Review of Hu, Hsiao-Lan, This-Wordly Nibbāna:A Buddhist-Feminist Social Ethic for Peacemakingin the Global CommunityAlbany: SUNY Press, 2011. Hardcover, ISBN: 9781438439334,250pp.

Stefania Travagnin

Published online: 17 October 2013# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Hsiao-Lan Hu addresses the phenomenon of socially engaged Buddhism that hasspread in Asia and in the West, going from Sulak Sivaraksa in Thailand to the TzuChi Foundation in Taiwan to Thich Nhat Hanh in the West; questions its philosoph-ical and historical roots; and challenges the most popular and accepted arguments onthe topic by highlighting the social dimensions of Buddhist concepts such as dukkhaand kamma. Hu demonstrates an excellent knowledge of Pali texts and doctrine aswell as the history of Buddhism, Western philosophies and recent scholarship in thefield of Buddhist studies. Hu has the skill to combine all these different literatures toquestion and analyze the socially engaged essence of contemporary Buddhism, aswell as of the original Dhamma (Buddha’s teachings). Because of the wide range ofsources consulted and the interdisciplinary approach to the subject, this monograph isunique in its kind and a solid contribution to the field of Buddhist studies.

As the first chapter explains, the main objective of the monograph is to challengethe common understanding that the social intervention of Buddhist groups in con-temporary Asia is a mere effect of modernity or the influence of Western missionar-ies. On the contrary, Hu argues, this phenomenon is a revival of the original essenceof the Buddha’s Dhamma and of the mission of the early Sangha (Buddhist commu-nity). As Hu puts it, ‘Buddha’s teachings cannot be separated from social interactions,but they cannot be reduced to social interactions, either’ (p. 7). In her exploration ofsocial ethics as intrinsic to the original Dhamma, Hu proposes a challenging recon-sideration of other important issues for Buddhism and Buddhists such as gender roles,dukkha (suffering), kamma (action) and the teaching of interdependent co-arising.Therefore, this volume draws links between the Buddha’s early community andtwentieth-century Asian Buddhists who apply Buddhist doctrine to social service.

SOPHIA (2013) 52:711–713DOI 10.1007/s11841-013-0388-7

S. Travagnin (*)Department of Comparative Religions, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University ofGroningen, Oude Boteringestraat 38, 9712 GK Groningen, The Netherlandse-mail: s.travagnin@rug.nl

The second chapter offers a survey of Pali Nikāya texts as evidence that socialethics was indeed an essential message of early Buddhism. Hu argues that the NobleEightfold Path, the notions of interdependent co-arising, non-Self and five aggre-gates, and the establishment of the Sangha especially prove ‘the Buddha’s recogni-tion of the sociality of human existence and testify to his unconventional socialvisions’ (p. 42). Buddha’s encouragement to seclusion should be read, then, not asan incentive to sever social ties, let alone as the main condition for the correctBuddhist practice, but as an important way to improve concentration along the pathto the Buddhahood. According to Hu, misunderstandings of the relations betweenmonastics and laity, larger society and Sangha, facilitated the common view ofBuddhism as an isolated and individualistic practice.

The third chapter assesses the debate on gendered identity and discrimination onthe basis of Western feminist theories (Hu listed Michel Foucault, Judith Butler andRita M. Gross as the main theorists for the field), theoretical Buddhist Dhamma andthe realities of the Buddhist communities from ancient India to contemporary Taiwan.The author concludes that social conventions are subject to change in the same way asthe self. The fourth chapter analyzes the concept of kamma through the reading ofPali texts and Mahāyāna scriptures, and addresses important debates such as theassimilation of kamma with an idea of Self, the importance of intention and moralagency, and the distinctions between ‘individual kamma,’ ‘collective kamma’ and‘social kamma.’ Hu underlines the presence of similarities between Latin Americanliberation theology and classical Buddhist doctrine, but also draws an importantdistinction between these two systems of thought. According to Hu, the movementof liberation theology has called for people to be the agents of their liberation frominjustice and suffering, while the Buddha addressed rulers and the wealthy as thosewhose decisions and actions could have had the real impact on society and so thosewho would have been the real agents in the creation and perpetuation of dukkha.

The fifth chapter discusses, from the perspective of early Dhamma, the dynamicsbetween individuals and community and its impact on the social conventions of classroles and gender roles. The Four Immeasurable Deliverances of Mind is the Buddhistteaching that Hu indicates as helpful to individuals for the understanding of the senseof community; this practice became an important part of the daily cultivation andliturgy of the followers of Thich Nhat Hanh and the Tzu Chi Foundation. In theconclusion, Hu returns to the concept that Nibbāna is the Buddhist goal and should beidentified with the cessation of dukkha, and then restates her thesis: because of thesocial concern that Buddhist ethics embodies, Nibbāna can then be seen as part of thisworld and also as a goal that can be reached in this world.

Hu's suggestion to peace-making associations, governmental or otherwise, is forthem to apply the theoretical foundations of the early Buddhist thought (as found inthe Pali texts and in later Mahāyāna teachings) to their missions. Buddhist literature,then, can be linked to the scholarship on peace studies, and from Hu’s perspective itcan also be said that Buddhist literature belongs to the field of peace studies. In herdiscussion on peace and peace-making movements, Hu proposed a short but criticalanalysis of violence, in terms of direct, structural and cultural violence, and then onthe Buddhist views on violence and war. With reference to talks by Sulak Sivaraksaand Aung San Suu Kyi, Hu argues that non-violence in Buddhism should be

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identified not with passiveness but with a positive and proactive response that isbased on fundamental and socially oriented Buddhist ethics.

To conclude, This-Wordly Nibbāna is an excellent book, which is based on acritical reading of classical and more recent literature in the field of Buddhistdoctrine, to tackle the highly relevant issue of Buddhist intervention in society. Assuch, it is recommended to students and scholars of Buddhist studies, Asian studiesand also development studies.

Hu, Hsiao-Lan. 2011. This-Wordly Nibbāna: A Buddhist-Feminist Social Ethic 713