Bryan D. Lowe

I am an associate professor at Princeton University in the Department of Religion, specializing in seventh- through ninth-century Japanese Buddhism. My research challenges elite-centered narratives that have dominated scholarship to date. In contrast, I study Buddhism as it was lived and practiced by individuals and communities from diverse backgrounds. My research is interdisciplinary; I engage scholarship in history, art history, literature, political science, and book history to explore issues related to ritual studies, material culture, and religion and the state.

My first book, Ritualized Writing: Buddhist Practice and Scriptural Cultures in Ancient Japan, received the John Whitney Hall Book Prize from the Association of Asian Studies. My second book, How Buddhism Spread in Japan, 650–850, comes out in August 2026. It combines textual and archaeological evidence to show how Buddhism rapidly took root in the provinces, forever changing the history of Japan.