Situating Narrative and Systematic Accounts of Wisdom

Abstract

Steven Collins was in the process of finalizing his manuscript and final academic work on Buddhism when he passed away unexpectedly at the age of sixty-six in February 2018. Although unfinished, the manuscript was in circulation among his colleagues and was near to completion. The final published version suffers hardly at all except for a somewhat abrupt end that one imagines would have seen a few more pages added to put a bow on a capstone project to a life of excellent research and truly entertaining composition.At 161 pages, Collins' final work is short, crisp, and even friendly in its approachability with respect to the subject matter. What Collins manages to do in this work is lay bare his decades of specialist research without burdening the reader with smug pretentiousness. Collins, it would seem, was sensitive to this while writing on his proficiency in Pali and French, "I say this not to show off, but as I hope to have demonstrated and will show further in this chapter, it just is the case, empirically provable, that working from existing English translations puts one at a significant distance from the texts, which can, on occasion, make detailed study of them into looking though a glass, very darkly" Wisdom as a Way of Life (Hereafter parenthetically WWL, 94-95). Translation, and correcting mistranslations, is a subject Collins returns to time and time again throughout this book. A lover of language will find his detours in Pali (and French) grammar and literature delightful while less initiated readers will breathe easy at his knowledgeable elucidations.