Dixuan Chen, Associate Professor of East Asian Religions at Grinnell College, received her Ph.D. in Religious studies with a specialization in Buddhist Studies from the University of Florida. Her research interests include Chinese Buddhist beliefs and practices, religious healing and health, meditation, and women in Buddhism.
She was the recipient of a Wabash Center Early Career Faculty Teaching Fellowship (2022–3), Mellon Humanities in Action Grant Pedagogy Partnership (2023), and Harris Faculty Research Fellowship (2024).
Recent Publications:
“Reassessing The Gateway to Meditation: Textual History and Buddhist Medical Thought in Tang-Song China.” Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies 39, (Jul. 2026): 25–69.
“Inhaling Tradition, Exhaling Innovation: Controlled Breathing as Medicine in Tiantai Buddhism.” Studies in Chinese Religions 10, Issue: 2 (2024): 115-150. DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2024.2383510
“More than Curing the Sick: A Re-Examination of Medicine Buddha Worship in Medieval China” Journal of Chinese Religions 52, no. 1 (2024): 1-27. DOI:10.1353/jcr.2024.a928799