emphasize the non-foundationalist reasoning for which Madhyamaka thought is famed, here within the context of that quintessential Buddhist topic, universal compassion, thereby illuminating the nondual nature of these two fundamental components of Indian Buddhist thought. The full import of Nagarjuna’s verses are brought to life by Chandrakirti, whose influence in Tibetan Buddhist educational institutions remains profound to the present. Translator Joseph Loizzo, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and Columbia-trained Buddhologist, elucidates the relevance of these two treatises to the linguistic turn in contemporary philosophy and emphasizes their practical, therapeutic possibilities. Comparing, in particular, the deep resonances between Chandrakirti’s commentary and Wittgenstein’s later work, Loizzo presents a masterful analysis in cross-cultural thought that highlights the transformative potential of philosophy.

Joseph Loizzo, MD, PhD, is the founder and director of Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine. He is the author of Sustainable Happiness: The Mind Science of Well-Being, Altruism, and Inspiration and co-editor of Advances in Contemplative Psychotherapy: Accelerating Personal and Social Transformation.

Considered the preeminent scholar-practitioner of Mahayana Buddhism,  the Indian philosopher Nagarjuna was renowned for his texts explaining the doctrine of emptienss, or shunyata. He is usually considered a Buddhist monk and scholar who lived in southern India sometime between 100 and 300 CE. He is revered as the founder of the Madhyamaka, or Middle Way school of Buddhist philosophy, which had a deep influence on all Mahayana traditions, and especially on Tibetan Buddhism.

Chandrakirti was a seventh-centruy Indian Buddhist monk and philospner revered for his interpretation of Nagarjuna's teachings on the Middle Way. He belonged to the  monastic university of Nalanda, at that time one of the greatest educational institutions in the world.