The Spectrum of Buddhist Healers in the U.S.
The following is part of a series of experiments I have conducted using A.I. for a range of academic tasks. In this case, I have used Claude 3 Opus (set to “formal” style) to summarize a recent publication of mine. Unlike in other instances where I found A.I. to be incapable of performing basic humanities research tasks, I think that Claude did a decent job of summarizing various specialized academic texts I gave to it. Its outputs never capture the author’s tone or style, but they do usually convey the main ideas or major take-aways of the content accurately.
Given its strengths in this area, I think one helpful application might be for academic authors to use Claude to summarize academic content that is published in venues that are prohibitively expensive for non-academic readers to access, and/or that is written in extremely inaccesible ways due to the use of field-specific jargon and dense academic writing style. I have looked into the copyright status of doing this, and believe that summaries such as this one are covered by the doctrine of “fair use.” The piece below is substantially different than the original. I have not included the statistical details presented in the original, ensuring that any scholar who uses this research in their work will need to access the original and thus avoiding competition with the original work.
Readers who are interested in chasing down citations or gaining more precise information about the study can access the published paper here: C. Pierce Salguero, 2024, “American Buddhism and Healthcare.” In Scott Mitchell and Ann Gleig (eds.), Oxford Handbook of American Buddhism, pp. 318–34. New York: Oxford University Press.
(Energy usage disclosure: According to Claude.ai’s own reporting, generating this summary used as much electricity as conducting 15 standard web searches.)
A.I. Summary of “American Buddhism and Healthcare”
This article examines the current state of American Buddhist healing based on ethnographic interviews with 36 practitioners across the US. I map out the key demographics, practices, and contexts shaping how Buddhism is used for health and well-being in the U.S. today. My central argument is that the landscape of American Buddhist healing is far more diverse than is typically recognized, extending well beyond the medicalization of meditation practices such as mindfulness that receives the most attention in the media and from scholars. By identifying four distinct "positionalities" or overarching approaches taken by contemporary Buddhist healers, the article provides a framework for understanding this diversity and points to promising directions for further research. In shedding light on the many ways American Buddhists pursue health and healing outside the mainstream medical context, this article makes the case for a more expansive and nuanced discourse around Buddhism's role in the U.S. healthcare ecosystem.
Historical Background & Previous Literature
An interest in the relationship between mind, body, and liberation has been central to Buddhism since its very origins. Early Buddhist texts contained extensive teachings related to health and prescribed specific practices for preventing and treating illness, including meditation, moderation in diet and lifestyle, ritual chanting, and other religious observances.
As Buddhism spread throughout Asia in the premodern period, these practices were adapted to local cultural contexts. For example, Buddhist healers in China tended to frame their work in terms of indigenous concepts like qi, while those in Tibet developed a unique synthesis of Indian, Chinese, and local medical ideas known as Sowa Rigpa. This points to a consistent pattern of "domestication" whereby Buddhist notions of health were reinterpreted and recontextualized in light of the prevailing cultural worldviews and medical theories of each culture Buddhism encountered.
This cross-cultural exchange was not merely a one-way process of Buddhist ideas being modified by their new environments. Rather, the encounter with Buddhism also thoroughly transformed and revitalized many local healing traditions, with Buddhist philosophy and cosmology coming to serve as the foundation for the development of new medical systems in regions as diverse as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Tibet, and Mongolia. Many of these Buddhist-influenced healing traditions remain widely practiced in Asia and around the globe today.
The modern integration of Buddhist practices, especially meditation, into healthcare in the contemporary Western context has involved an ongoing dialogue and mutual influence between Buddhism and science. Buddhist concepts of mind and mental training have influenced research in fields like psychology and neuroscience while also undergoing medicalization and secularization to fit modern clinical frameworks. Ultimately, the current landscape of American Buddhist healing must be understood as a continuation of Buddhism's longstanding pattern of medical integration and innovation across cultural boundaries. This is not a modern anomaly, but rather a defining feature of Buddhism's long history of promoting health and well-being globally.
At the same time, a detailed examination of how this cross-pollination is unfolding in the context of the modern American healthcare ecosystem has yet to be thoroughly examined. There is limited existing scholarship on connections between Buddhism and healthcare in the United States. In one key study, Wu Hongyu (2002) found that 100% of the 19 respondents believed Buddhism was beneficial to health. Another important study is Paul Numrich's 2005 research involving interviews with 30 American Buddhists. Numrich found marked disinctions between “culture Buddhists" and “convert Buddhists” in terms of their use of “folk healing,” complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices, and biomedicine.
While Wu and Numrich paint generalized pictures of Buddhist communities, much more robust individual detail is provided by Kin Cheung's research on the practices of a Cantonese-speaking community healer in Brooklyn, NY, who uses an eclectic mix of Buddhist, Daoist, medical and folk practices. My own previous work has included a comprehensive ethnographic study conducted from 2015-2020 on the lived experience of 45 Buddhist organizations in the area. I also recently published results of a survey of American Buddhists from various backgrounds about their attitudes toward health and healing. The main findings in both of these studies is that Buddhism is playing a larger than recognized role in shaping American healthcare attitudes in contemporary times, and I argued that the full breadth of practices deserves further study.
