The Spiritual Healing of Traditional Thailand

Thai Buddhism

Buddhism has become one of the most widely-practiced religious traditions in global history, and has fueled the production of magnificent art, architecture, and other cultural wonders from its earliest times. It has also become one of the most relevant spiritual practices of the modern day due to its message of tolerance, peace, and harmony. Historically, Buddhism has emphasized personal liberation through compassion and wisdom, while eschewing dogmatism, fanaticism, and violence. This tradition runs deep in the veins of Thailand, and any discussion of Thai spirituality must begin here.

Before it branched into the more elaborate and esoteric Mahayana schools of Tibet, China, and Japan, Buddhism was a simple spiritual path with a strong ethical code and a focus on meditation. This early form of Buddhism - preserved in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Burma, Laos, and Sri Lanka - is known as the Theravada (Teachings of the Elders). This is the oldest form of this religion, most closely related to the original teachings of the historical Buddha.

Despite the fact that the Pali texts have been fixed for the better part of the last 2000 years, Theravada Buddhism has nonetheless been a flexible living tradition. Buddhists the world over have always interpreted their religious faith in the light of local traditions, and Theravada Buddhism, too, has developed into a multitude of local variations. While these different schools have not taken on as much Hindu or Chinese influence as the Mahayana, Southeast Asian Buddhism is colored by the shamanic and animist elements of the region's pre-Buddhist traditions. Thai religion thus revolves around a blend of Theravada Buddhism and indigenous beliefs which are much older.

While he is usually deified in other forms of Buddhism, Theravadins (practitioners of the Theravada) believe that the historical Buddha, Siddhatta Gotama, was really just a man. The Theravada says that he did not achieve anything supernatural himself, or rely on any gods or divine powers to achieve salvation. The Buddha's enlightenment was a human achievement and lies within the realm of possibility for anyone. Thus Buddhist philosophy is ultimately humanistic: the practitioner is asked to do none other than fully embody humanity's highest potential, using the Buddha's teachings as a tool for achieving this goal.

The Buddha's teachings are eminently practical. He did not advocate dogmatic adherence to specific philosophies or beliefs, but rather advised his followers to accept nothing on faith, but pursue truth for themselves wherever it leads. The tradition of Theravada Buddhism emphasizes understanding oneself - the whole being, including the physical and the mental, which as we already have seen are inseparably intertwined. Through meditation practices that provide insight into the inner workings of the mind and body, practitioners come to understand the self and its relationship to the greater universe.

Rather than endless philosophizing about the intricate workings of the universe, the immediate priority is to work on meditation techniques to help us along in this direction. Thus it is practice, not dogma, that is Buddhism's primary concern.

Opportunities to study meditation and the monastic lifestyle are traditionally free of charge in Theravada Buddhism, and visitors are encouraged to participate and learn in a supportive and caring environment. (See our Links Page for more information on meditation centers.)

Thai Animism

Traditional Thai medicine also is heavily influenced by pre-Buddhist shamanic traditions, which play a major role in folk religion across Southeast Asia. These traditions are highly localized and vary from practitioner to practitioner. Important social and spiritual roles are played by "mo" or healers such as exorcists, spirit media, amulet carvers, and "yan" painters.

Despite the fact that Buddhism has flourished in Thailand for the better part of 800 years, this religious tradition has by no means replaced indigenous Thai beliefs and traditions which pre-date this time. In fact, many Thai people across Southeast Asia share elements of indigenous practice which must have been traditional in their original homeland. Among these common cultural features is a strong belief in spirits and ghosts.

The Buddhist texts mention several types of angels, demons, and spirits, such as yakshas and kinnaris. While these do not play a central role in Buddhist philosophy, they are popular folk figures found in dance, storytelling, puppetry, and other arts, and can often be seen in statues on temple grounds. These characters are part of the greater Indian heritage, and can be found throughout the Buddhist world. Additionally, however, the Thai people believe in a large pantheon of spirits with no Indian counterpart.

These beliefs relate to the animistic practices of pre-Buddhist times, and exist almost as a separate layer of religion in Thailand today. Animism is the belief that elements of nature are divine. While in the cases below, khwan and phi are not gods, they are often treated with the respect and fear that deities typically demand, and thus this layer of culture is often referred to as Thai animism.

Jivaka Komarabhacca

Tradition holds that the founder of Thai medicine is Jivaka Komarabhacca, the personal doctor of the historical Buddha. The earliest Buddhist texts, the Pali canon, mention Jivaka in several places as a wealthy lay-physician and the donor of a mango grove called Jivakarama, which he gave for the use of the Buddha's order of monks as a retreat for the pansa, or rainy season.

