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Book Reviews 97 This richly documented and well-written book will be of interest to scholars of contemporary China, and also could be adopted for undergraduate and graduate courses in religion and/or Chinese society and culture. JEAN DEBERNARDI, University of Alberta Heart of Buddha, Heart of China: The Life of Tanxu, a Twentieth Century Monk JAMES CARTER. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. viii, 221 pages. ISBN 978-0-19-539885-4. US$29.90, £18.99 hardcover. Heart of Buddha, Heart of China is about the life of the Buddhist monk Tanxu 倓虛 (1875– 1963) and his efforts to strengthen Buddhism in North China in the first half of the twentieth century. Tanxu, not to be confused with the more famous Taixu 太虛 (1890–1947), entered monkhood relatively late in life, leaving his wife and children to join the Buddhist order. His name is remembered mainly for the construction of temples in the northern cities of Yingkou 營口, Harbin 哈爾濱, and Qingdao 青島, which had little previous Buddhist heritage and were developed rapidly under colonialist pressure from Europe and Japan. The chapters are arranged chronologically and Carter follows Tanxu’s life closely. He outlines Tanxu’s story before a historical background that is at least as important as the actions of Tanxu himself. Tanxu’s travels are the red thread which Carter uses to “explicate the patterns of Chinese history and society over the past century” (p. 3). For every move of Tanxu, Carter provides the historical background information that helps the readers understand the circumstances of his actions. The result is a vivid and accessible account of a monk’s life in a turbulent period in China’s history. With Tanxu we experience the Japanese occupation of North China in Harbin, see famine in Shaanxi 陝西, witness a bandit raid on a river at night, and get a glimpse of life in late-colonial Qingdao and Hong Kong 香港. Carter carefully gives only enough information to account for Tanxu’s actions; the background story never takes over or turns into a digression. Carter makes a special effort to interpret two elements in Tanxu’s life that a modern reader is likely to find problematic: Tanxu’s relationship with his family and the question in how far his activities abetted Japanese rule before and during the Sino-Japanese war. 98 Journal of Chinese Religions The first is a “traditional” problem in Buddhism. The tension between a life dedicated to religion and one’s family ties has been with Buddhism since its inception. It is thematized in early Indian texts such as the Vessantara Jātaka and addressed in later Chinese Buddhist customs, such as asking one’s parents’ permission before receiving ordination. The second problem, that of Buddhist collaboration under colonial rule, is quite new and owes its existence to our changed perception of the role of Buddhism in society. At the end of the Ming dynasty, Confucian literati and officials unwilling to serve the Manchu regime could opt out of public life and become Buddhist monks. It was widely seen that by entering the Buddhist order one removed oneself from the realm and demands of politics. Modernity affords no such comforts. The biographies of Chinese monks under Japanese—or indeed Communist—rule are now increasingly questioned as to the ethical implications of their “accommodation” with the new rulers. With regard to Tanxu, Carter treats both dilemmas in his biography tactfully and sensibly, addressing them with respect for the complex web of motivations and events that makes up not only Tanxu’s life, but our own. The book is mainly geared to readers interested in history; students of modern Chinese Buddhism or religious culture can choose to be delighted at an account of a hitherto neglected Buddhist leader in a hitherto neglected region in China, or to bemoan the lack of references to primary and secondary literature beyond the absolute minimum. This is a carefully managed book and it seems there was a conscious effort to eliminate all information outside a narrow focus on Tanxu and political history. Unmentioned go the many studies of modern Chinese Buddhism and religion that have appeared in recent years (e.g. Goossaert’s work on temple culture)1 or...

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