Book Review: Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood: A Mongolian Monk in the Ruins of the Qing Empire by Matthew W. King; Enlightenment and the Gasping City: Mongolian Buddhism at a Time of Environmental Disarray by Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko
1. Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood: A Mongolian Monk in the Ruins of the Qing Empire. By Matthew W. King. Columbia University Press, 2019. 304 pages. $65.00 (hardcover); $64.99 (e-book).
2. Enlightenment and the Gasping City: Mongolian Buddhism at a Time of Environmental Disarray. By Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko. Cornell University Press, 2019. 252 pages. $115.00 (hardcover); $26.95 (paperback); $12.99 (e-book).
3. Reviewer Affiliation: University of Michigan, USA
摘要
So, let’s talk about Buddhism in the Mongolian context. Mongols are often referred to by others and themselves as Tibetan Buddhists. Mongolian studies has even been referred to as the “bastard stepchild” of Tibetan studies and has long been subjected to Tibetocentric approaches (Johan Elverskog, The Mongolia-Tibet Interface [Brill, 2003], 62). Although the interlaced strands weaving the Tibetan and Mongolian cultural spheres cannot be denied or ignored, the question remains whether there is a form of Buddhism transmitted and practiced among the Mongols in the various regions in Mongolia, China, and Russia that can be distinguished from the Tibetan form. To contribute to this dilemma, only a handful of studies and publications deal primarily with Buddhism in Mongolian regions historically or in the contemporary period. In this context, the two books here, written from very different methodological and disciplinary approaches and in examination of two very different time periods, offer variable but equally valuable contributions to this ongoing discussion, a discussion that is still in an infantile stage of development.
