“peculiar [and] difficult” aspects. While he omits portionsthat might be more representative of early Chinese thoughtin general, his choice of commentarial literature is intended“to help the non-Chinese-reader appreciate the diversityof understandings the text has traditionally engendered.”Thus, no particular (i.e., Buddhist, Confucian) viewpointprevails in the commentarial selections, and no space ispermitted for “starkly original ideas of [the interpreters’]own.” Readers thus encounter not only the primary text ina fluid, readable translation, but also may refer to selectedcommentaries on particular passages with ease. This trans-lation of a “peculiar” text is not without its peculiarities;Ziporyn occasionally resorts to unconventional renderings(e.g., “Course” rather than “Way” for Dao) and does notalways acknowledge the problematic nature of terms(“Daoist”) when using them. “Profound comedians havealways been hard to come by,” says Ziporyn; “funny phi-losophers perhaps even more so.” His translation offers asplendid portal into the thought of one of the funniest phi-losophers of all time.

Jeffrey L. RicheyBerea College

BuddhismTHE MYSTIQUE OF TRANSMISSION: ON ANEARLY CHAN HISTORY AND ITS CONTEXTS. ByWendi L. Adamek. New York: Columbia University Press,2007. Pp. 578. $51.50.

This “dissertation-based project” is a probing, well-researched translation and study of the Lidai fabao ji,“Record of the Dharma-Jewel Through the Generations,” aneighth-century Ch’an/Zen text “long considered lost” untildiscovered in a Dunhuang cave in 1900. Adamek aims “toshow how the Lidai fabao ji authors attempted to establish anidentity on the basis of the ‘formless’ practice unique to theirteacher, whom they considered the only legitimate heir ofthe Southern School teaching of no-thought.” She describesthe text as “part of a genre of Buddhist counterattack againstthe infamous third-century Daoist Huahu jing,” and notestwo distinct “Daoist straw men” in its arguments: Sichua-nese local cults, and the “visionary dialectics” of chongxuanphilosophers. She argues convincingly that “the fabricationsof the Lidai fabao ji”—such as the tale that Bodhidharma’srobe was bestowed upon a master in a certain lineage by theEmpress Wu Zetian—“are not simply inaccurate Chan historybut faithfully reflect a temporary crisis in the meaningof spiritual transmission” among Tang dynasty Buddhists.Notable also are her examinations of “Women in the Lidaifabao ji” and “Daoists in the Dharma Hall.” A splendid touchis the inclusion of the punctuated Chinese text above thetranslation of each section; both Adamek’s sectioning andmost of the annotations to the translation are based on thoseof Yanagida Seizan—the guru of many leading Zen interpret-ers of the current generation, including Adamek’s mentor, C.

Bielefeldt. Some might have wished for the translation itselfto have been published separately from the exhaustiveanalysis. But this splendid work will reward diligentreaders.

Russell KirklandUniversity of Georgia

THE LINJI LU AND THE CREATION OF CHANORTHODOXY: THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHAN’SRECORDS OF SAYINGS LITERATURE. By AlbertWelter.Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.xii + 236. $65.00.

Adding to the recent historical scholarship on ChineseChan Buddhism, Welter’s study shows how Chan during theearly Song developed a new kind of Buddhist text, the yulu or“recorded sayings.” His example is the Linji lu, The RecordedSayings of Linji, which depicts Chan master Linji as sponta-neous, dynamic, vulgar and iconoclastic—a beacon to the trueZen spirit. But at the time of his death in 866, Linji was notconsidered important; he did not come to prominence untilthe publication of Jingde chuandenglu (Jingde Era Transmi-sison Record) in 1004 which contained partial excerpts fromthe records of twelve Chan masters. Several different textsabout Linji were in circulation at the time; only in 1029 didthe Tiansheng guangdenglu (Tiansheng-era SupplementaryTransmission Record) bring them together. What we nowconsider the standard form of the Linji lu was not compileduntil 1120—more than 250 years after the death of Linji.Welter argues that at each stage in the development of theLinji lu, the text reflects the political needs of the Linji factionwho were jousting with other factions for influence in theearly Song court. The faction members edited the Linjirecords basically creating the image of Linji as a dynamicand iconoclastic Chan master and Chan as a new kind ofBuddhism.

