Dixuan Yujing Chen, Assistant 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 explores Chinese Buddhist beliefs and practices, religious healing and health, meditation, and women in Buddhism. Her dissertation, titled “The Worship of Medicine Master Buddha in Medieval China,” investigates the historical development of beliefs and modes of worship centered on Medicine Buddha (Sk. Bhaiṣajyaguru; Ch. Yaoshi fo).
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).
Her main areas of teaching include Buddhist studies, East Asian religions, religion and politics in modern China, women and religion, religious food, and religious healing practices.