Benjamin Brose is a cultural historian of religion in China, with a particular focus on Buddhism. He currently teaches Buddhist and Chinese studies at the University of Michigan, where he is also the chair of the Asian Languages and Cultures Department.

While most of Brose’s research deals with Buddhism in China, he is also interested in Buddhism in Korea and Japan as well as Daoism and popular religion in East Asia. In his work, he maintains a long-standing interest in the power of narrative not only to change people’s understanding but also to alter their experience. Through the study of pre-modern and modern Buddhist stories and traditions, Brose looks to shed light on complex and fascinating processes that span multiple historical eras and cultural contexts.

Brose has published books and articles on a range of topics, including: the history of the Chan (Zen) movement during the tumultuous and transformative era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms; the life and travels of the great 7^th century Buddhist pilgrim and translator Xuanzang; the relationship between history, ritual, and narrative in Chinese religious culture; illicit deity cults in contemporary Taiwan; and the transmission of Buddhism to the United States.

In his latest book, Embodying Xuanzang: The Postmortem Travels of a Buddhist Pilgrim (2023), Brose explores the confluence of myth, narrative and ritual to uncover the hidden histories of the many afterlives of Xuanzang, one of the most accomplished and consequential monks in the history of East Asian Buddhism.

He is currently at work on a cultural history of modern Chinese Buddhism.

Brose has been a visiting scholar at Otani University in Japan, Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and Universität Hamburg in Germany. He received an MA in Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA and PhD in Religious Studies from Stanford University.