Stpehen Batchelor's Verses from the Center

Stephen Batchelor's Verses from the Center
Began: 1/16/07
End: 01/25/07
Quality: Five Out of Ten.
Reason: Unread
Genre: Non-fiction. Religion. Buddhism. Nagarjuna.
Number: First.
Thoughts:
This was quite a bit tougher than I had anticipated. I actually read the introduction twice. And have not spent as much time as I should on the poems themselves. I am getting a little ahead of myself, let me give you a brief blurb on what this book is about.

Stephen Batchelor has basically translated Nagarjuna’s Verses from the Center into English. He has also written an eighty page introduction to not only give the reader an introduction to Nagarjuna but also his ideas of emptiness.

It usually takes me a little longer to get through eastern philosophy being as versed in Western logic as I am. And this text was a little more difficult than your average. I have done a little research (aka googling at work) and from what I quickly surmised, Nagarjuna is very difficult and his work is rarely translated. I guess this is the first nonacademic and idiomatic English translation. I think I might have to come back to this in a few years when I have a more familiarity with Buddhist thought and philosophy.

I also found Batchelor’s use of the term contingency to be quite confusing. I have checked many dictionaries and I still cannot really grasp exactly what he means by the use of that word.

Overall, I did like and appreciate it but again, I do not feel that I am grasping it properly so I will put it back on the bookshelf for now and just come back to it later.