China: A Religious State by John Lagerwey (review)

Book Reviews 111 from the “necessity to stress the superiority of Buddhism vis-à-vis contending systems of doctrine” (p. 1), but negotiated the very criteria that constitute a legitimate system of doctrine at this point of time. This line of research necessitates a more thorough embedding of these texts in the political, social, and religious practices of the time. Jülch also fails to explore these issues in the abundant footnotes that accompany his translations of the two texts. Rather, he identifies concepts, persons, and quotations from earlier texts as well as textual variants, referring, where it is pertinent, to secondary literature. He does not declare his translation strategies either, but his practice as a translator is on the literal side, resulting in a somewhat Chinese-sounding German at times, which only opens up the meaning of a passage through paraphrases and explanations offered in an accompanying footnote. The translations themselves run parallel to the Chinese texts, allowing for rapid and easy comparisons between the original and the German versions. This makes the book an ideal companion for all those who want to explore the original text in greater depth. The usefulness of the book is marred by reasons beyond the author’s control stemming from the German academic tradition that demands the publication of unrevised doctoral theses. Many of the footnotes would have been cut if the publication had been more carefully targeted for the specialist reader. A careful editor would have helped to avoid minor errors of typography and, occasionally, of content. An index would have made the book more userfriendly for fellow scholars. In spite of these points of criticism, the translations of the Poxie and Bianzheng lun are a feat for which we have to be grateful, if only in the hope that they will inspire more new work on these seminal texts. ANDREAS JANOUSCH, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid China: A Religious State JOHN LAGERWEY. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010. viii, 237 pages. ISBN 978-988-8028-04-7. HK$125.00, US$16.95, paper. John Lagerwey is one of the preeminent scholars of Chinese religion. He is one of the few whose research spans both the intricacies of medieval Daoism and the complexity of contemporary religious practices. A culmination of decades of research, study, and reflection, Lagerwey’s book provides a new perspective that thoroughly corrects previous assumptions about religion in China. Indeed, this book should challenge long-held opinions about China, such as the centrality of ancestor worship, which Lagerwey argues became common practice 112 Journal of Chinese Religions only after the Ming reform in the mid-1500’s that allowed commoners to worship their ancestors (pp. 51-52). Lagerwey sets out to correct this Confucian view of China, which led Chinese and Western scholars to “misconstrue Chinese society.” He begins by exposing the scholarly myopia towards religion in China and argues that the occlusion of religion was a result of a confluence of Jesuit and Neo-Confucian antipathy towards popular religion and the competing traditions of Buddhism and, especially, Daoism. Indeed, it is precisely by focusing on the ritual practices of Daoists and of local religion that Lagerwey provides a new view of Chinese religious history, and of China itself. First of all, Lagerwey argues that China was, and is perhaps returning to be, a religious state, very literally, a “continent of spirits.” By this term Lagerwey refers not just to the ritual role of the imperial state, but to the cosmological understanding of space itself: “China is a space and all space in China is conceived of as sacred, that is, inhabited by divine energies, which, because they sustain us, must receive in return our sacrificial recognition” (p. 17). He thus suggests that we should view the “perennial structures of Chinese religion and society” as a series of concentric circles: the outermost being the territory of the Chinese realm, an intermediate circle that is the local village, and the inner circle being the individual human body. All three realms share the same dangers of demonic invasion and require similar means of defense, public rituals of expulsion or individual rites of exorcism. These rituals are best exemplified by the...