Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 46 • holding together societal harmony (as such antagonizing humankind’s natural penchant for badness and confusion). As Xúnzǐ’s has it: “Thus people without ritual cannot live, affairs without ritual cannot be completed, states and families without ritual cannot be at peace.” Lukas Pokorny University of Vienna NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2020 Lehel Balogh Hokkaido University RÚXUÉ MĚIDÉ LÙN 儒学美德论 [ON CONFUCIAN VIRTUE THEORY]. Chén Lái 陈来. Běijīng 北京: SDX Joint Publishing Company 生活•读书•新知三联书店, 2019. Pp. vii + 551. Hardback, ￥68. In this book, Chén (b. 1952) provides an in-depth analysis of the study of Confucian ethics and comparatively explores Confucian and Western virtue ethics. Since the 1980s, Chén has paid close attention to the contribution of Confucian ethics to modern society and has endeavored to place contemporary moral problems in their historical context. The book comprises two parts: the first one tackles the issues of public and private morality—which Chén deems tantamount to the relationship of Confucian ethics of “self” and “community”—and its solution for today’s moral problems. By examining the history of self and community within Western moral concepts, this part reveals the root of the contemporary Chinese moral dilemma, namely the limitation of private morality following public morality since modern times. Chén makes a distinctive contribution through his excellent grasp of the main figures, concerns, and theories in the Chinese tradition. He integrates modern thinkers’ discussions—represented by Liáng Qǐchāo (1873–1929)— on public morality, private morality, and Confucian morality. Chén considers Lǐ Zéhòu (b. 1930) and other contemporary Confucians’ discussion of “two virtues.” The second part focuses on virtue ethics, from Confucius, Mencius, and the early Warring States period to Féng Yǒulán (1895–1990) and Féng Qì (1915–1995). Chén systematically examines the relationship between Confucian ethics and virtue ethics. He delves deep into the texts of key thinkers, reveals the core of their ethics, and delineates the similarities and differences between Confucian ethics and virtue ethics from a comparative perspective between China and the West. Overall, Chén’s major concern in the book is to grasp problems in the study of virtue ethics, to find the modern significance of Confucian ethics, and to remedy the shortcomings of modern Chinese moral thought. Mei Yang Jilin University ZHUANGZI AND THE BECOMING OF NOTHINGNESS. By David Chai. SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2019. Pp. xviii + 198. Hardback, $95.00; Paperback $31.95. David Chai’s (b. 1971) examination of the Zhuāngzǐ’s 莊 子 cosmological and metaphysical aspects is a compelling work, which depicts a comprehensive and gripping picture of the multifaceted significance of nothingness in this seminal ancient Chinese text. Chai, who is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, eloquently illustrates how the concepts of being, nothingness, and dào are all profoundly interconnected and manifest themselves in our various fields of scholarly inquiry: in metaphysics, cosmology, religion, epistemology, and ethics. At the heart of Chai’s presentation is the conceptual splitting of the key term wú 無 into “non-being” and “nothingness.” Although these two separate functions of the same concept are clearly interconnected and codependent, Chai argues that non-being refers above all to the “cessation of ontic being”—in other words, death—, while nothingness “symbolizes ‘absentia’ forms of existence (e.g., trace, shadow, void, hollow, etc.) on the one hand, and the abode of Dao on the other hand. […] That is, we cannot know what is unless we also know what is not, nor can we discuss the nature of being while excluding non-being.” Hence, the ultimate reality in the Zhuāngzǐ, according to Chai’s interpretation, should be understood as “neither non-being nor being but that which allows for the possibility of both.” There are six chapters in the book, which guide the reader through the thickest parts of Daoist metaphysics with a secure and authoritative voice. Chapter 1 explains the nature and language of nothingness in the Zhuāngzǐ, how it relates to the dào and to being. Chapter 2 elucidates the notions of One and the Thing. Chapter 3 looks into the temporal nature of the dào, discussing the difference between cosmological and human measured times. Chapter 4 addresses the life praxis of uselessness by juxtaposing it with the ideal of usefulness. Chapter 5 investigates the ways in which one could emulate the characteristics of the dào via cultivating self-forgetfulness, Finally, Chapter 6 explores the idea of freedom, arguing that individual freedom, as such, does not exist in the Zhuāngzǐ; to be free in nothingness is “to let go of the world and in letting go, the sage attains his returning to the One.” The book is an outstanding and innovative commentary on one of the most valued ancient Chinese wisdom texts that skillfully summarizes centuries of exegetical literature and finds a balance in presenting contrasting and complementary views. CHINESE BUDDHISM AND TRADITIONAL CULTURE. By Fang Litian. China Perspectives. London and New York, NY: Routledge, 2019. Pp. vi + 234. Hardback, $170.00. In this volume, Fang offers an overview of Buddhism in China. He investigates how Buddhism influenced and was, in turn, subsequently influenced by Chinese culture, eventually becoming “an important part of it.” Chapter 1 begins with the creation and dissemination of Indian Buddhism from Shakyamuni to the development of Sectarian, Mahayana, and Esoteric Buddhism. In Chapter 2, Fang systematically traces the spread (including the development of various sects) of Buddhism in China from its introduction, which Fang approximately places in the Hàn Dynasty, to its continued decline since 437