I have waited ten years for just this book. When I published my own modest history of Buddhism in Taiwan in 1999, it was already clear that the Buddhist charitable movement known as the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Association (Fojiao ciji gongde hui 佛教慈濟功德會, hereafter Tzu Chi) was one of the largest Buddhist organizations in Taiwan, and that it was quickly transcending its local character and establishing an international presence. It was also clear that, as it grew larger, it would become harder to do the ground-level research needed to document it properly. Since then, other authors have attempted studies of this organization without much success. C. Julia Huang, in contrast, has patiently and with great skill and tact pursued her research over a long enough period of time to overcome the organization's resistance to outside investigation, and brought a number of theoretical angles to bear on her findings. Huang's work will surely be the definitive study of Tzu Chi for many years to come.

Chapter 1 gives the most detailed account to date of the life story of Venerable Cheng Yen (Zhengyan 證嚴), the founder of Tzu Chi, whose charisma has been universally recognized and who sets the organization's course to this day. Each of the remaining chapters takes on a distinct aspect of Tzu Chi in order to illuminate it from different perspectives. Chapter 2 deals with Tzu Chi's organizational structure. The main argument here is that, while its “shapeless bureaucracy” looks very formal and articulated on paper, it does not reflect the association's actual lines of authority or modes of decision making. Cheng Yen remains very much in charge, and all decisions, even those regarding the most trivial details, emanate from her. Chapter 3 discusses the “circulation” of members in both centripetal and centrifugal terms. Potential and actual members circulate inward through pilgrimages to Tzu Chi's headquarters near the city of Hualian on Taiwan's east coast, and Cheng Yen circulates outward through her monthly tours of Tzu Chi branches around the island, producing a kind of human “flow.”

In chapter 4, Huang describes and analyzes two kinds of performative manifestations of the Tzu Chi ethos: uncontrollable weeping in the presence of the master and the ritual of “sign language song,” in which large groups perform songs together using sign language. The first, Huang says, is a sign that a person has been touched by the master's charisma and is often accompanied by an amendment of life, but it is uncontrollable and therefore not susceptible to ritualization. Sign language song, on the other hand, exists at the opposite pole of controllability and thus provides a suitable medium for the physical expression of one's Tzu Chi identity. Chapter 5, entitled “Local Personhood,” draws on the author's intensive fieldwork as a participant in several Tzu Chi sites and sets out the processes by which individuals adopt and then publicize their identity as a “Tzu Chi person” to the world through dress, deportment, and specific signals. This chapter ends by noting that it is sometimes inconvenient to advertise one's Tzu Chi identity (when wanting to relax on a holiday trip, for instance), and describing ways in which members may temporarily dispense with the overt signs of their status as members.

Chapter 6 swings from the individual to the transnational perspective by delineating the elements of Tzu Chi's “NGOness.” Historically, the transformation of Tzu Chi's self-definition first as a local group of Hualian housewives and then as an island-wide organization providing a focal point for Taiwan pride to a transnational nongovernmental organization has meant that it must balance its local character with its international role. It thus minimizes its use of Taiwanese, for example, in favor of Mandarin in certain contexts. Chapter 7, “On a Global Stage,” continues this analysis. Finally, moving completely to the international element of Tzu Chi's identity and cutting loose from its local Taiwanese character entirely, Huang describes life in two Indonesian branches. She demonstrates how the association balances its Taiwanese identity and geographic focus with local concerns, while working to accommodate Tzu Chi's Buddhist identity within a majority Muslim society.

My one quibble is more with the publisher than the author: why does the book not insert Chinese characters in the text or at least provide a glossary for specialists? That aside, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Taiwan society, modern Buddhism, and comparative studies in modern philanthropy.