What is Buddhist Medicine?

Instructor(s): Pierce Salguero

Program Description:

The Buddhist tradition defines itself as a collection of philosophical and practical solutions to ameliorate suffering. Illness is among the chief forms of suffering, and Buddhist traditions worldwide have sought to address this central human problem for millennia. This talk explores the multifaceted tradition of “Buddhist medicine.” It introduces a range of Buddhist ideas, practices, and other cultural and social formations that Buddhists across the world have utilized in seeking health and preventing disease. This body of healing knowledge emerged via centuries of interplay, borrowing, and translation between Asian cultures in the premodern period and is now practiced all over the world in diverse and locally-specific ways.   

Listen to Pierce's invitation on YouTube.

About the Instructor(s):
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  Pierce Salguero

  Dr Pierce Salguero is a scholar specializing in the history of Buddhist medicine. He is the author of Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious & Skeptical and A Global History of Buddhism & Medicine, among many other books. He has a Ph.D. in the History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teaches Buddhism, Asian medicine, and history at Penn State University’s Abington College near Philadelphia.