Taiwan’s Buddhist Nuns by Elise Ann DeVido (review)

Book Reviews 105 It is also not entirely clear if bracketing any connection to “individualism” diminishes the interests of the book’s observations regarding the thinkers and writings discussed. Nor is it the case that should there be no such thing as “early Chinese forms of individualism,” universal human rights becomes automatically incompatible with traditional Chinese thought—that remains to be shown. Conversely, the author has persuasively argued that there are important early Chinese thinkers who thought that individual human beings do possess inalienable prerogatives and the dignity that comes with having them. This seems a non-trivial conclusion that is potentially relevant to the ongoing debates regarding the status of human rights in the Chinese tradition. On the whole, the book presents a commendable treatment of early Chinese views regarding human agency and the self in thought and politics—exactly as the sub-title promises. And that, on its own, would have been sufficient for this reviewer to recommend the book. HUI-CHIEH LOY, National University of Singapore Taiwan’s Buddhist Nuns ELISE ANN DEVIDO. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2010. xv, 188 pages. ISBN 978-1-4384-3147-5. US$75.00 hardcover. DeVido’s outlines her questions clearly in the Introduction: her research aims at assessing how women shaped Buddhism in Taiwan, and how Taiwanese Buddhism and Buddhist women/nuns have been mutually creation and creators of each others. The first chapter explores the different forms of practice and associations that Buddhist women had adopted in Taiwan from the eighteenth century until today. This historical survey covers the phenomenon of vegetarian women (zhaigu 齋姑), the situation under the Japanese occupation, the improved conditions for Buddhist women in the second half of the twentieth century thanks to the efforts of senior monks who fled to Taiwan from Mainland China, and finally the diversity of activities and facilities which opened up for nuns with the end of Martial Law in 1987. Important highlights of this chapter are the analysis of the terminology adopted throughout three centuries to define a Buddhist woman and an ordained nun, and a digression on the issue of the Dual Ordination for women in Buddhism in general and in Taiwan specifically. However, the author overlooked consideration of the Non-Dual Ordination that is still performed in Taiwan today. 106 Journal of Chinese Religions The following three chapters discuss the Ciji [Tzu Chi] 慈濟 Foundation through a study of the nun founder Zhengyan [Cheng Yen] 證嚴 (b. 1937), the analysis of one Ciji project that had a strong impact on Taiwan society, and a discussion concerning the membership of the association. Overall, this part of the book is an anthropological survey based on personal fieldwork that DeVido conducted within Ciji. Chapter 2 outlines the core essence of Ciji through the biography of Zhengyan and DeVido’s personal experience in a “Still Thoughts Camp” (April 1-3, 2000). This chapter lacks a satisfactory analysis of Zhengyan’s charisma, but makes a good point in underlining that the “Ciji miracle” mirrors the “Taiwan Miracle,” and so reflects a pattern of local history (pp. 46-47). In line with this argument, and based on the nature and contents of Ciji literature, DeVido defines Ciji as “Contrapuntual Narratives” (p.45), where the past is maintained in the present and the present recollects the past. Chapter 3 develops this concept further through a detailed study of the Ciji plan of rebuilding schools that had been destroyed by the earthquake of 1999. Named “Project Hope” (xiwang gongcheng 希望工程), this Ciji activity was part of the contemporary “New School Campus Movement” that saw the involvement of government and NGOs. DeVido highlights two important points. First of all, “Project Hope” could be seen as “a Buddhist-Confucian-Green synthesis, where men are civilized, women are gentle, and children are quiescent: a Taiwan ‘refined and cultured,’ purged of ‘superstition’ and ‘bad habits,’ yet also firmly rooted in local soil” (p. 50). Still, this attempt to form a “new Taiwan civilization” maintains a strong Ciji identity, which goes from types of architecture to the vocabulary adopted. Chapter 4 presents the creation and development of Ciji through a study of its membership, which DeVido based on her interviews of nuns and laity...