Book Reviews 285

James Carter Heart of Buddha, Heart of China: The Life of Tanxu, a Twentieth-Century Monk. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. viii + 221 pages. Softcover. isbn 978-0-19-936759-7. us$24.95.

This book aspires to reveal trends in twentieth-century Chinese history by fol- lowing the story of a man who became one of the era’s important Buddhist monks, Tanxu 倓虛 (1875–1963). Rather than writing a straight biography of Tanxu, Carter aims to write a “microhistory,” using Tanxu as a device to narrate developments in twentieth-century China. As a historian, Carter has written a book focused on the narrative particularities of Chinese history and the life of a monk, rather than on the specifically Buddhist aspects of Tanxu’s career. The central thesis is that religion contributed to Chinese nationalism in the twen- tieth century. Carter supports this thesis by detailing how Tanxu built temples in the foreign enclaves of Harbin and Qingdao with the support of local offi- cials interested in erecting a symbol of Chinese culture and nationhood among the distinctively European buildings that marked these towns. The book is written in an engaging and accessible style that avoids jargon, theory, and Chinese characters; these and other qualities suggest the book is aimed at a more popular readership. The book follows a chronological order and there is neither an introduction nor a conclusion; instead there is a pro- logue and epilogue, which are largely contemplative personal narratives. The prologue reveals how this research project on Buddhism and nationalism shifted after Carter met a disciple of Tanxu living less than two hours away from his home; the project then became a journey with Tanxu through a tumultuous century. The epilogue picks up the personal and contemplative tone as Carter reflects on the historian’s craft and the myth of objectivity, admitting that his journey with Tanxu has “changed me as well as the story I was writing” (194). The book is a combination of religious biography based on Tanxu’s memoir and culturally informed historical chronicle. The memoirs of Tanxu are the most important source for the book, supplemented by translations of Tanxu’s teachings, while local gazetteers provide descriptions of cities along Tanxu’s itinerary. The book sweeps up readers in its rich tapestry of colorful details, consisting largely of historical particulars and interesting anecdotes that shed light on the religious and political culture of China. Major developments in twentieth-century Chinese history such as the Sino-Japanese wars, the Boxer Rebellion, and the May Fourth Movement serve as backdrop and context for the story of Tanxu. Carter is a skillful guide to the historical events, which he narrates with authority and economy. Apart from Carter’s central thesis concerning the role Tanxu’s temple build- ing played in strengthening Chinese national identity, the book contains

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi 10.1163/22143955-00202012

286 Book Reviews several recurring themes that shed light on Buddhism in twentieth-century China. These recurring themes are not particularly highlighted by Carter, but their recurrence suggests avenues for further research. The first has to do with the character and state of Buddhism in North China and the struggles of being a Northern, Mandarin-speaking monk in a world of Southern monks. While Carter makes no sustained comparison between North and South, he does reveal the views of Dixian 諦閑 (1858–1932) and Tanxu that Buddhism was weak in the North and that special effort was needed to revitalize it there. This raises important questions about the transmission of Buddhism in North China by Mandarin-speaking monks versus the development of Buddhism in South China by monks speaking dialects from Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guandong. Other recurring themes that are left without elaboration are Tanxu’s belief in the afterlife and in ghosts and their ability to serve as vehicles to inspire moral behavior, as well as his belief in the prominent role that dreams and visions play in making decisions. This book also provides a textured account of how rituals became a favored means of fundraising. Although Tanxu appar- ently disagreed with the emphasis placed on such rituals, he ultimately relented and deployed rituals to raise funds at his temples again and again. A theme Carter fruitfully examines is the muddiness of accepted labels for hero and traitor, and collaboration and resistance. Carter prefers the term “accommodation” to describe Tanxu’s relationship with Japanese occupying forces in the cities where he had established temples; he does a good job of assessing this relationship using the materials available. In chapters 6 and 8, which focus on Tanxu’s efforts to establish Buddhist temples in Harbin and Qingdao, the nationalistic dimension of temple build- ing is most evident. Local officials supported these temple-building projects as a way to make Chinese national culture more visible in the landscape of for- eign enclaves like Harbin, which were previously dominated by European architecture and a Russian Orthodox church. The Paradise Temple 極樂寺 in Harbin was completed in 1924 and served as a centerpiece of postcolonial architecture. In the following year, Dixian, pleased with Tanxu’s ability to build new Buddhist temples and spread teachings in the North, gave Tanxu dharma transmission, making him a forty-fourth generation Tiantai patriarch. The temple in Qingdao was one of the largest temples built in twentieth-century China and established Tanxu as a Buddhist leader of the era. Chapter 10 follows Tanxu to Hong Kong as Communists take control of China. Tanxu presides over a new Buddhist seminary in Hong Kong and helps establish the Buddhist Library of South China before his death in 1963. Buddhologists will likely wish that the author had made a greater attempt to bring the book into conversation with other works on Buddhism in

review of religion and chinese society 2 (2015) 265-294