Professor, Buddhist and Chinese Studies
bbrose@umich.edu
Office Information:
202 S. Thayer, Suite 6111; Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608
phone: 734.763.7888
Center for Japanese Studies;
CJS Faculty;
CJS Faculty Associates;
LRCCS Faculty;
Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies;
Nam Center for Korean Studies;
NCKS Affiliated Faculty
Education/Degree:
PhD, Stanford University, 2009; MA, Stanford University, 2004; MA, University of California, Berkeley, 2002; BA, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1996
About
Research Interests
Professor Brose took graduate courses at Kyoto and Otani universities and frequently returns to Japan for research. He specializes in the history and culture of medieval and modern Buddhism in East Asia with a focus on China. He has written about the histories, doctrines, and practices of Chan/Zen, transregional Buddhist exchange, the confluence of narrative and ritual, relics, pilgrimage and eremetism, hagiography and autobiography, popular religion, the transmission of Buddhism to the United States, and the modern histories of Buddhism in China. His current research is centered on Buddhist monastics and laypeople living in China during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Recent Courses Taught
- Introduction to Buddhism
- Zen: History, Culture, & Critique
- Buddhism and Death
- Zen Masters, Dharma Bums, & Drag Queens: Buddhism in America
Recent Publications
- Embodying Xuanzang: The Postmortem Travels of a Buddhist Pilgrim (UHP, 2023).
- Buddhist Masters of Modern China (Shambhala, 2025).
- Inner Worlds: Individuals and Interiority in Chinese Religious Life (w/James Benn; Brill, 2025).
- Additional publications and available on his website and Academia page.
Affiliation(s)
- Center for Chinese Studies
- Center for Japanese Studies
- Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
Field(s) of Study
- Buddhist Studies
- Religion in East Asia
- History of China
