Many of my generation who converted to Buddhism had pre-existing New Age beliefs about all kinds of things that we assumed would be present in Buddhism. Two examples are auras and energy healing. In new age thought, the human body is encased in an energy body that extends some distance outside the skin and can be seen (faintly) when someone stands in front of a white background and sensed with the hands.
There were/are many systems of “energy healing” that can be done by gestures and movements of another person’s hands over this field. Akin to faith healing, but usually tied only to a person’s own (often doctrineless) spiritual beliefs not to faith in God or organized religion.
Often, the same energy healing practitioners believe they can send this healing energy to someone remotely.
My mother, Rev. Phoebe Skinner, was a long time practitioner of the in-person variety of energy healing. In the seventies and eighties, perhaps into the early nineties, Mom went to the top floor of an acupuncture Clinic in Washington, D.C. weekly and exchanged energy healing with whomever showed up. Side note: this was the clinic run by an acupuncturist made famous by the Band Steely Dan; the late Dr. Wu. Dr. Wu did not attend “The Healers” group upstairs, but he was kind enough to make the space available to them.
I went there at least once. The healings felt nurturing, and you could sense the hands of those middle-aged women sweeping something around you while rarely touching the body.
So, when Tibetan lamas first came to the U.S., many of the people who came to see them had complete faith in this kind of remote and in-person healing, auras, and the energy body.
Tomorrow, let’s look at the current state of the medical research into the remote form of energetic healing modalities and beliefs. After that we can talk about Buddhist beliefs.