A Buddhist Reading of Octavia Butler: A Conversation with Dr. Jessica Zu

“How Do We Meet Each Other? Black-Asian Dialogue in Buddhist America”

This conversation series brings Black and Asian-American Buddhist scholars and practitioners together for honest dialogue about what it means to practice Buddhism in America today. These conversation partners aim to create bridges and ask nuanced questions — about ancestral practices and culture, about appropriation and erasure, and about what it means to evolve the Buddhist tradition to meet the current moment.

Each conversation is also a practice in itself: honoring the cultural roots each person brings, building real political solidarity, and growing a Buddhist community rooted in both care and accountability.

This series is generously funded by the Henry J. Luce Foundation.

Hosted by Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad, IBS Research Fellow
Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Buddhist Studies and the Founding Director of the Initiative for Black Buddhist Studies. She is the author of three books and several academic articles on Buddhism and Black culture, as well as religious approaches to systemic violence.

November 4, 2026: A Buddhist Reading of Octavia Butler: A Conversation with Dr. Jessica Zu

Jessica Zu is an intellectual historian and a scholar of Buddhist philosophy. Her research uncovers surprising ways that ancient Buddhist processual philosophy was reinvented by marginalized peoples to seek justice, build community, and change the self and the world. Her public scholarship asks how scholars could practice relational accountability in their knowledge production and co-create conducive conditions for the flourishing of pluri-versal (against uni-versal) futures. Her 2025 Book—Just Awakening: Yogacara Social Philosophy in Modern China–is published with Columbia University Press. She widely publishes in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Buddhist Philosophy, Sophia, Topoi, and History of Religions.

 Register at: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/HfqtcPg-QPexvsiyFdzFnA