title: [The tradition of healing with magical spells as seen in Buddhist texts].
abstract: Although India has its own traditional medical systems such as Ayurveda, healing through magic spells was also practiced. After the systematization of Ayurveda, these healing spells almost lost their significance and only the spells for specific diseases were further transmitted. On the other hand, Indian Buddhism partially accepted the healing spells, and Buddhist texts which include the healing spells began to appear after the 4th century. These texts were brought into other Asian countries and became popular therein. However, these Buddhist healing spells have not been studied enough by Buddhism scholars and therefore their meaning in the history of medicine in India is not yet sufficiently understood. In this article, we discuss on the origin of these Buddhist healing spells, and thereafter we list and summarize the existing Buddhist texts involving these healing spells.
authors.affiliation: Bukkyo University Research Institute.
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamashita
mesh_terms: D002016:Buddhism / Q000266:history*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008273:Magic / Q000266:history*; D008519:Medicine, Traditional / Q000266:history*; D012068:Religion and Medicine