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Book Reviews 75 Journal of Chinese Religions 38 (2010) Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia: Places of Practice EDITED BY JAMES A. BENN, LORI MEEKS, AND JAMES ROBSON. London, New York: Routledge, 2010. x, 232 pages. ISBN 978-0-415-48977-5. US$130.00 hardcover. Despite the central role monasticism has played in the development of Buddhism throughout its storied history, it still remains a territory in need of much further critical inquiry. This is the case especially concerning East Asian Buddhism, where the institutions and practices of monasticism have manifested in complex ways within diverse cultural, historical, and multireligious contexts and where Western academic works are relatively few and often limited to a highly circumscribed area of canonical exploration. The volume under review here has done an admirable job in attempting to cast off well-worn theses of Buddhist monasticism and advancing new and insightful perspectives on topics that have been largely overlooked or taken for granted. This collection of essays, edited by James A. Benn, Lori Meeks, and James Robson, originates from a conference held in 2003 and brings together a wide range of topics that plainly speak to the diversity of interpretive questions that still deserve serious exploration by scholars of Buddhism. Robson opens with an introductory essay that addresses some of the complicated issues in examining Asian Buddhist monasticism, noting especially the religious academic discourse that frequently views monasticism solely through the looking glass of medieval Europe. As Robson notes, terms such as “monastery” and “monasticism” deserve critical appraisal, and may prove to be descriptively inadequate given the Christian religious context from which they emerge and the broad span of Buddhist institutions they are meant to cover. On the other hand, models of Indian Buddhist monasticism may prove to unduly influence academic interpretations of East Asian monasticism as well, given the normative presentations of monastic life found within the Indian canonical materials. For these reasons, as Robson states, this collection of essays attempts to convey a sense of multiplicity, not only within the history of Buddhism but also across the history of monasticism in general. In terms of presentation, the first three essays of this volume deal with Buddhist monastic developments within China, while the final four essays more or less deal exclusively with Japan. The first chapter by Koichi Shinohara focuses attention on the close relationship between lay practitioners and monks through an exploration of monks taking meals at lay supporter’s residences. This essay moves in the direction of debunking the popular notion of Buddhist monks as religious virtuosi shut off from worldly concerns and interested only in soteriological advancement. Shinohara looks at the Indian meal-time tradition that gave lay members of the Buddhist community the opportunity to generate merit, and the way the Chinese vinaya commentators Daoxuan 道宣 (596-667) and Daoshi 道世 (596?-683) shifted 76 Journal of Chinese Religions the locus of merit generation from feeding the Buddha to feeding monks. The participation of supernatural guests, like that of the monk Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja [賓頭盧頗羅墮誓 or 賓頭盧頗 羅墮 or 賓頭盧跋羅墮闍], whose presence is symbolized by an empty seat, as well as other figures such as ghosts and gods, also signify some of the changes emphasized by Chinese commentarial literature. Shinohara also argues that the theme of inviting monks to have meals in lay residences became a trope in Chinese Buddhist miracle stories, whereby the meals served as a setting for the interaction between people and unexpected visitations by supernatural figures. James Robson’s chapter focuses on the role that the physical location of the monastery has played in Buddhist monasticism. Noting the emphasis that secondary literature tends to put on “people” over “place,” Robson turns to primary sources that more frequently provide a balanced perspective on these themes. In shifting from prescriptive texts and official records to other sources such as local gazetteers, monastic foundation legends, and inscriptions, Robson re-envisions the monastic site as deeply and meaningfully connected to its environs, and not as a simple warehouse of monks. The natural setting, anomalous occurrences, a correlation of terrestrial and celestial bodies, as well as foundational legends all created the sacred site in which the monastery was located and moreover framed the variety of...

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