Buddhism, Resistance, and Collaboration in Manchuria

Abstract

This essay attempts to characterize Tanxu’s experiences in Manchuria and north China between 1920 and 1945, focusing especially on the war years. Tanxu’s actions during this time have been seen, broadly, in three different ways. First, as examples of Chinese nationalism, or "cultural patriotism," and thus resistance to Japanese encroachment; second, as accommodation of, if not collaboration with, the Japanese; and third—what Tanxu himself proclaimed—as apolitical actions intended to promote Buddhism. I attempt to reconcile these views in order to understand how Tanxu’s Buddhist activism can contribute to our understanding of the complex and controversial categories of resistance and collaboration.