Portraying Zen Buddhism in the Twentieth Century: Encounter Dialogues as Frame-Stories in Daisetz Suzuki’s Introduction to Zen Buddhism and Janwillem Van de Wetering’s The Empty Mirror

Ben Van Overmeire is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Duke Kunshan University and a scholar of Zen Buddhism. He is the author of American Koan: Imagining Zen and Self in Autobiographical Literature (2024), which was shortlisted for the American Academy of Religion "Religion and the Arts" book award. He is currently writing a book on the Buddhist imagination of outer space. He is also co-editing a volume of Chinese astroculture. Learn more at benvanovermeire.wordpress.com.