Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: May 14, 2021 at 10:36:21 PM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Buddhism]: Osburg on Esler, 'Tibetan Buddhism among > Han Chinese: Mediation and Superscription of the Tibetan Tradition in > Contemporary Chinese Society' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Joshua Esler. Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese: Mediation and > Superscription of the Tibetan Tradition in Contemporary Chinese > Society. Lanham Lexington Books, 2020. 266 pp. $115.00 (cloth), > ISBN 978-1-4985-8464-7. > > Reviewed by John Osburg (University of Rochester) > Published on H-Buddhism (May, 2021) > Commissioned by Jessica Zu > > Starting around the late 1990s, Tibetan Buddhism experienced a surge > in popularity in Han Chinese communities throughout the Sinophone > world and, it continues to attract growing numbers of Chinese > followers to this day. While previous studies of this phenomenon have > focused either on Taiwan, Hong Kong, or the PRC exclusively,[1] > Joshua Esler's_ Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese: Meditation and > Superscription of the Tibetan Tradition in Contemporary Chinese > Society_ provides a detailed ethnographic study of Tibetan Buddhist > practitioners in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the mainland. Esler is > primarily interested in the ways in which Tibetan Buddhist principles > and practices interact with other religious forms in these different > locations, including Chinese folk religion, "pragmatic" > Protestantism, and the PRC's Confucian revival, and how these > traditions influence Tibetan Buddhism in turn. Through Esler's > detailed theological conversations with his interlocuters at multiple > field sites, we gain a sense of the diverse interpretations and modes > of engagement Han Chinese practitioners have with Tibetan > Buddhism--from those who attempt to faithfully emulate the > "culturally Tibetan" aspects of Tibetan Buddhism to those who adhere > to a more stripped-down, modernized "self-help" version of Buddhist > practice. > > Esler employs Prasenjit Duara's notion of superscription to account > for the ways in which Tibetan Buddhism has "been layered or > superscribed with new meaning by both Tibetan monastics and Chinese > practitioners as it encounters scientific rationalism and other > modernizing forces as well as a traditional Chinese cosmology of > gods, ghosts, and ancestors in modern China" (p. xvi). For example, > chapter 2 focuses on the Karmapa's incorporation of the Chinese folk > deity Guan Gong into the Karma Kagyu school as a protector deity. > Esler examines how different practitioners further layer their own > meanings upon this superscription, with some interpreting Guan Gong > as a protector deity while others view him as a Boddhisattva, an > emanation of Gesar, the legendary warrior-king, or some combination > of the three. > > The first chapter provides an extremely useful overview of the recent > growth in Han Chinese Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, outlining both > the pre-1949 history of Sino-Tibetan religious engagement as well as > parallels between Chinese disgruntlement with post-Mao economic > development and a similarly disaffected Western 1960s counterculture. > Both groups came to view Tibetan Buddhism as offering a kind of > "primordial purity" (p. 27) untainted by the ills of modernity and > thus uniquely capable of curing those very ills. In the remaining > chapters, Esler draws on both secondary scholarly sources as well as > his own ethnographic data drawn from multiple fieldsites including > Beijing, Gyalthang (in Xianggelila, "Shangrila" county), Hong Kong, > and Taipei. He interviews more than eighty individuals, including > stressed-out Hong Kong professionals and bohemian Chinese artists who > have fled the rat race. While the voices and perspectives of Han > Chinese practitioners are dominant in the book, we also hear from > Tibetan monks and occasionally from lay Tibetans as well. The > multiple fieldsites from which Esler analyzes the diversity of > engagements with Tibetan Buddhism are one of the strengths of the > book. Yet I found myself wanting a little more contextualization of > Tibetan Buddhism in these various sites. For example, Esler views > Tibetan Buddhism in Hong Kong through the lens of pragmatism and > materialism, a characterization many would apply to most PRC > citizens' appropriation of Tibetan Buddhism as well. (Esler > acknowledges that this more pragmatically oriented group was not > represented in his study.) While some of the personal tribulations > that propel people to find solace in Buddhism--such as loss of a > loved one, marital strife, and work stress--seem similar across all > three locations, Tibetan Buddhism's role as a critique of state > narratives of development and material progress (outlined in the > introduction) is perhaps less salient in Hong Kong and Taiwan than it > is on the mainland. While Esler is attuned to the harsh regulation > surrounding Tibetan Buddhism in the PRC, one wonders how the > relatively freer religious ecosystems of Hong Kong and Taiwan have > impacted Tibetan Buddhism's spread there. > > Another strength of the book is Esler's historical overviews of > Tibetan Buddhism's interactions with other religious traditions in > China (as well as its current debates with state Marxism), which are > evenly distributed throughout the text. This makes the book > accessible to those with little background in Buddhist studies > (Tibetan or otherwise) or Chinese history. One of Esler's more > intriguing findings is how Han Chinese engagement with Tibetan > Buddhism often serves as "gateway" toward interest in Chinese > religious traditions and sometimes traditional Chinese culture as > well, leading some followers to adopt a syncretic blend of Buddhism > and Confucianism. Yet, for other practitioners, Tibetan Buddhism (and > Tibetan culture in general) possess a purity and authenticity forever > lost from Chinese traditions. In his chapter on Tibetan landscape > deities and "geopiety," he shows that while some practitioners > interpret these beliefs through a traditional Chinese cosmology or > through a modernized lens, others embrace these beliefs in their > entirety as part of a larger project of "approximating the Tibetan > other by dressing, acting, and performing like this other" (p. 162). > Many Han Chinese who relocate to Tibetan towns fall into this > category, with some even asserting that they were Tibetan in a past > life. > > In short, _Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese_ provides the best > overview to date of the contemporary wave of Han Chinese engagement > with Tibetan Buddhism. The book is clearly written and is easily > accessible to an upper-level undergraduate audience. Given the > relatively sparse scholarly treatment of this subject to date, it > should be read by scholars of Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese religion > interested in this complex field of inter-religious and intercultural > encounters. Given the profound financial influence Han Chinese > patrons exert over Tibetan Buddhism, it is an encounter that will, > for better or worse, likely shape the trajectory of Tibetan Buddhism > in the years to come. > > Note > > [1]. For example, Alison Jones, "Contemporary Han Chinese Involvement > in Tibetan Buddhism: A Case Study from Nanjing" _Social Compass_ 58, > no. 4 (2011): 540-53; Dan Smyer Yü, _The Spread of Tibetan Buddhism > in China _(New York: Routledge, 2021); Abraham Zablocki, "The > Taiwanese Connection: Politics, Piety, and Patronage in Transnational > Tibetan Buddhism," in _Buddhism between Tibet and China, _ed. Matthew > Kapstein (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2009); and Yinong Zhang, > "Between Nation and Religion: The Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Network in > Post-Reform China," _Chinese Sociological Review_ 45, no. 1 (2012): > 55-69. > > Citation: John Osburg. Review of Esler, Joshua, _Tibetan Buddhism > among Han Chinese: Mediation and Superscription of the Tibetan > Tradition in Contemporary Chinese Society_. H-Buddhism, H-Net > Reviews. May, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56552 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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