Buddhism has always emphasized the healing power of dharma. Since the beginning of the tradition, illness and healing have played a central role in stories, metaphors, rituals, and other aspects of Buddhism around the world. But how should we understand the healing power of these practices? Is the Buddhist approach to health and medicine just a placebo?
Virtually all Buddhists will be familiar with the episode in the legend of Siddhartha Gautama’s life in which the future Buddha escapes from his father’s palace. When he meets a sick person, he is shaken to the core by the inevitable suffering of illness. Later, sitting under the Bodhi tree, Siddhartha discovers the ultimate alleviation of all forms of suffering. Since then, for Buddhists, following in the footsteps of the Buddha has often meant leaving the body and separate self and learning to face the suffering of illness calmly and stoically. At the same time, the Buddhist tradition has never rejected a commitment to more active or targeted forms of healing. In fact, the majority of Buddhists throughout history have fully accepted the idea that: wide range And we have even considered them to be compatible with, and central to, Dharma.
These treatments include: Certain herbal remedies, diet, massage, and even surgery (both cataract removal and trepanation are mentioned in ancient Buddhist texts).Additionally, sacred texts in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, etc. teach All kinds of meditation, visualization, doctrinal reflection, and other contemplative practices that are said to directly cure illness. The Buddhist healing repertoire also includes ritual practices such as sutra chanting and recitation. Daranis or the creation of mantras, amulets and amulets, various purification or karmic purification rituals. For thousands of years, it has been very popular for devotees to invoke specific deities such as Yakushi Tathagata, Avalokitesvara, and Tara when needed. It is believed that blessings from enlightened beings can cure diseases instantly, but they can also be stored in blessed objects to later heal or strengthen the patient, or to banish the spirits that cause the disease. It can also be used for protection.
This variety of Buddhist healing interventions is of more than historical interest. Nearly every Buddhist community around the world continues to find meaning and solace in such teachings and practices, and in these therapies today. was used around the world during the Covid-19 pandemic. Even the most secular Buddhists often cite the benefits of meditation practices for mental and physical health. For all these reasons, it is common among Buddhists past and present to refer to the Buddha as the “Great Physician” and the Dharma as the “Great Medicine.”
Herbs, diet, massage, and surgery from Asian contexts have all been scientifically studied for over a century. Recently, a growing body of research on mindfulness and other forms of meditation has proven its benefits for both the mind and body. However, so far, few studies have attempted to measure the effects of rituals. Can wearing a “knot thread” tied to a monk’s protection on your wrist, chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha in Sanskrit, or wearing an amulet to ward off illness actually improve your health? Such questions have not received much attention among modern researchers and those steeped in a scientific worldview. Among people who cannot accept blessings or the existence of God, such treatments are often dismissed as mere placebos.
Buddhists have historically understood and embraced the placebo effect and made it a central part of their approach to healing.
Calling something a placebo often means denying its medical validity. However, recent research suggests otherwise. Over 20 years ago Daniel E. Morman (medical anthropologist at the University of Michigan) claimed The placebo effect is driven not only by meaningful symbols and cultural cues, but also by interactions between therapist and patient. Most recently, Alia Crum, assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University. characterized The placebo effect is the patient’s body’s natural ability to heal itself, which is enhanced by a positive mindset and a supportive social environment. Ted J. Kupchak, a clinical researcher at Harvard Medical School, focuses on understanding the nuances of the placebo effect.In one study, he found A fake drug means it has a healing effect even if the person taking it knows it’s fake. In another article, he discovered Even though both pills are completely inert, the blue pill has a sedative effect and the white pill works better for pain. He also said that placebo interventions, such as sham acupuncture, which involve more complex procedures, result The benefits are greater than those with less complexity.
These recent trends in placebo research may be summarized as a shift away from placebo research. control To directly investigate how the placebo effect works and how to maximize it. However, despite some surprisingly promising preliminary results, this is still a new area of research. Modern scientific medicine still has a long way to go to accept the placebo effect and systematically incorporate it into clinical practice and physician training.
In contrast, I believe that Buddhists have historically understood and embraced the placebo effect and made it a central part of their approach to healing. Of course, traditional Buddhism does not use the word “placebo,” but I think there is a similar concept.
To begin with, it seems to me that Buddhist healing rituals are sophisticated traditional means of intentionally eliciting and maximizing their effects. Therapists routinely administer herbal medicine, massage, and other more specific treatments. These therapies are embedded in a richly organized web of symbols and therapist-patient interactions. for example, When working with traditional medicine healers In northern Thailand in the 1990s and 2000s, herbal formulas were often prepared with blessing water, chanted many times, and given to patients wrapped in paper amulets. Therapists spent time with each patient they visited, counseling, comforting, and listening to their needs. There was always an altar with statues of the Buddha, famous monks, and other spiritual helpers so that patients could make offerings and offer prayers as they entered and left their appointments. Even the demeanor and appearance of these healers themselves (including ceremonial clothing, rosaries, amulets, talismanic tattoos, and other adornments) all aim to give patients confidence that they are magically protected. It was the purpose.
Several may be tempted Calling the herbal part of a therapist’s intervention a drug and the rest a placebo introduces a duality that is contrary to mainstream Buddhist doctrine. Most Buddhists deny that mind and body are separable entities. Rather, the body-mind is seen as an interdependent whole. Therefore, interventions that appear to an outside observer to be purely physical can be understood by Buddhists as operating on a spiritual level as well, and vice versa. With this in mind, it is not at all surprising that healers perform ritual interventions of all kinds, as the more the whole body-mind is involved in the therapy, the more effective it will be.
Mahayana Buddhism takes this idea further. According to the doctrine of emptiness, both mind and body are ultimately devoid of substance. While the body is “really real,” the mind is not “only in the head.” Both are mirages of our misunderstandings and reification habits. Seen from this perspective, we see that all interventions, whether physical or mental, ‘real’ or ‘placebo’, operate on the same level of playing field. They’re all just clever devices that help us navigate the world of appearances and conventions.
These traditional Buddhist versions of placebo theory are not necessarily inconsistent with modern medicine. Rather, they point out that even the most scientific and materially focused medical interventions always act inseparably on both the body and the mind. Every detail of any medical procedure – from the way you are welcomed when you enter the office, the color of the paint on the walls, the type of plants in the waiting room, the attire of the doctor, the amount of eye contact given during the consultation – is influenced by the patient’s It affects your entire being and unconsciously affects the healing process. Some of these factors may have beneficial effects (i.e., cause a placebo effect), while others may actually be harmful (nocebo effects).
Taking Buddhist concepts of interdependence and skillful means seriously means that clinics, hospitals, and other healing spaces intentionally send out comforting and supportive signals rather than harsh and dehumanizing ones. It means guaranteeing that you are sending. It also means recognizing that there are always subjective mental and emotional factors involved in medicines, surgeries, vaccines, and all medical interventions in between.
This kind of careful consideration of how the environment and the interaction between patient and practitioner can support healing is exactly what is emphasized in traditional Buddhist approaches. Dismissing chants, prayers, charms, and other rituals as “just” placebos is completely missing the point. These practices skillfully immerse patients throughout a web of complex symbolism and multisensory stimulation to maximize the body-mind’s natural healing powers. They are a manifestation of the therapist’s compassion and inspire the patient’s confidence that he is surrounded by beneficial energies and entities.
Perhaps such forces are objectively real and may one day be able to be measured by science. In the meantime, they can be recognized as an important part of Buddhist healing precisely because they are placebos – just like every other medical intervention under the sun. And we can recognize Buddhist healing as a model for the highly sophisticated and skillful integration of placebos into health care.
