With a self‐reported membership of ten million followers and spanning over forty countries, Taiwanese Cíjì Jījīnhuì (慈濟基金會, Compassion Relief [Tzu Chi] Foundation) ranks among the largest new religious organizations in East Asia. Established in 1966 by the Buddhist nun Zhèngyán (b. 1937), the movement evolved from a small circle of mainly housewives into the most eminent charity in the Chinese‐speaking world. This book is based on the author's PhD dissertation, submitted at King's College, University of London, in 2001, and is the latest of several recent scholarly contributions (Chou 2007, Madsen 2007, Huang 2009, DeVido 2010; for an emic perspective, see O'Neill 2010) to the study of Cíjì. Yao (姚玉霜) is assistant professor in Religious Studies at Taiwan's Fo Guan University, specializing in contemporary religions of Taiwan. Drawing on her expertise in the sociology of religion, Yao offers a rich and lively portrayal of Cíjì in the Taiwanese context, with a pronounced focus on its social and organizational dimensions. This volume is a valuable addition to current scholarship, owing to its well‐crafted and straightforward narrative, which rests on vast interview and survey data. Some aspects, such as Cíjì's teachings, internationalization, or domestic engagement, however, could have benefited from a slightly more in‐depth discussion to underline the maintained synoptic character of this work. In short, readers will find this a very useful and highly readable introduction to a vibrant and globally active exponent of East Asian/Taiwanese “Buddhist modernism.”
