How do Buddhists Handle Coronavirus: Meditate for your Telomere?

Abstract

Since the emergence of COVID-19, the Dalai Lama, other senior
monks and Buddhist organizations in Asia and worldwide have
emphasized that this pandemic calls for meditation, compassion,
generosity and gratitude. Such messages reinforce a common
view in the West of Buddhism as more philosophy than religion–a
spiritual, perhaps, but secular practice associated with mindfulness,
happiness and stress reduction. But for many people around the
world Buddhism is a religion – a belief system that includes
strong faith in supernatural powers. As such, Buddhism has a
large repertoire of healing rituals that go well beyond meditation.
There are three main schools of traditional Buddhism: Theravāda,
practiced in most of Southeast Asia; Mahāyāna, the form most
prevalent in East Asia; and Vajrayāna, commonly associated with
Tibet and the Himalayan region. In Buddhist-majority places, the
official COVID-19 pandemic response includes conventional
emergency health and sanitation measures like recommending
face masks, hand-washing and stay-at-home orders. But within
religious communities, Buddhist leaders also are using a range of
ritual apotropaics – magical protection rites – to protect against
disease.