Heart of Buddha, Heart of China
by Jim Carter
Tanxu is a man who, after an ordinary family life, went through a process of religious discovery which led him to become an itinerant monk. He also lived through many of the most important events of the 20th century.
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“In the book there’s a lot of juxtaposition between the quiet contemplation of life in a temple and Tanxu’s engagement with what’s going on around him. But what is striking – and we don’t think of these as going hand in hand – is that Tanxu has to be seen as a nationalist as well as a spiritual seeker. Carter argues that what he was doing was one way to strengthen China – to strengthen its soul as part of the effort to strengthen it as a polity.” Read more...
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Historian
