BUDDHIST ART: AN ILLUSTRATED INTRODUCTION – By Charles F. Chicarelli

A TALE OF TWO MELONS: EMPEROR ANDSUBJECT IN MING CHINA. By Sarah Schneewind.Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2006.Pp. ix-xxiii + 141. Cloth, $32.95, ISBN 978-0-87220-825-4;paper, $8.95, ISBN 978-0-87220-824-7.

This book, which was written for students who havelittle to no knowledge of China, provides one of the best andmost easily accessible entries into the world of Chinese stateand local religion. The account centers on a religiously preg-nant event of 1372, in which ministers of Emperor Taizu ofthe Ming (r. 1368-99) presented him with two melonsgrowing from the same stalk—an auspicious omen. Schnee-wind uses this seemingly unimportant incident to explorethe emperor’s relationships with his ministers and subjects,as well as the interplay between religion and politics. All ofthe actors involved with the event regarded the melons as asignificant token of Heaven’s intent; yet each interpreted itin a different manner—one that maximized his own politicalinterests. The author also illuminates the political aspects oflocal religion. She delineates how emperors sought legiti-macy from efficacious local deities, which oftentimes weretied to influential families, and how, in return, imperial rec-ognition boosted the deities’ local and regional stature. Inshort, this is a wonderfully insightful and readable introduc-tion to Chinese religion in the premodern state that under-scores how politics and religion were indivisible.

Keith N. KnappThe Citadel

BuddhismBUDDHIST ART: AN ILLUSTRATED INTRODUC-TION. By Charles F. Chicarelli. Chiang-Mai, Thailand: Silk-worm Books, 2004. Pp. 298. $16.50, ISBN 9749575547.

This affordable book is divided into two sections, eachone with a large number of well-produced color figures: 1)the life and teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha; and 2) Buddhisttraditions from all the major Asian countries in which it wasdominant. The author, whose main interest and area ofexpertise is clearly Southeast Asia, mixes a solid knowledgeof Buddhist history, local geography, and scholarship withthat of doctrine, not shirking on pointing out regional doc-trinal differences. Chicarelli also possesses—importantly—agood sense of aesthetic appreciation. The coverage is bal-anced, given its large subject and limited page numbers;nevertheless, I would have liked to see a bit more on Dun-huang, Ajanta, and modern Buddhist art. Libraries are filledwith books on Buddhist art and art history, but I can

recommend this handy and well-written volume for ageneral course on Buddhism for its simplicity, the quality ofthe production, the author’s sensibility, and its price.

Frederick M. SmithUniversity of Iowa

HISTORY, BUDDHISM, AND NEW RELIGIOUSMOVEMENTS IN CAMBODIA. Edited by John Marstonand Elizabeth Guthrie. Honolulu: University of Hawai’iPress, 2004. Pp. x + 260. $25.00, ISBN 0-8248-2868-2.

This volume of collected essays by leading scholars inthe field of Southeast Asian studies, particularly the com-paratively rare field of Cambodian religion, focuses on thefollowing: the relationship between Cambodian nationhoodand religion, Khmer identity and Buddhism, the worship ofroyalty in Cambodia since the devastation by the KhmerRouge in the late 1970s, Khmer Buddhism and asceticism,the role of the French in the construction of BuddhistCambodia in the first half of the twentieth century, and thetransnationalism of Cambodian religion. One article, by D.Bertrand, discusses the conversion of “errant” Khmer spiritsin Cambodia known as bray to Buddhist parami, spirits thatexhibit the Buddhist perfections (Skt. Parama). These arespirits are of the dead, slaughtered in the Cambodian holo-caust of Pol Pot in the 1970s. Many of the shamans whomediate these conversions are Buddhist monks who removetheir robes, temporarily, in order to enter states of posses-sion. The effect of these dark years on Cambodian religioncannot be underestimated. Prior to this period, Cambodiansgenerally viewed Thailand as the center of Southeast AsianBuddhism, but since 1979 many Vietnamese monks havemigrated to Cambodia in order to help reestablish Buddhismthere. In addition, many monks who escaped to Thailand orIndia have returned for the same purpose. Because of therecent paroxysms in Southeast Asia, the study of Buddhismin Cambodia has become a topic of renewed interest andpotential. This is amply proven by this excellent volume.

Frederick M. SmithUniversity of Iowa

CorrectionThe erratum in 34(1) referring to Russell Kirkland’s reviewof Qigong Fever: Body, Science, and Utopia in China by DavidPalmer was itself in error due to an editing mistake made inthe RSR offices. We apologize to Professors Kirkland andPalmer for our error.

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