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EveryJaadu

Buddhist: magic in this belief world

Protective chants and amulets, Tibetan ritual, and the spirit cults that live beside Buddhism.

Buddhism teaches liberation, yet in practice nearly every Buddhist land has protective chants, blessed threads, amulets, tattoos and rites for the dead. Thai monks bless sacred tattoos, Tibetan lamas perform protection rituals, Japanese temples sell omamori, and Sri Lankan monks recite paritta. This page looks at how Buddhism has met spirit cults and magical practice, and the debates over what counts as the teaching. Practice differs between Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, and across countries.

Protection and blessing

Many Buddhist communities use chants believed to protect, such as the paritta of Theravada lands. Monks bless water and thread, and lay people wear amulets of famous monks in Thailand. Tibetan Buddhism includes elaborate rites with mandalas, mantras and deity visualisation. Practitioners explain these as work with merit and compassion, and not as forcing events. Tibetan lamas and Mongolian monasteries keep protective deities and rites for the dead, and ordinary people ask for blessings, divination and long-life ceremonies.

Spirit cults beside the faith

Buddhism often lives alongside older spirit worship. Thai homes keep spirit houses, Burmese people honour the 37 nats, Sri Lankans make offerings to local deities, and Japanese temples sit beside Shinto shrines. Scholars debate whether to call this syncretism or a division of labour in which spirits deal with this life and the Buddha with the next. Some of these spirits are said to have been bound by Buddhist teachers in the past, so Buddhism takes credit for ordering the unseen, which is a historical claim scholars view as a theme in the faith's spread.

Lay, monastic and gender

Authority sits with ordained monks and lamas, and ordination for women is limited or disputed in several traditions. Monks who sell amulets or claim miracles have been criticised, and Buddhist teachers who promise supernatural results have been caught in scandals. In Thailand, authorities have acted on fraudulent monks. Women's roles are mixed: female mediums and nuns are active in many Buddhist lands, while institutional authority is largely male. Thai police and the Sangha Supreme Council have disciplined monks for fraud, which shows the limits that Buddhist institutions put on claims of power.

State, history and the West

Buddhism has been suppressed, as in Tibet after 1950 and Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, and promoted by states for national identity. In the West, mindfulness has been separated from ritual, while Tibetan and Zen institutions face their own questions about abuse. Reformers such as Buddhist modernists have long argued that magic is a corruption of the teaching. Debate continues over whether such practice belongs to the religion, and many Buddhists in the West, in Japan and in Sri Lanka explain it as cultural habit and a form of kindness.

