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James Carter. Heart of Buddha, Heart of China: The Life of Tanxu, a Twentieth- Century Monk. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. viii + 221 pp. $29.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-19-539885-4. Reviewed by Justin R. Ritzinger Published on H-Buddhism (August, 2011) Commissioned by Dan Lusthaus (Harvard University) James Carter’s Heart of Buddha, Heart of Chi‐ tions such as Tanxu’s and to cast the currents and na: The Life of Tanxu, a Twentieth-Century Monk developments of the day in the more immediate is focused, as the subtitle suggests, on the life of light of one person’s experience. the prominent Republican-era master Tanxu 倓虛 As explained in the prologue, Carter was led (1875-1963; not to be confused with his more fa‐ to this project and his methodological approach mous contemporary Taixu 太虛). Yet it is not a by a serendipitous encounter with living memory. conventional biography, nor is it an entry in the Originally interested in writing a more conven‐ “life and thought” genre once so common in the tional monograph on the Buddhist contribution to study of Chinese Buddhism. Rather it is what Chinese nationalism through the medium of ar‐ Carter terms a “micro-history,” an attempt to re‐ chitecture, Carter was offered an entrée into the veal the historical forces of an era as they inter‐ life of Tanxu through an unexpected opportunity sect in the life of an individual. Carter proceeds by to meet with one of his disciples, Lok To 樂都 of tracing the course of Tanxu’s life, enriching it with the Young Men’s Buddhist Association in New a thick description not only of the “great events” York. This led Carter to shift his focus to Tanxu. In but also of the details and textures of social cus‐ addition to conducting interviews with Lok To tom and everyday life. As a historian of China, and others, Carter traced Tanxu’s peregrinations Carter’s core concern is not with Buddhism as through China guided by Tanxu’s memoir, such but with its role in certain nationalist Carter’s primary written source. Carter’s tone in projects in the foreign concessions (extraterritori‐ the prologue is quite personal as he provides brief al micro-colonies extorted by imperial powers vignettes of his travels and encounters and also from the weakened Chinese state). His aim is to describes his methodological discomfort over his enrich our understanding of Chinese nationalism feelings of “intimacy” with his subject as well as with the inclusion of religiously based contribu‐ with the presence of the miraculous in Tanxu’s H-Net Reviews recollections. This more personal voice returns in Chinese identity. The Japanese invasion of 1937 the epilogue in which he revisits the key themes left Tanxu in occupied territory. Though he did illustrated by Tanxu’s life and relates the unfortu‐ not “collaborate” with the new regime in Carter’s nate end of his relationship with Lok To and his estimation, he did reach an “accommodation” that group, who feared that the explicit connection he allowed him to continue his activities (chapter 9). drew between Tanxu and politics would hamper Anticipating Communist victory in the civil war their renewed activity in the People’s Republic. that followed the Japanese defeat, Tanxu fed to In ten core chapters, Carter traces Tanxu’s Hong Kong where he played a leading role in es‐ life, augmenting the narrative throughout with tablishing Buddhism in the colony until his death explanations of his historical and cultural context. in 1965 (chapter 10). Carter devotes the frst two chapters to his secular Carter assembles his microhistory from an life, for unlike many major monastics of his day abundance of revealing details, some drawn from Tanxu did not become a monastic until well into Tanxu’s memoir or the recollections of his descen‐ middle age. Born near Tianjin and buffeted from dants, others drawn from the historiography of his youth by the wars and unrest of his time, he the period. The results are often vivid and illumi‐ eventually settled in Yingkou 營口 where he nating. The account of the establishment of Par‐ raised a family and became a rather successful adise Temple (Jile si 極樂寺) in Harbin is among practitioner of Chinese medicine and fortune the strongest examples. A former Russian conces‐ telling. At this time he also became deeply con‐ sion, the city had no Buddhist monastery prior to cerned with both nationalism and Buddhism. Con‐ Tanxu’s arrival. Tanxu sought not merely to estab‐ vinced that China’s survival could be secured only lish a beachhead for Buddhism but also to in‐ through religious revival, he abandoned his fami‐ scribe a Chinese identity at the heart of the city by ly to become a monk. He traveled south to