[Buddha-l] MPNS & Buddha-nature (Lusthaus)

[Dan Lusthaus]

> As an aside, the problem just referred to was already present in
> Sanskrit. Have you ever read the delightful ribald satire called
> Ubhayaabhisaarikam?

Has it been translated? (just kidding)

 > Matilal's claim, which I have no way of assessing without learning
> Bengali, was that Bengali does not have a very rich philosophical
> terminology,

While this may be true -- Matilal should know -- I do find this a bit
surprising, given the number of pundits and serious thinkers that have come
from Bengal.


> And there are plenty of native speakers of German who say they can read
> Kant much more easily in English than in German.

Germans say the same about Hegel. Neitzsche -- considered one of the masters
of the language (along with Luther, Goethe, and Freud) -- is a different
story.

My impression of Garfield accords with yours. We now have half a dozen
English versions of MMK, and none I feel comfortable offering to undergrads.
Garfield's is the least objectionable since it at least provides a coherent
philosophic reading along with the translation.

> By the way, I'm always glad to find out there are other scholars of
> Buddhism who find the tathaagata-garbha an outrage against all reason
> and all dharma. I have railed against that doctrine so much I'm almost
> as sick of what I have to say about it as other poeple are sick of
> hearing me say it. So it's refreshing to read someone else with the same
> robust allergies and prejudices.

Let Xuanzang be our patriarch. He was vilified by many in East Asia not for
railing against it (he didn't), but for ignoring it loudly.

Dan