Volume 8 at last

We're pleased to announce the launch of Western Buddhist Review Volume 8 – with the publication of three new articles and four reviews. There's an exploration of how intimate relationships could be a Buddhist practice by Sīlavādin; a highly original use of methods of Biblical exegesis, to weigh up rival interpretations of paṭicca-samuppāda, by Mitrānanda; and there is an article by Dhīvan on how Sangharakshita's presentation of the five niyamas might be seen as an expression of Buddhist modernism.

There are also reviews of Johan Elverskog's The Buddha's Footprint: An Environmental History of Asia; of Robert Ellis' pioneering book, The Thought of Sangharakshita: A Critical Assessment; and of Alice Collett's new book I Hear Her Words: An Introduction to Women in Buddhism.

We hope to publish further articles in Volume 8, also on the theme of 'Buddhist Modernism', along with more articles and reviews. Please consider making a submission if you have an idea.

Three study events

The editors at Western Buddhist Review are pleased to let you know about three opportunities for study coming up in the Triratna Buddhist community:

1. 16–18 April 2021, an online study/practice retreat led by Dhivan and hosted by Dhanakośa retreat centre, with the title The Tree, the Snake and the Goddess: Exploring the Buddha’s Relationship with Nature. We will explore Pāli discourses and extracts from traditional life-stories of the Buddha that show him in intimate relationship with symbols of nature as a living whole.

2. 9–12 July 2021, a Philosophy Symposium with the theme Exploring Higher Evolution, a (we hope) residential long weekend to be held at Adhisthana in Herefordshire, UK, and led by Silavādin, Dhivan and Matt Drage. This will be our fourth Symposium, with talks, discussion, music, and the opportunity to meet others with an interest in philosophy.

3. 10–17 December 2021, a study retreat at Adhisthana with the theme Wisdom Before Words: Studying the Udāna With Sangharakshita's Commentary, led by Dhivan and Sāgaramati. This will be the third retreat hosted by Triratna Scholars, to encourage the scholarly study of Buddhism in Triratna.

Please note that 2. and 3. are open to Triratna mitras and Order members only.

Death of K.R. Norman

I write with the sad news of the death of Pāli scholar Kenneth Roy Norman, born in 1925, and the same age as Sangharakshita. His translations of early Buddhist texts in verse are more scholarly than poetic, but allow modern Western Buddhists to get close to the word of the Buddha. Rupert Gethin, President of the Pali Text Society writes:

"Roy or Mr Norman, as he liked to be known, was one of the great scholars of Middle Indo-Aryan philology. His academic career was spent almost entirely in Cambridge. He completed an MA at Cambridge in 1954 and went on to become Lecturer in Indian Studies (1954–1978), then Reader in Indian Studies (1978–1990), before being appointed Professor of Indian Studies in 1990, shortly before his retirement in 1992.

"His scholarly contribution to the field of Pali studies has been immense, but his output covered also Jaina studies and the Ashokan inscriptions. His publications include translations of the major verse texts of the Pali canon: Elders’ Verses I (Theragāthā), 1969; Elders’ Verses II (Therīgāthā), 1971; The Group of Discourses (Suttanipāta), 1992, 2nd ed. 2001; The Word of the Doctrine (Dhammapada), 1997; each of these translations includes meticulous philological annotations.

He also published two significant monographs, Pāli Literature (1983) and A Philological Approach to Buddhism (1997; 2nd edition 2006), and leaves behind eight volumes of his Collected Papers (1990–2007). From 1981 to 1990 he was editor of A Critical Pāli Dictionary, overseeing the publication of seven fascicles (11–17) of vol. II.

"As well as being a Fellow of the British Academy and a Foreign Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, he was the longest serving member of the Council of the Pali Text Society (1959–2010) and also served as its President (1981–1994).

"It is safe to say that all those who work on ancient texts in middle Indian languages will remain deeply indebted to his work for a long time to come."