Dictionary of Abhidhammic Terms by Chandra B Varma with Foreword by George Cardona (revised international edition)

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Reviewed/ Peered by CIEFL, Lucknow & Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi for FREE DISTRIBUTIONS to public libraries by Government of India

From the Foreword:

“Dr. Varma [in this Dictionary]deals with major issues which confront any translator of philosophical works, among them (pp. ix-x) the relative weight one should accord to the understanding of a text in its own tradition of interpretation versus dependence on philological criteria, and argues (p. x), reasonably, that, ‘Any work that deals primarily with philosophy and psychology requires particular clarity of thoughts and expression, where readability, intelligibility, comprehensibility, contextuality, accuracy, consistency, cogency and simplicity are the chief priorities rather than mere literal translations or philological analyses.’ In the dictionary proper, beginning with a long entry on ‘Abhidhamma’ (pp. 1-10) and ending with a short entry on ‘yoga’ p. 173), Dr. Varma pays careful attention to literal and contextual interpretation, with ample references to primary and secondary literature and to the history of important concepts. In sum, Dr. Varma’s work is a brief modern compendium that, I think, should be quite useful to serious students of Buddhism.”

George Cardona Professor of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania;

Member of American Philosophical Society, The American Academy of Arts and Science, The USA