Buddhist on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
KindTraditionRiteCharmOracleSubstanceBeingFigureTextIllusionBelief
PurposeProtectionHealingSeeing and foretellingLuck and prosperityLove and attractionCursing and harmCleansing and purificationSpeaking with spirits and the deadChange and initiationBinding and oathsPower and authorityWonder and entertainment
WhoShamansFolk healersPriests and ritual specialistsWitches, sorcerers and cunning folkDiviners and readersMediums and the possessedCeremonial magicians and alchemistsHouseholds and ordinary peopleStage magiciansScholars and sceptics
OccasionWeddings and betrothalFestivalsBirth and childhoodDeath and remembranceHarvest, farming and weatherNew yearInitiation and coming of ageIllness and misfortuneJourneys and voyagesEveryday use
StandingLivingRevivedFadingHistoricalLegendaryPerformed
OrderBest knownA to ZNewestLiving first
🇨🇳 China and 3 moreChinese dragon龍 A legendary water deity and imperial symbol in East Asian cultureBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇮🇳 India and 1 moreYoginiयोगिनी A female master of yoga and tantra, or a fierce goddess aspect in Indian temples.Tradition · Power and authority · Protection Historical 🇨🇳 China and 5 moreGuanyin觀音 (Guānyīn) The Bodhisattva of compassion, worshipped across East Asia as a listener to human sufferingBeing · Protection · Healing Living 🇮🇳 India and 5 morePretaप्रेत A suffering spirit of insatiable hunger found in Asian religious traditionsBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇨🇳 China and 2 moreFox spirit狐狸精 A shapeshifting creature from Chinese folklore that can take human form and live for centuries.Being · Cursing and harm · Love and attraction Legendary 🇰🇷 South KoreaJeoseung Saja저승사자 A Korean psychopomp who escorts the dead to the afterlife.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇮🇳 India and 3 moreYakshaयक्ष (Sanskrit), ยักษ์ (Thai) Nature spirits and guardian deities in South and Southeast Asian traditionsBeing · Protection · Power and authority Living 🇮🇳 India and 3 moreYakshiniयक्षिणी Some guard, some haunt: female nature spirits of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain loreBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇮🇳 India and 3 moreDakiniḍākinī A goddess figure in Hinduism and Buddhism, ranging from flesh-eating demoness to enlightened energy.Being · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical 🇲🇳 Mongolia and 2 moreWind Horseརླུང་རྟ་ An East and Central Asian symbol of the soul, luck, and vital energyBeing · Luck and prosperity · Protection Living 🇮🇳 India and 1 morePishachaपिशाच (piśāca) A flesh-eating demon from Indian religions, feared for possession and madness.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇻🇳 Vietnam and 2 moreThiên Y A Na A Vietnamese goddess worshipped in folk religion and Đạo Mẫu through spirit mediumshipBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇨🇳 China and 1 moreDongyue Dadi東嶽大帝 The Chinese mountain god of Mount Tai who rules lifespans and underworld recordsBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living 🇮🇳 India and 5 moreBhairavaभैरव A fierce manifestation of Shiva and a Buddhist protector deity worshipped across South and East Asia.Being · Protection · Cursing and harm Living 🇳🇵 NepalTaleju𑐟𑐮𑐾𑐖𑐸 (Newar) / तलेजु (Devanagari) A royal goddess of the Kathmandu Valley, worshipped as Durga and Tara.Being · Protection · Power and authority Living 🇲🇲 MyanmarNatနတ် Spirits venerated in Myanmar alongside Buddhism, including deified humans and nature guardians.Tradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇮🇳 India and 2 moreApsaraअप्सरस् (Sanskrit), អប្សរា (Khmer) Celestial water spirits and dancers from Hindu and Buddhist traditions across South and Southeast AsiaBeing · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreTennin天人 Heavenly beings in Japanese Buddhism, often depicted as beautiful women with feathered scarves.Being · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇱🇰 Sri LankaMara A Buddhist figure representing the forces that block spiritual awakening and keep beings trapped in rebirth.Being · Cursing and harm · Binding and oaths Living 🇮🇳 India and 4 moreMakaraमकर A legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology and a symbol of water and thresholdsBeing · Protection · Power and authority Historical 🇮🇳 India and 5 moreKinnaraकिन्नर (Sanskrit) A half-human, half-bird creature from Hindu and Buddhist myth, known for music and devotion.Being · Love and attraction · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇮🇳 IndiaSnow Lionགངས་སེང་གེ་ A celestial mountain guardian of Tibet embodying fearlessness, bliss, and the DharmaBeing · Protection · Power and authority Living 🇹🇭 Thailand and 1 moreNang Taniนางตานี A female spirit said to inhabit wild banana trees in Southeast Asian folklore.Being · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇲🇲 Myanmar and 5 moreChintheခြင်္သေ့ A stylized lion statue that guards Buddhist temples in Myanmar and across Asia.Being · Protection Living 🇨🇳 China and 1 moreMogwai魔鬼 A Chinese term for demons and evil spirits, borrowed from Sanskrit lore through Buddhism.Being · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 JapanAkuma悪魔（あくま） An evil spirit in Japanese folklore, later used for Satan in ChristianityBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 JapanTesso鉄鼠 A Japanese yōkai born from a monk’s curse and the destructive power of ratsBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Legendary 🇨🇳 ChinaDenglong蹬龙 A Chinese mythical beast with mixed animal traits, often guarding imperial sites.Being · Protection · Power and authority Legendary 🇲🇲 MyanmarMythical creatures in Burmese folklore A collection of spirits, beasts and hybrids from Myanmar's stories and playsBeing · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇯🇵 Japan and 5 moreMythic humanoids Creatures that blend human and animal traits across global folkloreBeing · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇯🇵 JapanDatsue-ba奪衣婆 A Japanese underworld figure who strips clothes from spirits at the river of deathBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇹🇭 ThailandSihuhataแมงสี่หูห้าตา A legendary creature from northern Thai folklore associated with wealth and divine testingBeing · Luck and prosperity · Power and authority Living 🇮🇳 IndiaEtheric body A subtle energy layer said to sustain the physical form and connect it to higher states.Being · Power and authority Historical 🇧🇹 BhutanVajravarahiརྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་མོ། (Dorje Pakmo) A wrathful female buddha in Tibetan Buddhism, depicted with a sow head and dancing posture.Being · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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Every Monday: seven entries you may not know, what is on the calendar this week, and one rite drawn step by step.