Venerable Bikkhu Bodhi

Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi was awarded the 2013 Khyentse Foundation Prize for Outstanding Translation for publication of The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Aṅguttara Nikāya (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2012). Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi is chief abbot of Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York. The Aṅguttara Nikāya (roughly, “Collection of Discourses Arranged by Numbers, in Ascending Order”) is the second longest of the four basic suttas or discourse collections of the Pāli canon, and the repository of many important and influential teachings not found elsewhere. With this award, Khyentse Foundation wishes to recognize not just the prodigious achievement that the publication of The Numerical Discourses represents in itself, but also Bhikkhu Bodhi’s lifetime of dedication to the task of rendering the Buddha’s words accessible to a wider English-speaking audience. Among other things, this dedication has resulted in his translation of the even more voluminous Saṃyutta Nikāya (2000) and his joint rendition (with Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli) of the Majjhima Nikāya (1995). No other living scholar has made a contribution of such magnitude to the translation of Buddhist scriptures into a modern language. Bhikkhu Bodhi is truly a worthy recipient of the Khyentse Foundation Prize for Outstanding Translation.