Victor HoriMcGill University

JAPANESE RINZAI ZEN BUDDHISM: MYOSHINJI,A LIVING RELIGION. By Jørn Borup. Numen Book Series,119. Studies in the History of Religions. Leiden and Boston,MA: Brill, 2008. Pp. xii + 314, illustrations. $174.00.

With so many books available from scholars working inthe field of Zen studies, it is remarkable that so few havebeen dedicated to either an important temple or to the con-temporary religious life of Zen practitioners in Japan.Myoshinji, headquarters of the largest of the fourteenschools of Rinzai Zen Buddhism today, is a massive temple-complex in western Kyoto, with forty-seven sub-temples,which has remained at the center of Zen culture for fivehundred years. Myoshinji, therefore, is a considerable site tolocate a study of current Zen religious practice in this expen-sive volume. The strengths of Borup’s study is that it offersa clear and detailed presentation of the monastic systemand practices—including education, rituals, festivals, andordination—that constitute the center of Rinzai Zen religious

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life. The weaknesses, however, are more pronouncedbecause of what this analysis leaves out: Myoshinji is aremarkable site not least because of the distinctive life of itssub-temples, one of which, Shunkoin, played host to para-mount figures (e.g., Dr. H. S. Hisamatsu and D. T. Suzuki)instrumental in representing Zen to the West. Furthermore,the brief sketches of specific practices (e.g., mantra-dhara

�nı, Daruma, etc.) seem unexpected given the recent

studies in Japanese by the Research Institute for Zen Culture(Zen bunka kenkyujo) just around the corner.

George A. KeyworthKyoto, Japan

KALACAKRA AND THE TIBETAN CALENDAR. ByEdward Henning. Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences. NewYork: American Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2007. Pp. xv +391. $49.00

The core of this work is a scientific study of the IndianKalacakra Tantra’s calendar and its application in Tibet. Italso includes a wealth of information on the symbolism ofthe Kalacakra Tantra and Chinese components in Tibetanalmanacs. Most of the text is highly technical, presupposingexpertise in the mathematics of classical Indian and modernastronomy. The primary target audiences for this book arescholars of the history of Asian astronomy and specialists inthe Kalacakra Tantra, but Tibetologists will find a great dealof interest in Chapter IV: The Tibetan Almanac, and inChapter VI: Different Calculation Systems.

John NewmanNew College of Florida

THE HOLY LAND REBORN: PILGRIMAGE AND THETIBETAN REINVENTION OF BUDDHIST INDIA. ByToni Huber. Buddhism and Modernity Series. Chicago: Uni-versity of Chicago Press, 2008. Pp. xvi + 501; maps. $45.00.

Huber offers a valuable account of Tibetans’ evolvingdepictions of their relationship to India, as refracted throughpractices of pilgrimage and notions of the holy land. Comple-menting sound historical methodology with his own exten-sive field experience studying pilgrimage in the Himalayanregion, Huber thoughtfully challenges a variety of tropesthat have heretofore been deployed and accepted uncriticallywithin both contemporary scholarship and traditionalTibetan accounts. Additionally, he catalogs the many waysthat Tibetans have creatively configured India as the centerof their universe, transcribing onto its landscape a changingset of narratives, practices, and meanings as their own reli-gious, political, and nationalistic needs from their relation-ship with India took on new forms. He critically examinessome of the memes—legendary accounts of Tibetan visits toIndia in the imperial period, tantrically-inspired sacredgeography, contemporary strategies by Tibetan exiles tocolonize India’s holy places, and others—through whichTibetans have continually made and remade themselves andtheir own traditions, all within the pretense of preservingthe past. This well-researched and skillfully-written volume

will appeal to religion scholars, historians, anthropologists,and anyone interested in how people construct their presentmeaning out of the hints and memories from the past.He shows this process is often mixed as well with wishfulthinking, misidentifications, conflations, and idealizedprojections. It is a brilliant exemplification of the creativeimagination that underlies vital religious movements,thereby fortifying Ricoeur’s observation that traditions onlymanage to remain alive by being reinterpreted.

