About
Jessica Zu is an assistant professor of religion at USC Dornsife. As an intellectual historian and a scholar of Buddhist studies, her research uncovers unknown episodes and surprising ways that ancient Buddhist spiritual inclusiveness was transformed into justifications for building a just society. She is currently working on her book manuscript–Dharma, Darwinism, Democracy: Buddhist Social History in Modern China. Education
PhD in Asian Religions Princeton University 2013-2022
PhD candidacy Princeton University May 2016
MA in Asian Religions Princeton University May 2016
MA in Comparative Literature The Pennsylvania State University 2011-2013
PhD in Physics The Pennsylvania State University 1997-2003
BS in Physics Peking University 1992-1997 Publications
Zu, J. X. (2021). Three Plays and a Shared Socio-Spiritual Horizon in the Modern Buddhist Revivals in India and China. International Journal of Asian Studies. Vol. 2021, pp. 1–24.
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Zu, J. X. (2021). A Spiritual Evolutionism: Lü Cheng, Aesthetic Revolution, and the Rise of a Buddhism-Inflected Social Ontology in Modern China. Journal of Global Buddhism. Vol. 22 (1), pp. 49–75.
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Zu, J. X. (2019). Ouyang Jingwu’s Must-Read Buddhist Classics for Laity: Body Politics and Gendered Soteriology. Journal of Chinese Religions. Vol. 47 (1), pp. 61–86.
Projects
Dharma, Darwin, and Democracy: Buddhist Social Theory in Modern China
Tagore’s Buddhological Library: Buddhism as Social Commentary, 1924–1968 Memberships
American Academy of Religion
Association for Asian Studies
Society for the Study of Chinese Religions