study locating his new temple so as to compete with the under the Tiantai master Dixian 諦閑 at his semi‐ local landmarks of foreign architecture. Pursuing nary in Ningbo 寧波, but left after just a few years these intersecting projects involved negotiating in order to begin his public life (chapter 3). After with different constituencies: officials eager for an an attempt to reconcile with the family he aban‐ emblem of Chinese culture; the Christian head of doned and a brief stint of famine relief (chapter the powerful railroad administration; and local 4), Tanxu embarked on the work for which he is laity who hoped for a more open, informal institu‐ best known, reviving Buddhism in northern Chi‐ tion than what Tanxu’s strict, orthodox vision al‐ na by establishing and restoring a series of tem‐ lowed. Carter paints a picture, in short, of religion ples across the region in Yingkou (chapter 5), and nationalism at their most concrete and local. Harbin 哈爾濱 and Changchun 長春 (chapter 6), At the same time, he speaks to broader issues, for Xi’an 西安 (chapter 7), and Qingdao 青島 (chapter Carter argues that Tanxu’s project represents a 8). These activities were what initially sparked form of nationalism founded on tradition that is Carter’s interest in Tanxu and these chapters are still comparatively neglected in the study of Chi‐ the richest and most interesting of the book. Each nese nationalism. Carter’s account is similarly of these cities, with the exception of Xi’an, bore rich in a number of other topics, from the perils the impress of imperial powers due to their histo‐ of bandits to the plight of a woman abandoned by ry as foreign concessions. In this context, the es‐ her husband. tablishment of a monastery meant not only the His footing is less sure, however, in dealing creation of infrastructure for the revival of the re‐ with issues of Buddhist doctrine, such as empti‐ ligion but also the erection of a visible symbol of ness and the Buddhist view of materiality. He ad‐ 2 H-Net Reviews dresses the doctrine explicitly in the fnal chapter an individual life. For scholars of Republican Chi‐ in a discussion of the Heart Sutra. Apparently due na it poses a challenge to further consider the im‐ to Tanxu’s rather abstruse commentary translated portant role that religion frequently played in Chi‐ by Lok To’s Sutra Translation Committee of the nese nationalism. For scholars of modern Bud‐ United States and Canada, he identifies it with the dhism, it offers an introduction to a significant fg‐ non-materiality of functions such as sight, if I ure almost unknown in English-language scholar‐ read him correctly, and understands it to be iden‐ ship. More important, it suggests the possibilities tical to form insofar as they are both alike in hav‐ that micro-history might offer, especially to the ing arisen from causes and conditions. Although study of modern Buddhism. For the modern peri‐ this does not hinder Carter’s central points, this od, the resources are available to draw rich por‐ identification of emptiness with non-materiality traits of Buddhism on the ground through tight fo‐ does lead him to see materiality as problematic in cus on particular individuals, localities, or institu‐ itself for Buddhism and as an impediment to be tions. Hopefully, Carter’s work will encourage oth‐ transcended in almost Gnostic fashion. This ren‐ ers to exploit these opportunities. Finally, despite ders Tanxu’s work in the service of nationalism, the issues with the treatment of Buddhist doc‐ temple construction, and famine relief appear trine, teachers who may be considering offering a oddly paradoxical. course on modern Chinese religion, or specifically The approach adopted by Carter, while often Buddhism, will fnd Heart of Buddha, Heart of illuminating, is not without inherent limitations. China a useful book with which to set the stage, as Tanxu, for Carter, is “a means to the end of under‐ the thorough contextualization provides an acces‐ standing China’s recent history” (p. 2). As a result, sible introduction both to the particularities of though Tanxu is the central fgure throughout the Chinese religious culture and to the challenges it narrative, he is only seldom an object of consider‐ faced in the twentieth century. ation in his own right. For the reader who does have an intrinsic interest in modern Chinese Bud‐ n dhism, this can be frustrating at times. This is ex‐ - emplified by the issue of Tanxu’s rise to promi‐ nence. Carter frst refers to Tanxu as prominent one of his disciples, on page 104. Yet it is not at all clear how the rela‐ as well as tively junior monk--at this point, a seminary ing dropout who had done a bit of relief work--had the  achieved this prominence.

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