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HINDU AND BUDDHIST INITIATIONS IN INDIA AND NEPAL. Edited by Astrid Zotter and Christof Zotter.
Ethno Indology, Heidelberg Studies in South Asian Rituals. Gen. ed. Axel Michaels, Vol. 10. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010. Pp. 380. 58.95. This edited volume containing fourteen articles sheds much-needed new light on the topic of rituals of initiation in India and Nepal. Little coherent work exists beyond the normative accounts drawn from well-known Sanskrit texts, and most ethnographic accounts are scattered and often of questionable quality. This volume begins to correct for this problem. Two types of rituals are considered: life cycle rituals (sam skara) that are obligatory in many communities, and more optional religious initiations, consecrations, or ksa empowerments (d , abhis eka). Examination of the former is based on recent research that combines ethnographic work with classical and premodern texts. These thickly described and socially contextualized studies demonstrate that the adaptations these rites of passage have undergone are not so different from their presentation in the classical ritual literature, and can hardly be considered much of a modern compromise. Several papers examine childhood sam skaras and the rites of Vedic initiation (upanayana) and vartana), which are often combined with return home (sama the marriage ceremony. Among the most noteworthy are those by D. Gellner, K. Ggge, A. Michaels, and T. Lewis (all in Nepal). The convergence of Hindu and Buddhist initiatory rituals is perhaps best shown by Gellner in an insightful study of Newar girls puberty rituals. The authors do not fall back on the standard texts in their accounts, but access lesser-known but equally important texts, some available in manuscript only. It is important to single out the papers by H. Isaacson on initiation in Buddhist tantra, A. von Rospatt on the ritual of consecration in Newar Buddhism, and G. Colas on variation in the installation of temple images (pratis t ha). A. Zotter completes the volume with a most interesting account of the initiation of a tree prescribed in a Nepalese ritual handbook. This excellent volume is highly recommended. Frederick M. Smith University of Iowa

brief overview of the collapse of the Imperial order, Poon turns her attention to the ways in which the modern Chinese state sought to remake society, often by dramatically reordering urban space. Of particular interest is the way Nationalist thinkers constructed popular religion as superstition, and hence something diametrically opposed to Chinas new status as a modern nation. One potential shortcoming of this volume is that Poons focus on the Guangzhou region is necessarily limited, and so does not include much information about other areas in China or the broader Asian context at the time. In addition, Poon could have included a more explicit critical discussion of modernity in general. To an extent, though, such criticisms may amount to mere quibbling. Ultimately, Poon provides a highly suggestive presentation of popular religion as a means of resistance to state control, and the reader cannot help but admire the creativity with which ordinary citizens of Guangzhou maintained and adapted their traditional observances to the secularizing policies of the Nationalist government. This is a topic well worth our attention during a time when we are seeing an increasing number of religiously inuenced resistance movements around the globe. John M. Thompson Christopher Newport University

FATHOMING THE COSMOS AND ORDERING THE WORLD: THE YIJING (I-CHING, OR CLASSIC OF CHANGES) AND ITS EVOLUTION IN CHINA. By
Richard J. Smith. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2008. Pp. xix + 393. Hardcover, $35.00. The Yijing is second only to the Bible among the worlds most widely read and commented-upon texts, and the history of its development and interpretation both encapsulates and elucidates the history of traditional Chinese thought. Moreover, along with other emblems and elements of traditional Chinese culture, the Yijing has enjoyed a revival of interest in contemporary China. Smiths biography of the Yijing attends to both the particular contexts of Yijing practice and readership in various dynastic and interdynastic eras as well as the changing views of the Changes across time. Not only does Smith provide a thorough overview of this key text in Chinese intellectual and religious history, he also documents how its history demonstrates the eclectic tendencies of Chinese intellectual and religious cultures (which often blend what otherwise might be seen as discrete traditions, such as Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism) and how the Yijing thereby concretizes the theoretical unity of Chinese traditions expressed by the saying san jiao he yi (three teachings harmonize as one). Along the way, Smith makes several valuable methodological points about the comparative utility of categories such as classic and scripture, the continuities and contrasts between Western and non-Western religious and scientic traditions, the porous boundaries between elite and popular thought and practice, and the interrelation of canonical and apocryphal texts. Copious illustrations, a marvelous bibliography of

East Asia
NEGOTIATING RELIGION IN MODERN CHINA: STATE AND COMMON PEOPLE IN GUANGZHOU, 1900-1937. By Shuk-Wah Poon. Hong Kong: The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, 2011. Pp. ix + 208. $45.00. Sinologists, social scientists, scholars of religions, and students of modern history should all nd this to be a rewarding monograph. Drawing on various newspapers and government publications, Poon presents a detailed history of the interaction between adherents of popular religion and those ofcials in Guangzhou (Canton) bent on modernizing China during the late-Qing and Republican era. Following a

