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336 Vesna A. Wallace (Ed.) Buddhism in Mongolian History, Culture 336 Book Reviews Vesna A. Wallace (ed.) Buddhism in Mongolian History, Culture, and Society. New York: Oxford University Press. 2015. 352 pp., 18 illustrations, hardback £68.00, ISBN: 978-0-19-995864-1; paperback £23.49, ISBN: 978-0-19-995866-5 Buddhism in Mongolian History, Culture and Society is the most comprehensive edited volume detailing research on Mongolian Buddhism to date. In the intro- duction Vesna Wallace raises the challenge: to move beyond Tibeto-centric discussions of Buddhism in Inner Asia. She sets the agenda of uncovering what is unique about Mongolian Buddhism, and the contributors, including the editor herself, set out to begin this exploration. In the first chapter Johan Elverskog reiterates the purpose of the book: to carve out a third space which resists seeing Buddhism in Mongolia as an unchanged dominating imperial colonial force, or as a religion hardly touching the hearts of the Mongols. All of the contributors in this book avoid the trap he describes, that is, to present Mongolian Buddhism as neither ‘really authentic Tibetan Buddhism, nor fully its own tradition’ (p. 13). The range of the book is impressive, especially as it relates to the heteroge- neous histories of Mongolian Buddhism. Chapters cover topics such as gender, linguistics, ethnicity and nationalism, religious scriptures, tantric practices, art, literature, science, Buddhist missionaries, and the oppression of Buddhism during the socialist period. The contributors present Mongolian Buddhist tra- ditions with their own important figures, artworks, history, religious texts and practices, and literature. Several of the authors describe the uniqueness of Buddhism in the Mongolian cultural region through the lives of key historical figures. The first chapter by Elverskog details the dimming historical presence of a once powerful female exemplar, Queen Jönggen, as the Buddhist Qing Dynasty progressively narrowed and shaped the historical narratives on the steppe. From Richard Taupier and Baatr Kitinov we hear about how two key Buddhist figures, the Zaya Pandita and the Shakur Lama, were involved in state-making in Oriatia and Kalmykia, respectively. Matthew King’s discussion of Zawa Damdin’s writ- ings explores the explosive cultural collision between conservative monastic institutions and the advancing scientific modernity coming in through transla- tions of key works from Buryat intellectuals. Uranchimeg Tsultemin provides an intimate portrayal of the unique and magnificent works of art created by the first Öndör Gegeen, Zanabazar. In a second chapter she details Zanabazar’s artworks as it relates to the figure of Maitreya—a figure gaining increasing importance in postsocialist Mongolian Buddhist configurations. Other writers focus more generally on Buddhist histories. Uranchimeg Ujeed discusses the Inner Mongolian Mergen Tradition as a unique unfolding © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi �0.��63/���050�8-��340073 Book Reviews 337 of Buddhist practice in the Mongolian language. Wallace draws our attention to the posthumous incorporation of Chinggis Khan in Mongolian Buddhist narratives and highlights how his adoption in official Qing Buddhist histories still plays an important role in Buddhist nationalism today. In Christopher Kaplonski’s contribution we are taken through the logic of Mongolian court- rooms during the violent purges of 1930s as the socialist government bureau- cratically justified its increasingly intense campaign against Buddhist lamas and institutions. At times the book focuses a little too heavily on the big movements of his- tory, which tends to overlook the experiences of the laity, who no doubt prayed, resisted, participated in, and were awed by the dramatic religious changes over the centuries. Because of this emphasis on larger forces, female voices are fre- quently eclipsed, with only two chapters (from Elverskog and Karma Lekshe Tsomo) devoting themselves to female narratives and experiences. We get a hint of how the laity may have been moved by the forces of history in King’s chapter on the confounding clash between scientific discourses (such as the new notion that the world was round) and the Buddhist resistance to these ideas. In Wickham-Smith’s chapter on Mongolian literature, he points to how Mongolian Buddhist literary figures distinctively carried with them nomadic sensibilities. Yet it is hard to know from these accounts how and to what extent the largely non-literate nomadic population experienced and participated in these movements. Having said this, Wallace’s own contributions do something to fill this gap. In addition to her historical descriptions of Chinggis Khan, she discusses the importance of the deity Vajrapāṇi in historical and contemporary religious practices. She describes in great colour the relation of Buddhist scriptures to the legends of heroes and fast horses. In another chapter she discusses how Buddhist ideas are used in contemporary place making. Very much rooted in present-day concerns, Karma Lekshe Tsomo gives a compelling description of the contemporary situation of Buryat Buddhist women. Influenced by secular education, many of these women are newly compelled to understand religious rituals and participate in religious practices. Hurelbaatar Ujeed’s final chapter, on Inner Mongolian Buddhism, concludes the book with an account of the historical interrelation of monastics, state and the laity. He points to how the gap between the laity and the monastic community was not as clear-cut as one might expect. Buddhism in Mongolian History, Culture, and Society provides support to an emerging field of scholars researching Mongolian Buddhism. It represents a new turn in studies looking at Mongolian Buddhism towards a Buddhism interconnected with global forces, but one which stands on its own two feet as a unique tradition with its own histories, practices and contemporary INNER ASIA �8 (�0�6) 333–34�.
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