DREAMING AND SELF‐CULTIVATION IN CHINA, 300BCE–800CE. By Robert FordCampany. Harvard‐Yenching Institute Monograph Series, 138. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2023. Pp. xvi + 304. Hardback, $59.95; Paperback, $32.95.

Campany is Professor of Asian Studies at Vanderbilt University. Focusing on the intricate relationship between dreaming and self-cultivation in ancient China during the period spanning from the late Warring States era to the late Táng dynasty, the book is a continuation of his The Chinese Dreamscape, 300 BCE–800 CE. Campany seeks to demonstrate the central role that dreams and dreaming have played in the daily practices of practitioners of Daoist, Buddhist, Confucian, and other self-cultivational disciplines by examining how dreaming was addressed in various texts. In the introductory part, Campany approaches dreams and self-cultivation in the historical and cultural context of ancient China, showing that practitioners of any of the paths of self-cultivation available in the Chinese cultural repertoire engaged daily in practices meant to bring most aspects of their experience and comportment under control by adopting regimens designed to discipline their bodies, minds, diets, speech, senses, desires, sexuality, and in some cases even their breathing. In the following chapters, Campany systematically explains three paradigms through which dreams were viewed and responded to: purification, diagnosis, and spillover. In a text based on the purification paradigm, for example, the dream is an exogenous, sometimes malevolent, entity intrusion, or its content is foul, disgusting, or improper. Either way, it poses a danger to the practice of self-cultivation and, in extreme cases, could even threaten the dreamer's health, whereas in the diagnostic paradigm, the dream is a coded message that requires interpretation. The spillover paradigm sees the dream as a continuation of the dreamer's waking self-cultivational activity. The fourth chapter briefly addresses passages in which the general phenomenon of dreaming is used analogically in the service of a persuasive agenda. An epilogue offers some concluding thoughts, and three appendices explore particular texts in greater depth. A testament to Campany's expertise and dedication to the study of ancient Chinese religious and philosophical traditions, the book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the relationship between dreams and self-cultivation in China.