Reaching the End of the World: An Anthropological Reading of Early Buddhist Medicine and Ascetic Practices
Religions February 24, 2023 DOI: 10.3390/rel14020249 via DOAJ
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractAncient Buddhism framed complete healing as the ascetic goal of ending the world—transcending ordinary experience through disciplined awareness and presence. Drawing on medical anthropology and historical-philological methods, the analysis shows that early Buddhist asceticism reconciled transcendence with healing by reflecting deeply on awareness and presence. The article contributes to the conceptual history of Buddhist medicine by examining how the ascetic problem of the 'end of the world' served as a path to total health.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Buddhist medicine Medical anthropology Meditation and medicine Anthropology of consciousness Ernesto de martino |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key finding | Early Buddhism reconciled the ascetic goal of transcendence with healing by treating the 'end of the world' as a means to complete healing through reflection on awareness and presence. |
Abstract
This article aims to analyze the ideas of health and illness in ancient Buddhism, making use of the theoretical tools of medical anthropology and historical–philological inquiry. As a contribution to the conceptual history of medicine in Buddhism, I intend to focus the present investigation on the ascetic problem of the “end of the world” as a means of achieving complete healing. The asceticism of early Buddhism reconciles the goal of transcendence with that of healing, carrying out a complex reflection on awareness and presence.