Popular Religion and Shamanism ed. by Ma Xisha, Meng Huiying (review)

Abstract

Book Reviews 117 book indeed represent the end of the Twelve Causal Links (birth [arising], aging and death), suggesting the beginning of another cycle of saṃsāra, unless religious actions are taken that would eventually lead to the cessation of saṃsāra. Their purpose was clear. The points I make here are to supplement the author’s research. To be sure, these religious spaces were built for the express purpose of monastics’ and practitioners’ mind cultivation. Mundane and human affairs and historical conditions, though intricately woven into the text, and perhaps into the pictorial iconography, were not central to their religious practices. What motivated them, rather, was diligence in their meditation practice. AN-YI PAN, Cornell University Popular Religion and Shamanism Edited by MA XISHA & MENG HUIYING. Religious Studies in Contemporary China Collection, vol.1. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2011. vi, 499 pages. ISBN 978-9004 -17455-9. €162.00, US$230.00 hardcover. This monograph is a welcome addition to the growing literature on non-elite Chinese religions. Consisting of eight chapters on “Popular Religion” and three chapters on “Shamanism,” this book is the product of a co-publication agreement between Ethnic Publishing 民族出版社 and Koninklijke Brill NV. Originally written in Chinese, the chapters were translated into English for this edition. Ma Xisha 馬西沙 of the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is co-author (with Han Bingfang 韓秉方) of the monumental tome on the History of Chinese Popular Religions (Zhongguo minjian zongjiaoshi 中 國 民 間 宗 教 史 ). 1 Meng Huiying 孟慧英 is a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. She is author of Shamanism among China’s Northern Ethnic Groups (Zhongguo beifang minzu samanjiao 中國北方民族薩滿教). 2 In light of their respective specialization and expertise, it can be assumed that Ma is responsible for the selection of the eight chapters (two of which are his own works) in the Popular Religion 1 Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1992; reprinted Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2004. 2 Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2000. 118 Journal of Chinese Religions section of the book, while Meng is in charge of the three chapters in the Shamanism section (one of which is her own writing). The two distinctly separate sections of the book are introduced by two essays, the first on Popular Religion written by Thomas David DuBois (now at Australian National University), and the second on Shamanism by Mark Bender and Kun Shi (both of Ohio State University). The Popular Religion section has the following chapters: Chapter One: The Syncretism of Maitreyan Belief and Manichaeism in Chinese History (Ma Xisha) Chapter Two: A Study on Equivalent Names of Manichaeism in Chinese (Lin Wushu 林 悟殊) Chapter Three: On the Rise, Decline and Evolution of the Three-in-One Teaching (Lin Guoping 林國平) Chapter Four: The Evolution of the Luo Teaching (羅教) and the Formation of the Green Gang (青幫) (Ma Xisha) Chapter Five: The Taigu School (太古學派) and the Yellow Cliff Teaching (黃崖教): Another Case of Transformation from Confucian Academic Group to Religious Sect (Han Bingfang) Chapter Six: Exploring the History of the Yihetuan (義和團) (Lu Yao 路遙) Chapter Seven: A preliminary Investigation on the Early History of the Way of Penetrating Unity (一貫道) and Its Relationship with the Yihetuan (Zhou Yumin 周育民) Chapter Eight: Women in the Secret Popular Religions of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (Yu Songqing 喻松青) All eight chapters were apparently translated by Chi Zhen, with input from Thomas David DuBois. The first two chapters focus on two potent traditions (Maitreyanism and Manichaeism) in the formation of folk sectarianism up through the Song dynasty. The next two chapters concentrate on a very creative phase among popular religious movements by examining the two resilient traditions founded by Lin Zhao’en 林兆恩 and Patriarch Luo 羅 祖 in the Ming dynasty. Then two more chapters provide background for the Boxers and the Yiguandao in the late Qing. The last chapter in this section represents something of a departure from the other chapters in that it addresses the role of women in popular Chinese religion in Ming-Qing China as a theme by studying the portrayal of women and gender relations in sectarian scriptures, as well as the position of women in sectarian hierarchies. This Popular Religion section is at once eclectic and...