Posted 6-27-00)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News Service Contact: Natasha Ashe, 336-334-5371
 

UNCG PROFESSOR AUTHORS TIBETAN PHILOSOPHICAL TEXT ON NATURE

GREENSBORO — Dr. William Magee, visiting assistant professor at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is the author of a recently published Tibetan philosophical text on nature.

The paperback edition of "The Nature of Things: Emptiness and Essence in the Geluk World" was published by Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, NY.

The first in-depth scholarly research into one of the most important topics in Buddhist philosophy, Magee's book begins with Nâgârjuna (first century), founder of the Middle Way School, who refuted a fabricated nature in his "Treatise on the Middle". In that seminal text, he puts forth the three basic criteria for nature: something non-fabricated, independent and immutable. Nâgârjuna does not explain whether he is speaking of an existent nature, but Candrakirti (sixth century), considered by many to be the founder of the Consequence School, explicitly identifies the triply-qualified nature as emptiness, the reality nature. "The Nature of Things" presents a clear discussion of this topic for the first time in English, and gives the reader translations of the five basic texts employed in researching this topic called nature.

Magee came to UNCG in 1998. He has a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Virginia. He is co-author of "Fluent Tibetan: A Proficiency-Oriented Learning System" and the author of the Tibetan Oral Proficiency Exam and its language proficiency guidelines. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Fifteenth-Century Studies Journal. Magee has taught the University of Virginia's summer Tibetan language program for the past 12 years. He plans to start a school of Buddhist Philosophy, called the Dharma Farm Tibet Center in Virginia.