Wisdom, Compassion, and the Search for Understanding: The Buddhist Studies Legacy of Gadjin M. Nagao (Studies in the Buddhist Traditions)

The field of Buddhist studies is a truly international and interdisciplinary one. By its nature, the study of Buddhism must take into account phenomena that cross national and cultural boundaries, as well as the more artificual boundaries of modern academic fields. This volume presents eighteen studies, the subjects of which range over India, Tibet, China, and Japan, and deal with an even broader range of subjects. It includes many essays on Buddhist philosophy, a number of which deal with the Madhyamaka tradition of Nagarjuna and his successors, while others examine the Yogacara tradition of Asanga, Vasubandhu, and their succcessors. These essays investigate areas of doctrinal interest such as the so-called "Two Truth" theory and the doctrine of the equivalence of nirvana and samsara, as well as such topics as the nature and practice of compassion and Indian Buddhist cosmology.

Jonathan Silk is assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Yale University.