TOC:

• Positioning China in Buddhist Modernity : (re)creating China: stinology, the Kyoto school and the Japanese view of the modern world ; Buddhist scholars' views of China in contemporary Japan: Buddhist influence on Japanese sinology ; Buddhist influence in Vietnamese diplomacy toward China lessons from the history of religion
• Presenting China in Buddhist Diplomacy : Buddhism in Nepali and Sri Lankan perspectives: contextualising China's soft power diplomacy ; Buddism as a solution to 'China threat theories'? Chinese diplomacy and the case of Chinese tooth relic in Myanmar ; The two states of nature in Chinese practice of non/intervention: Buddhism, neo-confucianism, and modernity
• Transcending China in Buddhist Scholarship : Buddhist influence on China studies in Mongolia: exploring the Mongol-China-Tibet linkages ; A review of the scholarly activities of Christian missionaries and Indian Buddhist monks in China with special emphasis on ancient Chinese documents: the primary sources of China studies in India ; Translation of classics and civilizational dialogue between India and China: role of the Buddhist scholar monks ; Buddhist beliefs relfected in Tibetan daily prayer book in comparison with the Chinese ones.

TOC:

• A Policy Emerges
• The Decimation of the Sangha
• Making Monks into Good Citizens
• The Refrom of Monastic Life
• Preserving Buddhist Culture
• Buddhism in Foreign Relations
• Suppressing Buddhist Opposition
• Interpreting Buddhist Doctrine
• The Laity
• The Individual Buddhist
• The Cultural Revolution and After
• The Future of Buddhism in China

Part poetry, part paradox, always stirring and profound, Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching has been inspiring readers since it was written over two thousand years ago. This masterpiece is also one of the most frequently translated books in all of history, in part because the multiple meanings of the Chinese characters make it impossible to translate into a Western language in a strictly literal way. For this reason, many translations are either too loosely interpretive or are too overloaded with notes, thereby losing the clarity of the terse poetry found in the original Chinese. The extraordinary strength of Sam Hamill's translation is that it has captured the poetry of Lao Tzu's original without sacrificing the resonance of the text's many meanings and possible interpretations. The result is a beautiful and deeply meditative rendering, one that is a delight to read over and over again. Accompanying Sam Hamill's translation are seventeen Chinese characters brushed by one of the great masters of calligraphy, Kazuaki Tanahashi. Hamill provides a comment for each character, giving the reader a fuller sense of the richness of the original text and insight into the process of translation itself.