Book Review Of Buddhist Nirvana And Its Western Interpreters

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BOOK REVIEW Guy Richard Welbon, The Buddhist Nirvana and Its Western Interpreters, The University of Chicago Press, 1968. XI+320 pp., $8.50. The history of Buddhist studies in the West is a fascinating but rather neglected topic. Scholars have been more inclined to advance Buddhist studies than to trace their history. Windisch's Geschichte der SanskritPhilologie und indischer Altertumskunde (Berlin und Leipzig, 1917-20) contains relatively little concerning Buddhist studies. Raymond Schwab (La Renaissance orientale, Paris, 1950) and Henri de Lubac (La rencontre du bouddhisme et de l'occident, Paris, 1952) have made useful contributions but, as is obvious from the titles of their works, they are primarily interested in the reception of Indian and Buddhist ideas in the West. Welbon's study of the interpretation of Nirvana by Western scholars is not only a history of philological and historical studies on Nirvana. The author stresses in his preface his concern with the fact that the interpretations of the meaning of Nirvana reflect the individual scholar's own personal commitment. At the same time his study is intended to be a contribution to the understanding of European intellectual history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, especially with regard to the encounter of European intellectuals with an alien tradition. The execution of a programme of this scope presupposes three elements: knowledge of the philological and historical problems studied by Western scholars; understanding of their personal commitment; insight into the intellectual approach to religious studies in general in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. If, in addition, like Welbon, one assumes that the response to the question of the meaning of Nirvana is at the same time an answer more or less complete to all questions about Buddhism, it is obvious that it would be too optimistic to expect this study to be entirely satisfactory. Welbon has written this book with great enthusiasm. Many of his remarks are perceptive. Nevertheless, it cannot be recommended without reservations. Journal of Indian Philosophy 1 (1972) 396-403. All Rights Reserved Copyright (c) 1972 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht - Holland