A detailed biography of Jivaka is provided in the Mahavagga section of the Vinaya Pitaka, the monastic basket of discipline composed in the fourth century BC. In this rather lengthy passage, it is said that Jivaka was an orphan who was raised by a certain Prince Abhaya. When he came of age, he studied medicine with a well-known master in northwestern India, apprenticing with this teacher for a period of seven years before returning back home. The biography then tells of six instances where Jivaka healed different individuals, including two instances of major surgery. Among Jivaka's patients were several merchants, the king, and even the Buddha himself, who came to him for a purgative of powdered lotus flowers.

Although the Pali text provides some detail on the practice of medicine in ancient India, historians' knowledge of this period is very sketchy. India at the time of the Buddha was in transition from a strict Vedic system of wrathful war-like gods to more the rational systems of philosophy found in Buddhism and the Upanishads. This also was a period of transition from magical religious medicine based on demonology to the more empirical Ayurvedic medicine.

This transition period lasted many centuries. Ayurveda came into being with the writing of the Caraka and Susruta Samhitas, two encyclopedic texts which catalogued the medical knowledge of the day. These works were not composed all at once, but both reached their current form by the fifth century AD. When the hatha yoga system was developed in the tenth to thirteenth centuries AD, yoga postures, energy lines (nadis), and pressure points (marma) also became part of the medical landscape. These traditions were very influential across South and Southeast Asia, and also form the basis of much of Thai medicine.

Thus, much of the practice of Thai massage and herbal medicine comes from techniques developed in an era 1000 to 1500 years after Jivaka's time. However, there are some similarities with Indian medicine as far back as his era. Therefore, while Thai tradition was by no means fully formed 2500 years ago, Jivaka is revered in Thailand as the founder of Thai medicine.

Many Thais believe that Jivaka developed herbal medicine, Thai massage, and other healing practices himself, and taught these to future generations. The course of history tells us that the transmission cannot be this direct, but it is clear that the roots of much of Thai medicine do lie in the ancient past, and that Jivaka is an important forefather of this lineage.

Holistic Healing

In the West, most of the standard allopathic practices - such as surgery, physical therapy, and pharmaceutical medicine - concentrate predominantly on the body. Even while treating mental disorders, modern pharmaceutical medicine likes to prescribe drugs which act on the physical body. However, not all Western medicine is focused on the chemical structure of the organism. There is also a well-developed science devoted to the citta, namely psychology. A therapist may encourage a patient to talk through problems effectively without ever resorting to treating the body on the chemical level. There is also a strong presence in the West of Judeo-Christian tradition, and religious practice (in whatever form it takes) helps many people to heal the citta.

Unlike in the Asian traditions, however, in the West, even when we find the three branches of medicine, these are normally quite antagonistic towards each other. It is true that you can find hospitals which include both a chapel and psychological services under the same roof and a more accepting approach to alternative techniques like acupuncture, but these practices have yet to be fully integrated. We are still a long way from MDs prescribing a visit to the herbalist or the priest!

The so-called holistic health movement has not historically been part of the solution either. Up until the present, allopathic doctors and holistic practitioners seldom have worked together to understand each other's perspectives. In the best case scenario, these communities have tolerated each other. In the worst cases, the two camps have been at war, the holistic community arguing that allopathic medicine is too aggressive and the allopathic medical community arguing that complementary medicine is bogus. Neither values the other's contribution to healthcare, so the stand-off continues.

While this situation has seen some notable improvement in recent years as Asian medical techniques gain popularity in some medical circles, there still is much work to do. Only through dialogue between Western medical professionals and holistic practitioners and through mutual understanding of the importance each plays in the field can this important work be done.

The important message of Thai medicine is that these three fields of healing - the physical, the energetic, and the spiritual - must be given equal weight and equal attention. All diseases or disorders affect all three essences, and thus all diseases require all three types of healing. All three types of healing must therefore be considered central to the field of medicine. This is the radical message of the Circle of Life: mental and emotional wellbeing are not incidental to physical health, but are an integral and necessary part of it. Or, to put it slightly differently: spirituality is medicine, and any medicine is not truly medicine unless it includes the spiritual.

... Read more about the spirituality of Thai medicine here.

The altar at our center in Charlottesville.

• Hundreds of photos of Thai Buddhism and spiritual tradition in action
• Excerpt from Pierce Salguero's book Spiritual Healing of Traditional Thailand
• How to shop for a Buddha statue and how to build and maintain a Buddhist altar
• Audio and video clips of Buddhist and healing ceremonies
• Bibliographies and readings on Thai spiritual tradition