A Comparative Analysis of Healing Perspectives

A Comparative Analysis of Healing Perspectives
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ABSTRACT
The research compared two perspectives on healing, on which both focused on the laying-on of hands as a healing methodology, but the research finds a more critical discourse in which healing represented a powerful medium for spiritual and physical transformation
This research compared the Christian and the Buddhism perspectives on healing. Both type of healing that is mediated primarily through the laying-on of hands. In summarizing my research on the Christian-based laying-on of hands, when authentic healing took place, the end result was not simply physical healing. Jesus demonstrated in his life and ministry that the purpose of healing was to bring those in need of spiritual healing into relationship with his Father. For this reason, as the consummate biblical counselor, he confronted those who sought healing with the truth of man’s plight and spiritual healing took precedence over physical healing.
For the Buddhist-based laying-on of hands, two aspects of Buddha and healing have been discussed: healing using medical or natural remedies and spiritual factors as a cause for disease. While it is very clear that Buddha mediated healing primarily through his words, the discussion would be incomplete if healing as spiritual growth was not considered. For Buddha, the crux of his “healing ministry” was not about relieving physical symptoms of sickness and disease. His real goal was in the elimination of all suffering by transforming the mind. He frequently stated that ill individuals were those who suffered from their “insatiable craving.” Thus, healing was ultimately connected to becoming enlightened.
Finally, this research has offered some amount of insight about the laying-on of hands as a healing methodology and has compared the two distinct healing perspectives, the Christianity perspective and the Buddhism perspective, and the spiritual realities employed in each practice. Critical insight has been given that challenges how healing is defined under each perspective.
A Comparative Analysis of Healing Perspectives
Healing, especially as a religions or a belief system has been a major topic of discussion for several decades already. In the beginning of this research, my goal was to compare two healing perspectives, and their belief systems. Specifically, from the Christian perspective, the Bible teaches that Jesus healed through the laying on of hands and from the Buddhism perspective that Buddha healed also through laying on of hands.
Christian Perspective: Jesus and Healing
When the concept of healing was presented in the New Testament, Jesus’ major focus was that he brought a soteriological message. At the core of healing was soul salvation. Physical healings served as signs of messianic fulfillment of prophecy, tangible evidence that God now dwelt among his people—that the kingdom, or the government, of God was now being inaugurated on the earth. Yet, the essential message of the kingdom was not physical healing (Anderson, 1984).
The gospel of Jesus Christ represented healing for the spirit and a restored personal relationship with God. Outside of the sacrificial system instituted in the Old Testament, and one’s role as either a priest, prophet, king, or God-appointed leader, there was no personal way for humankind to interact or personally fellowship with God; nor was there any permanent way to bridge the spiritual gulf that existed between God and man. Therefore, everyone living outside of covenant relationship was subject to the law of sin and death. A consequence of Adam’s fall was that humankind became spiritually diseased and was in desperate need of healing. The spiritual healing for all creation came in the words and actions of God’s “Sent One.”
God determined a better way—a new covenant—and that way was Jesus. In this covenant, everyone who desired fellowship with God would be included. However, each had to choose him. While the miraculous grabbed the attention of many, Jesus did it to fulfill prophecy. Essentially, it told a disbelieving world that Jesus was exactly who he claimed to be. Some chose not to believe because of the hardness of their hearts, but many did. What was it that they chose to believe that upset the religious leaders? It was not belief in his miracles. It was the belief that he and the Father were one; he was God. It was the belief that there was unfathomable authority and power in his words. They brought spiritual as well as physical, mental, and emotional healing (Albanese, 1989).
As God of the Old Testament was revealed as the healer of his people, Jesus emerged in the New Testament as God in flesh. He had come to bring healing to all people. The truth was radical in that it heralded a new way of relating to God. No longer would the religious elite be the only spokespersons to God based on their pious keeping of the Law; all could have access to God if they believed the counsel found in Jesus’ words. It was belief in his Word, his plan of salvation that ushered in radical spiritual transformation. Belief in his Word changed eternal destinies; it delivered people out of the kingdom of darkness into his light. Every time Jesus spoke, that which he directed his speech towards experienced a change. Peter acknowledged in John 6:68 (NIV) “Lord . . . you have the words of eternal life.” That was what he offered over two thousand years ago—eternal life: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father except through me (Jn 14:6, NIV).
Buddhism Perspective: Buddha and Healing
Next, I have researched on what the literature has recorded about the Buddha in relationship to healing, having laid a foundation for Buddhism. Following the earlier pattern used to highlight the Bible and its relationship to healing and the healing ministry of Jesus, various sacred texts, including the excerpts from the Pali Canon have been referenced.
Perhaps one of the most scholarly and comprehensive works on Buddha and healing was revealed in Raoul Birnbaum’s (1979) The Healing Buddha in which he drew from Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan sources—all components of the Pali Canon. I am indebted to him for his keen insight in gathering a variety of Buddhist writings and coalescing them in one text. In addition, he incorporated several sutras (discourses by Buddha) translated from Chinese, which referenced the Healing Tathagatas, also known as “Perfected Buddhas.” (Headings with an * were directly taken from Birnbaum’s work as they provided a workable framework for the discussion).
Concepts of Healing in Early Buddhism
Birnbaum (1979) noted that the Buddhist texts dealt with three distinct aspects of healing. They included healing or disease cure through herbal remedies and foods, spiritual factors as a cause for diseases and the spiritual remedies, and “the healing process as a metaphor for spiritual growth, with the Buddha named as Supreme Physician and the Buddhist teachings termed as the King of Medicines” (p.3). In the Pali Canon, an essential in life was the pos...