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sources in multiple languages, and three useful appendices round out this exemplary work of intellectual and religious history. Anyone interested in understanding the greatest single inuence on traditional Chinese culture, which continues to shape life and thought in present-day China, should read this book. Jeffrey L. Richey Berea College

CHINESE RELIGION: A CONTEXTUAL APPROACH. By Xinzhong Yao and Yanxia Zhao. London: Continuum, 2010. Pp. 226. $39.95. Initially, this textbook (by Chinese specialists on Confucianism now teaching in Britain) seems comparable to M. Poceskis 2009 Introducing Chinese Religions; for example, it includes questions for discussion in each chapter. It also shares the same audience: advanced undergraduates. But whereas Poceski offered comprehensive and balanced coverage of the main religious traditions of China, this book abandons the traditional separation of exposition on those traditions: instead of detailing historical phases of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, etc., Yao and Zhao press readers to recognize the generalized social context of Chinese Religion. Two introductory chapters on concepts of religion in the Chinese context are followed by thematic chapters on Religion in History, Religion as [sic] Culture, Religion in Family Contexts, Religion and State, Religious Beliefs, Religious Practices, and Religion as the [sic] Way of Life, where we read that being a Chinese itself is to be religious, although religion is highly secularized and commercialized in contemporary China. In sum, these authors endeavor to undo Westerners traditional approaches to the data of Chinese religion, challenging readers to contextualize all such data in broader social and cultural terms. The emphasis on embracing ambiguity will frustrate students who seek clear-cut facts, yet these authors clearly see deconstruction of inherited interpretive approaches as ideal. Knowledgeable instructors may nd this a useful complement to Poceskis textbook and/or books on specic Chinese religious traditions. Russell Kirkland University of Georgia, Athens

na, sutta, and static genre, its historical connection to apada vinaya literature, its relationship to the development of theories of the nature of a Buddha and the path to Buddhahood, its present-day use in popular childrens literature, and its iconic and apotropaic use in Theravada countries, especially Sri Lanka. Although widely known as stories of the previous takas lives of the Buddha, Appleton reminds readers that Ja do not always show the bodhisatta as virtuous nor wise, nor are the stories always easily distinguishable from other genres of biographical narratives in Buddhist literature. takas inuenced lateAppletons exploration of how the Ja pitaka, Buddhavamsa, canonical works, such as the Carya na, is especially noteworthy. Moreover, following and Apada previous scholarship, Appletons analysis further questions the common tendency to overemphasize the ideological difference between Mahayana and Theravada, at the cost of ignoring the role of the bodhisatta path in the development of the Theravada arahat ideal. This study is a solid contribution to an important topic in the history of Buddhist literature and is a necessary reading for specialists. Nevertheless, despite the many insights and ndings, this study may be of limited interest to scholars focusing on the cross-cultural study of the religious functions of biographical narratives. Cuong T. Mai University of Vermont

S SHAMON PURIFYING ZEN: WATSUJI TETSURO DO GEN. Translated and with Commentary by Steve Bein.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2011. Pp. xvi + 174. Paper, $24.00. gen is an especially important essay on the Shamon Do to Zen sect in Japan by thirteenth-century founder of the So , leading modern Kyoto School thinker Watsuji Tetsuro which was originally published in 1926, nearly 700 years gen returned from gaining enlightenment under the after Do tutelage of mentor Rujing at Mt. Tiantong temple during a four-year long trip to China. This book provides an excellent and very much long-awaited full translation of the text, gen, or Do gen, A which could be translated as Monk Do Monk, but is wisely left untranslated here, along with introductory and concluding essays situating its place in the context of contemporary studies of Zen Buddhism and Japanese intellectual history more generally. As Bein explains, gen single-handedly rescued Do gen from obscuShamon Do rity in that by the early twentieth century, he was still known primarily as the leader of a medieval religious movement, rather than as a philosophical and literary giant who belonged and deserved to be analyzed in terms of circles of world historical gures. Of particular interest is chapter gens Truth, which covers critically four of nine, on Do bo genzo on metathe Zen masters major fascicles in the Sho , physics and language, including Raihai Tokuzui, Bussho toku, and Katto . Do Steven Heine Florida International University

Buddhism
TAKA STORIES IN THERA VADA BUDDHISM: JA NARRATING THE BODHISATTA PATH. By Naomi
Appleton. Farnham, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2010. Pp. viii + 176. $89.95. taka stories are well known, but their history The Ja as a literary genre has never been fully explored in a scholarly monographuntil now. Appletons study of the takatthavannana eschews the typical approach of focusing Ja on topical themes and narrative retelling, and instead taka as a distinct but not explores the emergence of the Ja

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