loving Polynesians continue to sing their old chants even
though they no longer fully understand the role that the texts
had played in their religious traditions. The old fagu chants,
still known in the extreme eastern end of the Tuamotu Is-
lands, offer a sketch of the creation myths and of some of
the religious concepts that existed before the advent of Chris-
tianity. These chants contain not only the name of Tangaroa
but also the names of other gods; even ancestral gods often
appear in parodies. But, in general, the gradual disintegration
of traditional island society has coincided with the death of
the Polynesian gods.
Radical change was enhanced by the modernization of
island societies after World War II. In the 1960s, Tangaroa
was mentioned in only one of the parody chants that was
used on the occasion of welcoming visitors to the eastern Tu-
amotus:
We descend from Tangaroa Manini, we are ready for you
We love you Manini, with blessings
Has come to our land. (Hatanaka, 1976)It may be that one day even the name of Tangaroa will no
longer be known to the Polynesian people; then all of the
gods will have returned to the land of Hawaiki.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Buck, Peter H. Vikings of the Sunrise. New York, 1938.
Handy, E. S. Craighill. Polynesian Religion. Honolulu, 1927.
Handy, E. S. Craighill. History and Culture in the Society Islands.
Honolulu, 1930.
Hatanaka, Sachiko. A Study of the Polynesian Migration to the East-
ern Tuamotus: Preliminary Report. Kanazawa, Japan, 1976.
SACHIKO HATANAKA (1987)
TA ̄NGRI SEE TENGRI
TANG YONGTONG (1893–1964) was an eminent
scholar of the history of Chinese Buddhism. A native of
Huangmei County in Hubei Province, China, Tang studied
in Beijing and graduated from Quinghua University in
- In order to pursue his studies he went to the United
States in the following year, where he specialized in philoso-
phy, Sanskrit, and Pali at Harvard University. Tang received
his master’s degree in 1922 and returned to China, where he
began a teaching career that spanned four decades.
By the 1940s, Tang was already well established in the
philosophy department of Beijing University, becoming its
chairman and eventually being named dean of the College
of Humanities. In addition to his research on Buddhism and
Indian philosophy, Tang was an expert on the school of
thought known as xuanxue (“dark learning”), which flour-
ished during the Wei and Jin dynasties (third and fourth cen-
turies CE). He also lectured on such Western philosophical
traditions as rationalism and empiricism, having studied Eu-
ropean philosophy during his years abroad. In 1947 Tang
was named an academician of the Central Research Institute,
and thereafter returned to the United States to give a series
of lectures at the University of California.
Firmly rejecting suggestions that he go to Taiwan fol-
lowing the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949,
Tang actively took part in academic affairs in the newly es-
tablished People’s Republic. He was appointed chairman of
the Council for Academic Affairs and vice-president of Beij-
ing University, and was elected a member of the Academic
Society of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In addition,
Tang was a member of the Standing Committee of the first,
second, and third National People’s Congresses.
Consonant with both Marxist theory and contemporary
scholarship in the social scientific study of religion, Tang fo-
cused more on the historical and social impact of Buddhist
thought than on its religious influence. His principal works
include Hanwei liang Jin Nanbeichao fojiao shi (A history of
Buddhism from the Han and Wei Dynasties to the Northern
and Southern Dynasties), Suitang fojiao shigao (A history of
Buddhism in the Sui and Tang Dynasties), and Yindu zhexue
shilue (A concise history of Indian philosophy). Through his
academic work and official posts Tang influenced an entire
generation of Chinese students of Buddhism.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cihai: Zhexue fence. Shanghai, 1980.
Tang Yongtong. Tang Yongtong quan ji. 7 vols. Shi Jia Zhuang,
China, 2000.
Tang Yongtong xueshu wenjhi. Beijing, 1983. Selected works of
Tang Yongtong with full bibliography and biographical
sketch.
REN JIYU (1987 AND 2005)TANLUAN (traditional dates 476–542, but more proba-
bly c. 488–554) was the author of the first known systematic
work to be produced in China on Pure Land (Chin., Jingtu)
Buddhism, that branch of the Buddhist tradition that em-
phasizes faith in the Buddha Amita ̄bha (Buddha of Limitless
Light; Chin., Emituofo; Jpn., Amida) and rebirth in
Sukha ̄vat ̄ı (“land of bliss”), Amita ̄bha’s paradisiacal realm in
the western quarter of the universe, as a means of attaining
enlightenment. Tanluan’s writings were a major textual
source for the Japanese monk Shinran (1173–1262), the
founder of the Jo ̄do Shinshu ̄ , which therefore regards Tan-
luan as one of its major patriarchal figures.
According to his biography in the Xu gaoseng zhuan
(Further Biographies of Eminent Monks), Tanluan was born
in the north, near Wutai Shan in Shansi Province, and stud-
ied Buddhism in his youth. Following a serious illness, how-
ever, he took up the pursuit of techniques of immortality rec-
ommended in various Daoist texts. His quest eventually ledTANLUAN 8981