Stephen F. Teiser is D. T. Suzuki Professor in Buddhist Studies and Professor of Religion at Princeton University. His work traces the interaction between cultures along the silk road using textual, artistic, and material remains. He is interested in the transformations of Buddhism throughout Asia, focusing on Chinese-language materials. His most recent book is a monograph (in Chinese) on Buddhism and the study of ritual, Yilu yu fojiao yanjiu 仪礼与佛教研究 (Sanlian Publishers, 2022). Other books include Reinventing the Wheel: Paintings of Rebirth in Medieval Buddhist Temples (2006), awarded the Prix Stanislas Julien by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, Institut de France; The Scripture on the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (1994); and The Ghost Festival in Medieval China (1988).
His current research is a book tentatively entitled Curing with Karma: Healing Liturgies in Chinese Buddhism, which examines how meritorious deeds are thought to cure illness. The project engages with moral issues, the poetics of prayer, and the materiality of liturgical manuscripts.