Perfection Of Wisdom [Hardcover]

Craig Jamieson's new volume is not a complete English translation of 'The Perfection of Wisdom' (that has already been done by other hands), but an attempt to bring this remarkable material to a wider audience through a judicious selection of text - newly translated - and pictures. As such, it succeeds admirably.

The volume begins with a foreword by no less an authority than H.H. the Dalai Lama, who tells us that 'in ancient India and later in Tibet, it was considered an act of virtue to honour the practice of "The Perfection of Wisdom" by creating or sponsoring the creation of elaborate and illustrated editions'. Craig Jamieson contributes a brief but informative introduction; the illustrations are explained in detail at the end, and a glossary and bibliography are provided. All the necessary apparatus is there for the reader to approach the tenets of Buddhism through the vehicle of the mind; meantime, the body of the book sets brief text extracts against full-colour pictures in such a way that those who choose may simply feel their way towards enlightenment instead.

It would be presumptuous for the non-initiate to attempt a commentary on the ideas, intuitions and paradoxes that leap to the eyes from the perusal of these pages. I shall therefore let a few of those thoughts speak for themselves:

'The perfection of wisdom is neither form nor other than form.'

'Where there is no consciousness, no names, no words, no designations, that is called the perfection of wisdom.'

'A mass of words, a mass of sentences, a mass of syllables, Ananda, that is bound by a limit, but this perfection of wisdom is bound by no limit.'

The illustrations are all taken from the two manuscripts; indeed, in the case of the older manuscript every illustration is reproduced. The technical quality of the reproductions is excellent. Red and gold tints gleam richly in the artists' hieratic visions of Bodhisattvas and Taras (male and female characters seeking enlightenment), lions, elephants or lotuses. Text and illustrations complement each other admirably.

The millennium-old Buddhist world of these manuscripts might seem alien or impenetrable to many English-speaking readers today; the days of instant enlightenment for Westerners, of what the writer Gita Mehta calls 'karma cola', have receded into the past. However, anyone with a serious interest in understanding the philosophies of the Indian subcontinent, whether on the path to enlightenment or for purposes of mere knowledge, should derive pleasure and profit from owning this beautifully-produced and eminently readable volume.

Christopher Rollason, M.A., Ph.D.