Recent Buddhist Studies In Europe And America

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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DE JONG
Vaidalyaprakarana; V. Vyavahārasiddhi; VI. Yuktişaşţikā; VII. Catuḥstava; VIII. Ratnāvalī; IX. Pratītyasamutpādahşdayakārikā; X. Sūtrasamuccaya; XI. Bodhicittavivarana; XII. Suhfllekha; XIII. Bodhisambhāra[ka]. Finally, one must mention Jacques May's article on Chūgan in the fifth fascicule of the Hõbõgirin (Paris-Tōkyō, 1979), pp. 470-493.
One of the most difficult problems in Madhyamaka studies is the great number of works that are attributed to Nāgārjuna Christian Lindtner adopts internal and external criteria of authenticity. He considers the Mūlamadhyamakakārikās to be his magnum opus. Those works which agree with it in regard to style, scope and doctrine and which are explicitly ascribed to Nāgārjuna by the testimony of 'trustworthy witnesses', viz. Bhavya (Bhāvaviveka), Candrakīrti, śāntarakşita and Kamalaśīla are considered by him to be genuine. Seyfort Ruegg takes as his point of departure the Mūlamadhyamakakārikās together with any other texts ascribed to the same author that are doctrinally related, namely the Yuktişaşţikā, the Sūnyatāsaptati, the Vaidalyaprakaraṇa, the Vigrahavyāvartani and the Ratnāvalī. As to the other seven texts attributed to Nāgārjuna by Lindtner, Seyfort Ruegg is much less confident and with regard to most of them he mentions only that they are ascribed to him. With regard to the Bodhicittavivarana, Seyfort Ruegg is inclined to attribute it to a Vajrayānist master, Arya Nāgārjuna, who was most probably also the author of a commentary on the Guhyasamāja and of the Pañcakrama.
It seems that all scholars agree in considering the Mūlamadhyamakakārikās to be the most important work of Nāgārjuna, and, as such, it has recently been the subject of many studies. New manuscript material has made it possible to publish a new edition which appeared in Madras in 1977.64 Another edition was published by Lindtner who also translated the text into Danish.65 Lindtner is critical of previous English translations of this work by Streng and by Inada, but praises Gnoli's Italian translation.66 It is to be hoped that a good English translation of this work will be published in the near future.
64 J. W. de Jong (ed.), Nāgārjuna: Mulamadhyamakakārikāḥ. Madras, 1977. 65 Nāgärjunas filosofiske vaerker (København, 1982), pp. 67-135 and 175-215.
66 Frederick J. Streng, Emptiness (Nashville, 1967), pp. 181-220; Kenneth K. Inada, Nagarjuna: Romanized text and translation with introductory essay. Tokyo, 1970; R. Gnoli, Nāgārjuna: Madhyamaka kārikā, Le stanze del cammino di mezzo. Torino, 1961.
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