Derek F. MaherEast Carolina University

SACRED KÔYASAN: A PILGRIMAGE TO THEMOUNTAIN TEMPLE OF SAINT KÔBÔ DAISHIAND THE GREAT SUN BUDDHA. By Philip L. Nicoloff.Albany: State University of New York, 2007. Pp. 392. Cloth,$89.50; paper, $31.95.

Mount Kôya, the center of Shingon Buddhism with itsimpressive temple buildings and ancient forest cemetery,has been a major center of religious training and popularpilgrimage throughout its long history. Nicoloff’s rich studysurveys its role as a training center for esoteric Buddhismand as a place of spiritual magnetism that continues toattract pilgrims and tourists to this very day. The book is apleasure to read—an informative first person account thatreveals the author’s love of his subject as well as his exten-sive knowledge based on his numerous visits. AlthoughNicoloff lacks the linguistic training to delve into the exten-sive literature in Japanese, he makes up for it by his com-prehensive survey of secondary sources in English and hisextensive personal contacts—a veritable who’s who of aca-demic and priestly experts. Nicoloff also has a keen eye as anobserver, which makes for interesting reading when he addshis own personal descriptions of the “lodging” temples(shukubô), the key buildings and institutions, the sacredmountain’s strict regimen of priestly education, and itsannual ritual cycle. This book is valuable by offering anentertaining, but also usefully informative book for anyoneseeking a deeper knowledge of Shingon, Japanese templeBuddhism and pilgrimage. It is ideal for classroom use.

Mark MacWilliamsSt. Lawrence University

MODERNITY AND RE-ENCHANTMENT: RELIGIONAND POST-REVOLUTIONARY VIETNAM. Edited byPhilip Taylor. Vietnam Update Series. Singapore: Institute ofSoutheast Asian Studies, 2007. Reprint: Rowman & Little-field Publishers, Inc. Lanham, MD, 2008. Pp. xi+491; plates.$95.00.

This volume presents pioneering anthropological andhistorical research that focuses on the revival and resur-gence of religion in modern and early modern Vietnam. Thetwelve individual chapters, culled from a 2005 internationalconference, include studies of contemporary local practicesof the ancestor cult, the worship of popular gods throughfemale spirit mediums, and the revival, reform, and reinven-

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tion of Vietnamese Buddhism since the 1920s. One chapterexamines the trope of the “foreign” in Vietnamese Catholi-cism, and the last chapter looks at the influx of diverseinternational religious organizations and their involvementin humanitarian aid and economic development. In a sub-stantive introduction, Taylor deftly weaves together theinsights of the individual articles, providing a synthetic andmethodologically nuanced overview of the complexitiesresulting from the transnational intersections of cultures,globalization of market economies, and religion-state inter-actions. Taylor convincingly argues against the tendency toconstrue the “religion and state” rubric in terms of twomonolithic entities in diametric opposition. Rather, as borne

out by the individual studies, the local cults to ancestors andspirits are sites of ongoing collaboration, contestation, andreinvention of tradition. Old rituals are redefined to servenew social, economic, political, and religious realities: state-sanctioned nativist ideologies, social competition for pres-tige, empowerment of urban women, or growing popularityof lay Zen meditation retreats. In summary, this importantvolume will be of interest to specialists in Vietnam studies,researchers interested in religion and modernity, scholars ofglobal Buddhism, and anyone seeking to understand therecent efflorescence of religion in post-renovation Vietnam.

Cuong T. MaiUniversity of Vermont

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