Steven Collins (1951–2018) was Chester D. Tripp Professor in the Humanities at the University of Chicago, where he was affiliated with the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and with the Divinity School. Among his many works are Nirvana and Other Buddhist Felicities: Utopias of the Pali Imaginaire (1998) and, as editor, Readings of the Vessantara Jātaka (Columbia, 2016).Justin McDaniel is professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His books include The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand (Columbia, 2011).Dan Arnold is associate professor of philosophy of religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His books include Brains, Buddhas, and Believing: The Problem of Intentionality in Classical Buddhist and Cognitive-Scientific Philosophy of Mind (Columbia, 2012).Charles Hallisey is Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures at Harvard Divinity School. His books include Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women (2015).

Collins’ previous books have all been field-changing works. Wisdom as a Way of Life is no exception. This powerful work provides original and stimulating ways of understanding Pali texts while creating a bridge between scholars of the Pali world and intellectual historians working elsewhere. His thoughtful comparative engagement with studies of asceticism and courtly-literary culture offers much of value to scholars of South and Southeast Asia, as well as other premodern arenas.

• Preface, by Dan ArnoldEditor’s Introduction, by Justin Thomas McDanielPart One: WisdomPart Two: Practices of SelfConclusionAfterword: Reading Collins Today, and Tomorrow, by Charles HalliseyNotesIndex

Steven Collins (1951–2018) was Chester D. Tripp Professor in the Humanities at the University of Chicago, where he was affiliated with the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and with the Divinity School. Among his many works are Nirvana and Other Buddhist Felicities: Utopias of the Pali Imaginaire (1998) and, as editor, Readings of the Vessantara Jātaka (Columbia, 2016).Justin McDaniel is professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His books include The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand (Columbia, 2011).Dan Arnold is associate professor of philosophy of religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His books include Brains, Buddhas, and Believing: The Problem of Intentionality in Classical Buddhist and Cognitive-Scientific Philosophy of Mind (Columbia, 2012).Charles Hallisey is Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures at Harvard Divinity School. His books include Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women (2015).

Collins’ previous books have all been field-changing works. Wisdom as a Way of Life is no exception. This powerful work provides original and stimulating ways of understanding Pali texts while creating a bridge between scholars of the Pali world and intellectual historians working elsewhere. His thoughtful comparative engagement with studies of asceticism and courtly-literary culture offers much of value to scholars of South and Southeast Asia, as well as other premodern arenas.

• Preface, by Dan ArnoldEditor’s Introduction, by Justin Thomas McDanielPart One: WisdomPart Two: Practices of SelfConclusionAfterword: Reading Collins Today, and Tomorrow, by Charles HalliseyNotesIndex