Affiliation and Transmission in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium by Florian C. Reiter (review)

researched and beautifully written book. It will, in my humble estimation, become a must-read for all scholars of any Buddhist tradition; and it is to inspire the appearance of other works researched with similar care.12 I eagerly look forward to the author’s further publications. JINHUA CHEN The University of British Columbia FLORIAN C. REITER, ed., Affiliation and Transmission in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium. Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vol. 78. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012. viii, 300 pp. J68 (pb). ISBN 978-3447 -06761-4 This is a collection of papers presented at the eponymous ‘‘International Symposium on Affiliation and Transmission in Daoism,’’ hosted by the Humboldt University, Berlin, June 27–29, 2011, and the fifth volume in an informal series of collected conference papers.1 Only Stephen R. Bokenkamp, John Lagerwey, and Florian C. Reiter have had contributions in all volumes since the first one—Scriptures, Schools and Forms of Practice in Daoism—was published in 2005, four years after the first Berlin Symposium was held in 2001. Terry Kleeman has had papers in four consecutive volumes, starting with Purposes, Means and Convictions in Daoism (2007), derived from a second symposium (2005). Articles by Hsieh Tsung-Hui 謝聰輝, Lee Fongmao 李豐楙, and Lü Pengzhi 呂鵬志 appear in three volumes, beginning with Foundations of Daoist Ritual (2009), based on a third symposium (2007). Contributions by Chang Chaojan 張超然, Hsieh Shu-Wei 謝世維, Lin Wei-Ping 林瑋嬪, and Tam Wai Lun 譚偉倫 are found in the last two volumes, starting with Exorcism in Daoism (2011). Only Paul R. Katz has a single paper in the fifth volume. Beyond these twelve scholars, fifteen have had papers published at least once in the first four volumes, out of a total of twenty-seven contributors. In this group, Asian scholars, in the minority for the first volume, have become the majority from the fourth volume onwards,2 and there is only one female scholar (Lin). The acknowledgements in each of the papers from the present volume tend to confirm that these twelve scholars share an ‘‘affiliation’’—our first theme— 12 A noteworthy monograph-size study on the Aja ta satru legend that has been partly inspired by Radich’s work is now capably made available by Wu Juan 吳娟, a new doctoral graduate under the guidance of Max Deeg of Cardiff University. See Juan Wu, ‘‘From Perdition to Awakening: A Study of Legends of the Salvation of the Patricide Aja ta satru in Indian Buddhism’’ (PhD dissertation, 2012, Cardiff University, UK). 1 The first four volumes are: Scriptures, Schools and Forms of Practice in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium, ed. Poul Andersen and Florian C. Reiter (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005); Purposes, Means and Convictions in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium, ed. Florian C. Reiter (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007); Foundations of Daoist Ritual: A Berlin Symposium, ed. Florian C. Reiter (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2009); and Exorcism in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium, ed. Florian C. Reiter (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2011). 2 Proportion of Western/Asian scholars in the five volumes: 8/2 (2005), 8/4 (2007), 8/6 (2009), 6/9 (2011), and 5/7 (2012). 180 BOOK REVIEWS although not necessarily in the institutional sense.3 A bibliographical analysis of the volume would perhaps result in the definition of a cluster of preferred secondary sources, ‘‘transmitted’’—our second theme—by means of repeated references.4 Thus may Affiliation and Transmission eventually prove its value as a primary source for the sociological and ideological study of sinology at the turn of the twenty-first century. The contributions—seven of which concern ancient or pre-modern China and the remaining five, modern or contemporary China—are unequal in length, scope, and scientific importance. Some are short, mainly descriptive, with poor annotations and meager bibliographical references; others offer detailed analysis, dense footnotes and up-to-date bibliographies. Most being far beyond the limited expertise of this reviewer, the following remarks can hardly do justice to what is, in its major parts, a laudable effort of collective scholarship. Reiter’s opening paper on the school of complete integrity (Quanzhen 全真) and the exorcistic Five Thunders rites (Wulei fa 五雷法) in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries—a ‘‘crucial’’ period in the development of Taoism—sets fairly decent heuristic standards (pp. 1–18...