Overall, the existing literature demonstrates that while research on Buddhism and health in the U.S. remains limited, existing scholarship consistently points to the importance of Buddhism in shaping American healthcare in ways that go beyond the typical focus on meditation alone. The studies span different communities and methodologies but converge in suggesting many American Buddhists view diverse Buddhist practices as legitimate, effective means of promoting well-being. The full scope of American Buddhist healing merits expanded academic attention.
Survey of American Buddhist Healers
My research assistants and I conducted a survey between 2015 and 2019 involving extensive interviews with 36 American Buddhist healers. The sample included a mix of races, genders, ages, geographic locations, sectarian affiliations, and cultural origins in an effort to capture a representative cross-section. All interviewees were long-term Buddhist practitioners involved in healing others or teaching self-healing using Buddhist techniques.
The survey of American Buddhist healers (n=36) included a diverse sample across dimensions of race, age, gender, geography, immigrant status, Buddhist sect, cultural lineage, and primary practitioner role. However, the sample overrepresented certain groups, such as white (55.5%), Generation X (58%), and female practitioners (56%). The most common primary occupations were professional healers (31%), monastics (19%), and priests (19%). While not a perfectly representative sample, the diversity of participants provides insight into the breadth of the American Buddhist healing landscape and the variety of ways Buddhism is being integrated into health and wellness-related work. (For more specific data, see Table 1 in the published piece.)
The survey found large majorities were in favor of the statement that Buddhism has a connection with mental health (89%) and physical health (76%). Respondents identified “meditation” as the practice most commonly associated with mental and physical health (86% and 73% respectively). Other practices frequently mentioned as health-promoting included “participation in Buddhist groups, cultural activities, or social gatherings,” “chanting,” “attending specific healing rituals, classes, or activities,” “visualization,” and “vegetarianism.” (For more specific data, see Table 2 in the published piece.)
With regard to specific reasons or mechanisms whereby Buddhism promotes health, an analysis of the open-ended responses showed a number of common themes mentioned across the interviews. Among these, the most frequently mentioned were “emotion regulation (e.g., management of stress, anger, etc.)” (61%), “mind-body connection or body awareness” (52%), and “social connection” (51%). (For more specific data, see Table 3 in the published piece.)
These findings notwithstanding, I argue that the most meaningful patterns discovered in the study were not demographic but rather based on the "positionality" of each healer - their role and approach to integrating Buddhism with healing. The paper identifies four distinct positionalities:
1. Incorporating Buddhism into mainstream healthcare
2. Integrating Buddhism with traditional Asian medicine
3. Optimizing Dharma teachings for health outcomes
4. Eclectically mixing religion, spirituality and healing
Each of these positionalities involves distinct professional settings, practitioner backgrounds, and target populations. This taxonomy cuts across demographic categories, capturing shared perspectives and practices based on the healers' roles and community contexts.
Incorporating Buddhism into Mainstream Healthcare
This group included chaplains serving in hospitals, hospices, and similar settings, as well as a leader of a Buddhist charity providing free medical clinics. Although their chaplaincy training discouraged overt religious content, they all reported drawing on Buddhist practices for patients' and their own well-being.
Key characteristics of this positionality:
Emphasized values like equanimity, generosity, and forbearance as inherently healing for patients and protective for healthcare workers
Downplayed need for complex ritual, instead stressing simplicity and seamless integration of basic practices (breath awareness, simple chanting/mantras, metta) into healthcare settings
Prioritized non-judgmental presence as the essence of their work
Integrating Buddhism with Traditional Asian Medicine
Composed of practitioners of various Asian medical modalities (e.g. acupuncture, Sowa Rigpa, Thai massage, yoga therapy), this group actively integrated Buddhist practices with their therapeutic work and self-care routines.
Key characteristics of this positionality:
Emphasized traditional training and lineage authenticity for both Buddhist and medical learning; saw both as complex lifelong paths
Offered treatments combining physical and spiritual elements, e.g. bodywork with blessings, herbs empowered by mantras
Used Buddhist practices for their own protection and well-being in clinical work
Optimizing Dharma Teachings for Health Outcomes
This group consisted of Buddhist clerics and community leaders who, while not primarily identifying as healers, reported regularly teaching their communities how to modify Buddhist practices to improve health.
Key characteristics of this positionality:
Emphasized the preventive and curative potential of dedicated, long-term lay Buddhist practice; many discussed advanced meditation attainments
Commonly taught specific chants, prayers, and rituals for healing, especially related to Bhaiṣajyaguru (i.e., the Medicine Buddha) and Avalokiteśvara (i.e., Guanyin)
Also focused on benefits of practice for social and communal well-being
Eclectically Mixing Religion, Spirituality, and Healing
A group of Buddhist-inspired healers who offered unique blends of therapies drawing from multiple traditions, often in private practice settings.
Key characteristics of this positionality:
Emphasized the healer's individual attainments and special abilities to perceive and manipulate subtle energies for diagnosis and treatment
Employed eclectic and idiosyncratic methods including channeling deities, crystal healing, and Buddhist-derived rituals
Conceived of disease and treatment in spiritual/energetic rather than biomedical terms
Conclusion
In summary, the positionalities identified in this article provide a bird’s-eye-view map the complex ways American Buddhist healers are integrating Buddhist practices and principles with other therapeutic modalities and applying them in different community settings. By identifying overarching orientations cutting across individual demographics, this framework provides a nuanced view of how Buddhist healing takes shape "on the ground." The diversity of approaches points to the need for further research exploring how American Buddhist healing extends beyond the medical mainstream. Please see the published article for more details.