Modern Buddhist Healing

In 1987 Charles Atkins was struck with Hodgkin's disease and underwent the ravages of chemotherapy. Throughout his illness he used his Buddhist training and the power of the mantra Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to carry him through the cancer treatments and allay his fears of death and doubts for recovery. During his stays in the hospital, he took every possible opportunity to comfort other cancer patients. His survival inspired him to share the healing techniques he has learned with others. In this book, Atkins introduces us to the Buddhist master Nichiren [1222-1281] and the healing teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha as laid out in theLotus Sutra. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is an old mantra that has accumulated a great deal of power from centuries of countless individuals focusing their highest intents while chanting it. He explains how Nam-myoho-renge-kyo can be used to "undo" karma that has damaged our health. Methods for chanting while visualizing abound in this book. His example, along with that of many others struggling with diseases as diverse as fibromyalgia, diabetic ulcers, high blood pressure, and mental illness, provides a beacon of hope for those facing illness. Atkins's book shows that with hope, faith, and prayer nothing is impossible.

For a healing system that has been practiced for 1,300 years, Tibetan medicine is surprisingly contemporary in its assumptions. Under the guidance of skilled lama-physicians, it views good health as a balance between material and spiritual concerns and marshals an impressive array of physical, psychological, and spiritual practices in its extensive medical kit. To explore the modern legacy of the Medicine Buddha tradition, Peter Fenton journeyed to India and Nepal to see first-hand how Tibetan medicine is practiced today and to discover whether its ancient secrets can help us improve our own well-being. His first-person account, full of fascinating stories and interviews and illustrated with photographs, charts, and botanical drawings, demonstrates that traditional Tibetan healing is a vibrant, living system that can help each of us rebalance body, mind, and spirit---the essence of good health.

"This rich collection focuses on the nexus between Buddhism and healing in the modern and contemporary world, highlighting the many ways Buddhists have adapted in response to and in dialogue with modern science, biomedicine, and other facets of modernity from the nineteenth century to today. Buddhist healing activities are much more diverse than the narrow range of mindfulness techniques that have dominated scholarly and popular focus. From the community-based healing practices of Asian American Buddhists and transnational Tantric sex therapy retreats to concerns about balancing being contemporary with being authentically Buddhist, contributors explore how Buddhists have rethought the mind-body relationship against the backdrop of the modernization and globalization of Buddhism. They examine Buddhists navigating the differences and commonalities that exist in their practice and modern systems of mental and physical healthcare, paying attention to how they have negotiated shifting configurations of legitimacy, authority, and authenticity. Through historical and ethnographic case studies, the work details these ruptures and reconciliations in Japan, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Korea, and the U.S., in addition to mapping the transnational pathways of exchange as knowledge about Buddhism and medicine has traveled between Asia and the West. Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World encompasses a wide range of Buddhist ideas about health and health-seeking practices that remain a vital part of the everyday practice of modern Buddhism across the globe"--

In Jizo Bodhisattva, Zen teacher and practicing pediatrician Jan Chozen Bays explores the development of traditional Buddhist practices related to Jizo, as well as the growing interest in Jizo practice in modern American Zen Buddhism. She also shows how you can incorporate this rich tradition into your own life, through meditations, mantras and chanting. In traditional Buddhist belief, a bodhisattva is an enlightened being who has forsaken entry into nirvana until all beings are saved. Jizo, one of the four great bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism, is know as "the Bodhisattva of the Greatest Vows." He is regarded as the protector of travelers—whether their journeys in the physical world, or in the spiritual reams. Jizo also has special significance for pregnant women and parents whose children have died.

Offers a spiritual approach to wellness based on Nicherin Buddhism in a guide that explains why meditation, prayer, chanting, and visualization are effective and how they can be used to evoke healing power. Original.

Dr. Yen teaches us how to care for ourselves naturally by using acupressure, self-massage, breathing techniques, exercises, and herbal remedies. Illustrations of the acupressure points accompany each treatment as do tips regarding diet and relevant folk cures.

Over the centuries, Buddhist ideas have influenced medical thought and practice in complex and varied ways in diverse regions and cultures. A companion to Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources, this work presents a collection of modern and contemporary texts and conversations from across the Buddhist world dealing with the multifaceted relationship between Buddhism and medicine. Covering the early modern period to the present, this anthology focuses on the many ways Buddhism and medicine were shaped by the forces of colonialism, science, and globalization, as well as ruptures and reconciliations between tradition and modernity. Editor C. Pierce Salguero and an international collection of scholars highlight diversity and innovation in the encounters between Buddhist and medical thought. The chapters contain a wide range of sources presenting different perspectives rooted in distinct times and places, including translations of published and unpublished documents and transcripts of ethnographic interviews as well as accounts by missionaries and colonial authorities and materials from the contemporary United States and United Kingdom. Together, these varied sources illustrate the many intersections of Buddhism and medicine in the past and how this nexus continues to be crucial in today’s global context.

Medicine, health, and healing have been central to Buddhism since its origins. Long before the global popularity of mindfulness and meditation, Buddhism provided cultures around the world with conceptual tools to understand illness as well as a range of therapies and interventions for care of the sick. Today, Buddhist traditions, healers, and institutions continue to exert a tangible influence on medical care in societies both inside and outside Asia, including in the areas of mental health, biomedicine, and even in responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the global history of the relationship between Buddhism and medicine remains largely untold. This book is a wide-ranging and accessible account of the interplay between Buddhism and medicine over the past two and a half millennia. C. Pierce Salguero traces the intertwining threads linking ideas, practices, and texts from many different times and places. He shows that Buddhism has played a crucial role in cross-cultural medical exchange globally and that Buddhist knowledge formed the nucleus for many types of traditional practices that still thrive today throughout Asia. Although Buddhist medicine has always been embedded in local contexts and differs markedly across cultures, Salguero identifies key patterns that have persisted throughout this long history. This book will be informative and invaluable for scholars, students, and practitioners of both Buddhism and complementary and alternative medicine.