Critical Translation of Pali Commentaries (PTS Edition) into English

Critical Translation of Pali Commentaries (PTS Edition) into English

Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Guang Xing
Co-PI: Dr. T. Endo
End date: 2022 Jul
Fund source: Sponsored by Mrs. Anita Hudson and Mr. Kenneth Hudson
Research Output:
Papañcasūdanī: Commentary to the Majjhimanikāya, translated by N.A. Jayawickrama, edited by Toshiichi Endo, published by Centre of Buddhist Studies of The University of Hong Kong, 2022. (ISBN: 978-988-16844-0-0 [hardcover]; ISBN: 978-988-16844-8-6 [e-book])

Abstract:
The translation of the commentaries (aṭṭhakathā) into English on the four major nikāyas, namely Dīgha, Majjhima, Saṃyutta, and Aṅguttara, has been a long desideratum. Many have wondered why such a situation was not rectified before though some portions have been translated by scholars like Bhikkhu Bodhi in his translations of the Brahmajālasutta, Sāmaññaphalasutta, etc. An exception is the translation of the Visuddhimagga by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli. The work may be considered outside the aṭṭhakathā literature since it is not a commentary in the proper sense of the term on any specific canonical text but a compendium of what its author Buddhaghosa thought as the true Buddhism. This present publication contains an introduction to Pāli Commentaries and a section dealing with the Papañcasūdanī in the form of a separate introduction specifically devoted to it.