The Spread of Tibetan Buddhism in China: Charisma, Money, Enlightenment by Dan Smyer Yü (review)

Abstract

The author also uses the four countries to introduce some of the diverse elements of the tradition. For instance, it is in the chapter on Korea that we are presented with an account of the basic philosophical structure of Neo-Confucianism. After beginning with the launch of Confucianism in Korea, Richey introduces us to the set of remarkable Chosŏn dynasty 朝鮮 masters, including the remarkably erudite and committed Yi Yulgok 李栗谷 (1536–1584). It is here that we meet with the key cosmological theory of the relationship of vital energy or material force and principle or cosmic pattern, the famous qi-li 氣理 dyad. In a few short pages Richey does a masterful job of explaining the role of Neo-Confucian cosmology in the spread of the Confucian Dao in Korea and, by extension, the whole of the panAsian Confucian tradition. In his discussion of Korean Confucianism, Richey also discloses some of the negative social features of the tradition. All too often Confucians became complicit in the oppression of the non-elite members of society. It is important to remember that Korea was the very first country to embrace Neo-Confucianism as its official ideology and the very last to abandon it in the twentieth century. The chapter on Japan highlights the various unique aspects of the development of Confucianism in Japan. Richey shows, for instance, how Confucianism has its typically close but often conflicted relationship with the Japanese state. There is an elegant discussion of the role of Prince Sh otoku 聖徳太子 and his use of Confucianism to try to bring order to the early Japanese state, explaining that his vision remained potent well into the nineteenth century. This kind of particularized presentation continues with Vietnam. This is a delight to read because there are so few studies of Confucianism in Vietnam to be found in English. For instance, Richey points out that the status of women in Vietnam was quite different in many respects from China, Korea, and Japan. Simply put, women traditionally had many more rights and privileges in Vietnam than in other parts of ‘‘Confucian’’ Asia. In Vietnam women retained rights, such as owning property, which they did not have in other East Asian countries. In his conclusion, Richey is careful to note that we do not really know what the future holds for the Confucian Way. Yet it is clear that it provides resources for an alternative form of modernity in East Asia, and perhaps now to a world in the midst of reciprocal globalization. JOHN BERTHRONG Boston University DAN SMYER YÜ, The Spread of Tibetan Buddhism in China: Charisma, Money, Enlightenment. Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism. London and New York: Routledge, 2012. xi, 222 pp. £80, US $138 (hb). ISBN 978-0-415-57532-4 Among the peculiar aspects of the contests involving Tibet and the Tibetans in contemporary China, one that is particularly fraught with irony is the growth of Tibetan Buddhism among Han adherents, not only in Taiwan and huaqiao 華僑 (overseas Chinese) communities, but among the PRC’s new middle and moneyed classes. Though the phenomenon is now widely recognized, it has not received the attention and scrutiny of scholars that it deserves. Its relative neglect reflects, in large measure, the division of labor within the Buddhist Studies field: with few BOOK REVIEWS 247 exceptions, specialists of Chinese religions are seldom qualified to engage in research involving Tibetan (or other non-Han) cultures in China, while Tibetanists are, for the most part, equally unprepared to wade into Sinological waters. Efforts to cross the divide, such as Dan Smyer Yü’s The Spread of Tibetan Buddhism in China, are therefore welcome indeed. The story Smyer Yü tells us here is a complicated one, involving the relations among Tibetan religion and Tibetan identity; the educational, religious, and ethnic policies of the Chinese state; economic expansion and globalization; and the responses of both Tibetans and Han Chinese to the spiritual, economic, and political opportunities and challenges presented by all of this. Navigating through these uncertain waters, Smyer Yü proves himself an often canny observer and an adroit guide. His work is rich in information about current Tibetan Buddhist movements in China, and is punctuated by pertinent and telling...