The Flower of Chinese Buddhism" is well organized and clearly written, and presents a wonderful overview of the transmission of Buddhism into China. The author, Daisaku Ikeda, is knowledgable and very enthusiastic about the subject, and his respect and admiration for the early pioneers of Chinese Buddhism are contagious.
The reader should be aware, however, that, as the president of Soka Gakkai International (affiliated with the Nichiren Sect in Japan) the author has intentionally limited the scope of this book to those facets of Chinese Buddhist history that have particular relevance to the later development of the Nichiren Sect. To his credit, he is quite forthright about this, and openly states it in various contexts throughout the book. Thus, while this book is very informative in the topics that it does cover, the focus is mainly on the development of the T'ien-t'ai School and the study and practice of the Lotus Sutra --- and there is no mention at all of the Pure Land School, and only passing reference to other schools such as Ch'an (Zen), Hua-yen, Esoteric Buddhism, and so on, which were also important in the history of Chinese Buddhism. (This limited scope is the only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5.)
This fact, however, should by no means limit interest in this book to T'ien-t'ai scholars or followers of the Japanese Nichiren Sect. It simply means that it should be read in conjunction with a broader survey of Chinese Buddhism. "The Flower of Chinese Buddhism" has some real strengths, in particular its descriptions of the period when the Buddhist scriptures were being translated into Chinese by masters such as Kumarajiva, the travels to Central Asia and India of Chinese pilgrims such as Fa-shien and Hsuang-tsang, and the early attempts to classify and understand the vast (and sometimes contradictory) treasury of Buddhist scriptures that came flowing into China across the Silk Road over several centuries. Another strength is the discussion of the factors behind the persecutions of Buddhism that occurred several times in the course of Chinese history.
Despite its slightly narrow focus, the material that has been selected for in-depth coverage in this book is so well-written and informative that I'd strongly recommend it to anyone interested in one of the great spiritual and cultural encounters in world history: the remarkable story of the transmission of Buddhism from India to China.
