I’ve recently started meditation after a very stressful time. I’m having strong vibrations and energy. It feels like I’m starting to learn to control it some. My mind is telling me it can be used used to heal others? I’m trying to figure this all out, but it’s very powerful.
2 Answers
In "Awareness Itself", Thanissaro Bhikkhu reported this from the life of his teacher Ajaan Fuang:
A Bangkok magazine once carried the serialized autobiography of a lay meditator who used his powers of concentration to treat diseases. One installment mentioned how he had visited Ajaan Fuang, who had certified that he (the layman) had attained jhana. This didn't sound like Ajaan Fuang's style, but soon after the magazine came out, unusual numbers of people came to the wat under the impression that Ajaan Fuang, like the author of the autobiography, could treat illnesses through meditation. One woman asked him if he treated kidney diseases, and he answered, "I treat only one kind of disease: diseases of the mind."
Supernaturally healing others' physical illnesses in any way, is not a part of Buddhist practice.
However, healing one's mind and helping others to heal their minds (if you're a teacher), is part of Buddhist practice.
For example, Ajaan Fuang told another person:
After the (cancer) treatment Ajaan Fuang visited her at the hospital. She told him that she had been able to concentrate her mind so as to endure the pain, but it had left her exhausted. He advised her: "You can use the power of concentration to fight off pain, but it squanders your energy. You have to approach the pain with discernment, to see that it's not you. It's not yours. Your awareness is one thing, the pain is something separate. When you can see it in this way, things will be easier."
The Buddha taught this in SN 22.1 (below), instead of supernaturally healing people.
"When this was said, the Blessed One said to me, 'So it is, householder. So it is. The body is afflicted, weak, & encumbered. For who, looking after this body, would claim even a moment of true health, except through sheer foolishness? So you should train yourself: "Even though I may be afflicted in body, my mind will be unafflicted." That is how you should train yourself.' That's how I was sprinkled by the Blessed One with the deathless ambrosia of a Dhamma talk."
Treatment of medical conditions is best left to medical professionals. The Buddha forbade monks from providing services of medicine, surgery or pharmacy to lay people in DN 2.
The Buddha also advised people to take good care of their health, for e.g. he advised against overeating in the Donapaka Sutta.
answered Nov 17, 2018 at 10:22
This is quite normal for a beginner. There are many wrong assessments about the person's attainment. It is advisable you read Path of Purification so you will have a better understanding of various experiences you encounter in mediation.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/PathofPurification2011.pdf
