The Buddha’s Discourse and Wittgenstein
by A.D.P. Kalansuriya
(2003: Compassion Buddhist Institute, Sri Lanka) 250 pp.

This book written by Professor A.D.P. Kalansuriya pioneers a welcome departure from the Buddhist tradition of content-analysis and commentary-writing, and takes the reader along pathways of a new philosophical methodology of Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the key philosophers of the 20th century in the English-speaking world and Gilbert Ryle, the Oxford philosopher. It may be said that this book is rich with well-knit arguments comprising a representative sample of the quality research in Buddhist studies. It deals with
[i] analytic techniques in contemporary western philosophy in the English speaking world,
[ii] Buddhism as first-order discipline and its conceptual structure,
[iii] key concepts that form the conceptual structure and its logical nature,
[iv] a possible search for a meaning-orientation-criteria of ‘verifiability’ and ‘use’,
[v] truth-orientation/criteria/model,
[vi] causality-talk,
[vii] methodology of ‘facts’ and ‘values’,
[viii] knowledge entwined with a soteriology-orientation as against an epistemology-orientation,
[ix] nibbana and nibbana-talk, and
[x] the Buddha’s discourse and its family of concepts interwoven with a category-discipline away from category-habits.

Vidaysudani (in Sinhala)
ed. by. Wiloya Wimalajiti Thera et al,
                     and
Pranama Lekha (in English),
ed. by Dr. B. Wimalaratana Thera et al.
(2003:London Buddhist Vihara, UK.)

Two anthologies of scholarly papers published by the London Buddhist Vihara to honour its chief incumbent the Ven. Dr. Medagama Vajiranana Nayaka Thera at his 75th birth day.

Pirithehi Parinamaya (Transformation of Paritta Chanting)
by Dr. Gamunusiri Gamage
(2003: Author Publication)

The book is an adaptation of the author’s doctoral dissertation submitted to the Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies (University of Kelaniya).It deals with the history of the practice of Pirith chanting, the evolution of the Catubhanavarapali or the Pirith Potha and religious and cultural study of the discourses adapted and/or constructed by the compilers of this revered book. The author himself is in the process of translating the book into English.

Therapadana Samgrahaya (A Collection of the Life Stories of the Theras) compiled by Professors Kapila Abhayawansa and Tilak Kariyawasam
(2004: Author Publication)

The book contains a brief but comprehensive resume of 250 Buddhist monks currently living in Sri Lanka. Among the monks treated are about twenty five Chief monks of belonging to the three major sects, Siam, Amaraura and Ramanna. The anthology is a valuable contribution to the contemporary Sri Lanka Buddhist studies. The volume is carefully organized and artistically manufactured, and contains reliable and useful information about a large group of leading Buddhist monks in the present-day Sri Lanka. The authors hope to continue with the project to cover those monks yet to be described.

ENCOUNTERS WITH THE WORD
Essays to Honour Aloysius Pieris s.j.
(Eds) Robert Crusz, Marshal Fernando and Asanga Tilakaratna
(2004, Colombo, Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue, 714 pages)

The Sri Lankan Jasuit theologian, Buddhist scholar, and classical indologist, Rev. Fr. Dr. Aloysius Pireis s.j., reached tow milestones recently - he celebrated fifty years as a Jesuit priest on 23^rd December 2003 and his 70^th birthday on 9^th April 2004. Fr. Pieris is the founder - director of the Tulana Research centre for Encounter and dialogue in Kelaniya. He was made an honorary member of SLABS in January this year.

To mark the occasion of his 70^th birthday, the felicitation volume in his honour - Encounters with the Word - containing original essays from scholars around the world will be presented to Fr. Aloy on 30^th July 2004. The thirty nine articles in this volume are classified into nine sections which reflect the wide range of Fr. Pieris' own intellectual concerns during a inter - religious dialogue and thought - provoking scholarship mainly dedicated to inter - religious dialogue and harmony in Sri Lanka. The nine sections are -

1) Theology,
2)Chrestology,
3) Buddhist Studies,
4) Church,
5) Dialogue and Comparative Studies,
6) philosophy and indic Studies,
7) Spirituality,
8) Justice and Peace, and
9) Biblical Theology.

The volume also contains an extensive and comprehensive interview with Fr. Pieris about his life and work, detailing the influences and motivations behind his research and writing over these many years. A full Bibliography of all his writings to date is also included.

Buddhist History in the Vernacular: The Power of the Past in Late Medieval Sri Lanka

(2004: Brill, Leiden, Boston), authored by Dr. Stephen Berkwitz, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Southwest Missouri State University,is a careful study about the power attributed to historical narratives in the early Sinhala studies in Sri Lanka. Prof. Berkwitz received his PhD in Religious Studies from University of calofornia, Santa Barbara.

Imagining Karma: Ethical Transformation in Amerindian, Buddhist and Greek Rebirth
(2002: University of California Press, Berkeley).

The author is Gananatha Obeyesekere, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Princeton University. In his latest book Prof. Obeyesekere embarks on the very first comparison of rebirth concepts across a wide range of cultures. It is a major contribution to inter-religious and inter-cultural understanding of the two allied phenomena, karma and rebirth.

Abhidhanappadipika:A Study of the Text and its Commentary (2001: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, India),

Authored by the Ven. Dr. Medagama Nandawamsa Thera, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Ruhuna, has been published. The work is based on the doctoral research conducted by the author at the University of Pune, Department of Sanskrit and Prakrit languages. The voluminous work contains 538 pages, including several indexes. A significant contribution to Pali studies.