CHAPTER 2 Chinese Buddhist Traditions of Healing and the Life Cycle 666 RAOuL BIRNBAUM Disease is a somber mystery, a powerful transformative process that leads to the gateways of death. Both the physician and the religious specialist have much concern with this boundary between life and death, and those who are especially effective at their callings traverse with respectful famil- iarity along this distinctive edge. Both seek to provide aid and assistance at treacherous moments in the life cycle, trying to help establish patterns that lead from suffering. It is not surprising that in many societies there is no clear separation between religious and healing traditions, and it is 334 HEALING AND RESTORING tot surprising that often there is no clear separation between the role of eligious specialist and that of healer. ‘Among the international religions—those that reach across cultural and linguistic gulfs—Buddhism has been notable for its intense interest mhealing. From the earliest days, Buddhist teachings have been termed 1 method for gaining freedom from suffering, and within Buddhist tradi- ions much attention has been given to the causes and consequences of 4isease. In the textual traditions there is a strikingly extensive use of med- cal terminology in the rhetoric and discourse of spiritual experience. Its §irst historic teacher, Sakyamuni Buddha, frequently is called the Great Physician, and his teaching is termed a King of Medicines that cures the Ils of humankind. Buddhist teachings suggest that all who are not 2nlightened are considered ill—that is, their full capacities are impinged upon by ingrained habitual faults, their energy flow thus deflected—and the enlightenment process is equated with the healing process. In addition to metaphorical and symbolic discussion of disease and healing, there are extensive traditions of healing activity in Buddhist his- tory. Since illness is a chief cause of suffering in the world, and the special focus of Buddhist teachings is the methodical elimination of suffering, the causes and treatments of disease have been a topic of special interest among many Buddhist thinkers. While there are some scriptural injunc- tions prohibiting monks from practicing medicine as a profession, Sa- kyamuni also charged his disciples with the responsibility of care for each other, including the administration of medical cures when necessary. A ‘materia medica of sorts can be found preserved in a section of the early canon; meditative methods for transcending pain and curing ailments also are detailed, and numerous anecdotes attest to the concern that early monks had for alleviating the distresses of disease. Indeed, Buddhist heal- ‘ers were famous in India and Central Asia in the early centuries around the turn of the Common Era, and such physician-monks were effective transmitters of Buddhist teachings, like the intrepid Christian missionary doctors of recent times. Physician-monks from Central Asia and India who roamed about the continent were prominent in the process of bringing Buddhism to China in the initial centuries of the Common Era. It appears that the superior healing ability of some of these monks was a significant factor in the spread of Buddhist teachings there. These healers brought to China the- ories, skills, and medicines different from those of the sophisticated tra- ditions already developed in that land. Their effective healings gained many followers, while texts that they brought from their native lands on healing and extension of the life span were of great fascination to the Chinese, whose native religions placed unusual emphasis on such topics. In Chinese religisus traditions, the ability to heal often has been con- sidered a natural outgrowth of spiritual accomplishment. This ability fre-Chinese Buddhist Traditions of Healing and the Life Cycle 35 quently serves a validating function in the establishment of new cults and religious teachings. In a recurring pattern seen to the present day, char- ismatic teachers of new religions often are noted for their healing abilities, which serve to validate claims of special insight and access to powerful spirit beings. These demonstrated healing abilities serve in a dramatic way to gain trust for the teachings such persons espouse. Further, in Chinese culture there has been a special interest in longevity and a special respect for those living long lives, with a sense that wise persons are not subject to untimely death but are able to live out a full life span. Teachings brought by healers that devote considerable attention to longevity are assured a wide audience in China; such was the case with Buddhism. ‘These aspects of Buddhism were magnified in China by the intense inter- est there, and they took on an importance apparently far beyond their role in the Indian homeland of the teachings. ‘Numerous texts on healing and longevity are preserved in the modem edition of the enormous Chinese Buddhist canon (Taisho shinshii daizékyd, hereafter abbreviated as T). Some of these texts have had a great popularity through numerous centuries, while others faded from sight. ‘The wide-ranging variety of these sources leads to some problems for his- torical studies, for some of these works were composed in China, others in various parts of Central Asia, and others in India over a period of per- haps ten centuries. At times this diversity of origin is reflected in a diver- sity of theory, but a set of basic principles can be readily discerned. These basic principles form the core of this present essay. A brief overview of the most important of these texts provides a sense of their broad range. These works include texts on medical theory, cure by meditative methods, cure through invocation of specific deities, and cure through ritual incantation. Among the works on medical theory, there is for example the Scripture on the Buddha’s Medicine (T 793), apparently surviving from the mid-third century in a truncated or condensed version. This text describes the fune- tioning of the body in terms of four elements—fire, earth, wind, water— and the arising of disease, especially in relation to the imbalance of these elements under the influence of their seasonal predominance. This work also lists in brief manner such topics as the nine types of untimely or vio- lent death and the ten causes of disease. A text entitled Secret and Essential Methods for the Cure of Meditators’ inesses (T 620), translated into Chinese in the fifth century by a noble layman from a text he obtained in the Central Asian state of Khotan, apparently was compiled from several sources. Divided into twelve sec- tions, this work deals with numerous ailments, with special concern for the mental or psychic afflictions occasionally suffered by solitary practi- tioners of meditative disciplines. These ailments apparently respond to the effective harnessing of the mind for self-cure. Again, as is found in