NEW BOOK

"Paving the Great Way"

 Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce the publication of my book, Paving the Great Way: Vasubandhu’s Unifying Buddhist Philosophy.  The book traces a continuity of philosophical interest and purpose across Vasubandhu’s diverse works.  It is now available from the Columbia University Press website, here:

https://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-16826-7/paving-the-great-way

Please note that anyone who uses the promo code “GOLPAV” to buy the book from this site will receive a 30% discount off the price of the book.

Here are some advance reviews:

"Vasubandhu, one of the greatest minds in the history of Buddhism, is brought to life in these pages. Gold's synthetic treatment of Vasubandhu's most important ideas is a model for how to treat the work of a classical Buddhist thinker. Written in clear and lively prose, Paving the Great Way will be the definitive work on this great Buddhist philosopher for many years to come... Essential reading for anyone interested in classical Buddhist thought." — José Ignacio Cabezón, Dalai Lama Professor of Tibetan Buddhism and Cultural Studies, UC Santa Barbara

"Gold has done something extraordinary: he has pulled together the key philosophical strands running through Vasubandhu's works, thereby demonstrating far greater continuity than might have been suspected, and he has given us a much deeper and more compelling author as a result. This book will forever change the way we read Vasubandhu." — Mark Siderits, Professor Emeritus, Seoul National University

"A rare example of a sustained and subtle engagement with the whole career of one of history's greatest Buddhist philosophers, Paving the Great Way makes an important and eminently readable case for thinking that the works of the prolific Buddhist thinker Vasubandhu represent the development of a unified philosophical project." — Dan Arnold, University of Chicago

"Jonathan Gold has given us the definitive book on Vasubandhu's philosophy. Paving the Great Way is a masterpiece of philosophical exposition, synthesis and creative commentary. Gold addresses every facet of Vasubandhu's considerable and varied corpus, and integrates them in his articulation of Vasubandhu's original synthesis of Buddhist ideas. Gold brings to this project great philological erudition, deep philosophical insight, scrupulous commentarial skills and a marvelous lucidity in exposition. This book is a major contribution not only to Vasubandhu scholarship, but to Yogācāra studies; not only to Yogācāra studies but to the history of Indian philosophy; not only to the history of Indian philosophy but to the history of world philosophy and to the engagement between Western and Buddhist philosophical scholarship." — Jay L. Garfield, Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple Professor of Humanities, Yale-NUS College

Please also note that there will be a panel discussing the book at the AAR Annual Meeting in San Diego (Sunday, Nov. 23 at 1 p.m.), co-sponsored by the Buddhist Philosophy Group and the Religions and Chinese and Indian Cultures: A Comparative Perspective Group.  See the AAR website for further information about the session here: http://papers.aarweb.org/program_book?keys=A23-215&field_session_slot_nid=All

Best Regards,

 Jonathan C. Gold

Associate Professor
Department of Religion
Princeton University
1879 Hall, Washington Rd
Princeton, NJ 08544