Our next seminar will be held at 5:30-7:00pm on Tuesday September 24 in room N208 of the John Woolley Building, University of Sydney (walk down the flight of stairs directly inside the main entrance of the John Woolley Building). We hope you can attend. Kind regards, AABS Executive 'Satisfaction Without Analysis': Madhyamaka Views of Conventional Truth The followers of Nāgārjuna were caricatured by their opponents as “the worst kind of nihilists (nāstika), with whom one should not speak or share living quarters”. How did Nāgārjuna's followers respond to this insult? The answer to this question leads to a consideration of the central Madhyamaka concept of conventional truth. The history of this concept in India shows how Mādhyamikas responded to their critics by refining their view of reality. It also gives a distinctive glimpse into the appropriation of Madhyamaka tradition in Tibet, and it helps identify some of the subtle features of Mahāyāna rhetoric and ethics in the Buddhist world more generally. Professor Malcolm David Eckel Malcolm David Eckel is Professor of Religion in the Religion Department at Boston University. He also has served on the faculty of Middlebury College and Harvard Divinity School. He received his PhD from Harvard University, his MA from Oxford University, and his BA from Harvard College. He is the author of several books on Buddhism and the Madhyamaka tradition, including “To See the Buddha: A Philosopher's Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness” (Princeton University Press) and “Bhāviveka and His Buddhist Opponents” (Harvard Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies).