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 Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

KindTradition Rite Charm Oracle Substance Being Figure Text Illusion Belief

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇨🇳 China and 3 moreChinese dragon龍 A legendary water deity and imperial symbol in East Asian cultureBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreKūkai空海 Founder of Shingon Buddhism who brought Vajrayana esoteric practices from China to Japan.Text · Power and authority · Protection Historical

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreTilopa A tenth-century Buddhist tantric master who transmitted Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Naropa.Figure · Change and initiation · Power and authority Historical

🇮🇳 IndiaNaropa An Indian Buddhist master whose teachings shaped Tibetan Vajrayana practiceFigure · Change and initiation 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 🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreKuji-in九字印 A system of nine syllables and hand gestures used for protection and spiritual alignment in Japanese esoteric traditionsRite · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇮🇳 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

🇯🇵 JapanEn no Gyōja役小角 A legendary Japanese ascetic and founder of Shugendō mountain practiceFigure · Power and authority · Protection Historical

🇯🇵 JapanHyakumonogatari Kaidankai百物語怪談会 An Edo period Japanese parlour game where ghost stories extinguish candles one by oneRite · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreTennin天人 Heavenly beings in Japanese Buddhism, often depicted as beautiful women with feathered scarves.Being · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreLock charms家锁 / 锁片 (jiā suǒ / suǒ piàn) A Chinese metal pendant shaped like a lock to protect children from harm and death.Charm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇨🇳 China and 2 moreBuddhist coin charm佛教品壓勝錢 Amulets shaped like coins that bear Buddhist symbols and prayers for protection.Charm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇮🇳 India and 4 moreMakaraमकर A legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology and a symbol of water and thresholdsBeing · Protection · Power and authority Historical

🇨🇳 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

🇮🇳 India and 2 moreCintāmaṇiचिन्तामणि A wish-fulfilling jewel from Hindu and Buddhist traditionsSubstance · Healing · Power and authority Historical

🇯🇵 JapanDatsue-ba奪衣婆 A Japanese underworld figure who strips clothes from spirits at the river of deathBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇲🇳 Mongolia and 1 moreYellow shamanismШар бөө A Mongolian and Siberian shamanic tradition blended with Buddhist ritualsTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Historical

🇹🇭 Thailand and 2 moreSang Thongสังข์ทอง A Southeast Asian folktale about a prince born in a shell who gains golden skin and magical powers.Figure · Luck and prosperity · Love and attraction Historical

🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreClassical elements Ancient theories that explain all matter as combinations of earth, water, fire, air, and aetherBelief · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇮🇳 IndiaEtheric body A subtle energy layer said to sustain the physical form and connect it to higher states.Being · Power and authority Historical

🇮🇳 IndiaAbhijñāअभिज्ञा A set of special insights and powers in Buddhist meditation.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical

🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreAxis mundi A concept describing a central point connecting the earthly and heavenly realms.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical

🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreDivine retribution Supernatural punishment by a deity in response to anger or wrongdoingBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreWorship of heavenly bodies Veneration of stars, planets, and the sky as divine forces or deitiesTradition · Protection · Power and authority Historical

Photo credits on this page

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

Obake: Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞), Public domain, source
Sang Thong: Narisara Nuwattiwong, Public domain, source
Tennin: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Naropa: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Dakini: Didier Descouens, Public domain, source
En no Gyōja: Wmpearl, CC0, source
Tilopa: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Kūkai: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Buddhist coin charm: Scott Semans, CC BY 3.0, source
Datsue-ba: Fred Cherrygarden, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Mogwai: Gisling, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Cintāmaṇi: sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Classical elements: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai: Katsushika Hokusai, Public domain, source
Abhijñā: Gryffindor, Public domain, source
Chinese dragon: Unknown author, CC0, source
Lock charms: Scott Semans World Coins (CoinCoin.com)., CC BY 3.0, source
Axis mundi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Divine retribution: John Martin, Public domain, source
Worship of heavenly bodies: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY 2.0, source
Yogini: Soumendra Barik, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Makara: Subbhashinee S, CC BY-SA 3.0, source