List of Boxes, Figures, and Maps . . ix
Preface . . xi

1 In the beginning: Religion and history . . 1

2 Ming China: The fourteenth century's new world order . . 15
I. Religious foundations of late imperial China . . 15
II. The emperor monk: Zhu Yuanzhang and the new Confucian state . . 36

3 The Buddha and the shogun in sixteenth-century Japan . . 53
I. Religious foundations of medieval Japan . . 53
II. Burning monks: The assault on Buddhism . . 66

4 Opportunities lost: The failure of Christianity, 1550-1750 . . 72
I. The Society of Jesus comes to Asia . . 72
II. The roots of conflict and the long road home . . 84

5 Buddhism: Incarnations and reincarnations . . 94
I. Bodhisattvas and barbarians: Buddhism in Ming and Qing China . . 94
II. The gilded cage: Funerary Buddhism during the Tokugawa . . 105
III. Samurai and nothingness: Zen and the Japanese warrior elite . . 113

6 Apocalypse now . . 123
I. Why the world keeps ending . . 123
II. The White Lotus: Six centuries of Chinese heresy, 1360-1860 . . 131

7 Out of the twilight: Religion and the late nineteenth century . . 142
I. Fists of Justice and Harmony: Christian mission and the last stand of Chinese traditionalism . . 142
II. Kill the Buddha! Shinto and the new traditionalism of Meiji Japan . . 151

8 Into the abyss: Religion and the road to disaster during the early twentieth century . . 161
I. Toward Confucian fascism: China searches for direction . . 161
II. Spirit of the rising sun: Japanese religious militarism . . 179

9 Brave new world: Religion in the reinvention of postwar Asia . . 194
I. Opiate of the masses: Why Marxism opposes religion . . 194
II. The people's faith: How religion survived China's socialist paradise . . 202
III. The peace paradigm and search for meaning in Japan . . 215

10 The globalization of Asian religion . . 224

Glossary . . 231
Timeline of dynasties and major events . . 237
Suggestions for further reading . . 239
Index . . 245