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Research

Primary Source Collection

Buddhist communities have for centuries warned practitioners about “meditation sickness,” “wind illness,” “demonic attack,” and other potential dangers of meditation. Here, for the first time, historical and contemporary teachings on the topic from around the Buddhist world have been brought together. These works not only identify the possible side effects of meditation practice, but also explain why they arise and how they can be effectively prevented and treated. 

Note: This book will be available as an open access publication (i.e., free e-book for public distribution) in April 2027. {Link will be provided here when available.}

Amazon • Univ Hawaii Press

Listen to a Summary

BBP Episode: Interview with Dr Pierce Salguero about the sourcebook

Imperfect Buddha Podcast: Interview with Dr Pierce Salguero about the sourcebook

Journal Articles

Salguero, C. Pierce. 2026. Asian Buddhist Perspectives on ‘Meditation Sickness’ and their Implications for Western Meditation. Asian Medicine: Journal of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine, 21.2. {Open access coming late 2026; link will be provided here when available.}

Salguero, C. Pierce. 2023. ‘Meditation Sickness’ in Medieval Chinese Buddhism and the Contemporary West. Journal of Buddhist Ethics 30: 169–211. [Open access].

Salguero, C. Pierce. 2017. ‘Treating Illness’: Translation of a Chapter from a Medieval Chinese Buddhist Meditation Manual by Zhiyi (538–597). Asian Medicine, 7.2, 461-473. [Open access]

Special Issue

Special issue on Meditation Sickness from the Asian Medicine: Journal of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine, 21.2. {Coming late 2026; link will be provided here when available.}

Bibliography of Work by Other Scholars

Primary Sources

Greene, Eric M. 2017. “Healing Sicknesses Caused by Meditation: ‘The Enveloping Butter Contemplation’ from the Secret Essential Methods for Curing Meditation Sickness.” In Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources, edited by C. Pierce Salguero. Columbia University Press.

Greene, Eric M. 2021. The Secrets of Buddhist Meditation: Visionary Meditation Texts from Early Medieval China. University of Hawai‘i Press.

Joffe, Ben. 2026. “PatrĂźl Rinpoche’s Text on Diagnosing and Avoiding Maras. A Perfumed Skull. Part I, II, III, IV.

Marek, Todd P., and Charles Jamyang Oliphant of Rossie. 2017. “Treating Disorders of the Subtle Winds in Tibetan Buddhism.” In Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources, edited by C. Pierce Salguero. Columbia University Press. 

Secondary Sources

Ahn, Juhn. 2017. “Getting Sick Over Nothing: Hyesim and Hakuin on the Maladies of Meditation.” In Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources, edited by C. Pierce Salguero. Columbia University Press.

Ahn, Juhn. 2007. “Malady of Meditation: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Illness and Zen.” PhD diss., UC Berkeley.

Ahn, Juhn. 2021. “Meditation Sickness.” In The Oxford Handbook of Meditation, edited by Miguel Farias, Mansur Lalljee, and David Brazier. Oxford University Press.

Curley, Melissa Anne-Marie. 2024. “A Cure for Mindfulness: Buddhism, Anxiety, and the Problem of Work in Modern Japan.” In Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World, edited by C. Pierce Salguero, Kin Cheung, and Susannah Deane. University of Hawai‘i Press.

Deane, Susannah. 2018. Tibetan Medicine, Buddhism and Psychiatry: Mental Health and Healing in a Tibetan Exile Community. Carolina Academic Press.

Deane, Susannah. 2019. “rLung, Mind, and Mental Health: The Notion of ‘Wind’ in Tibetan Conceptions of Mind and Mental Illness.” Journal of Religion and Health 58, no. 3: 708–24. http://www.doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00775-0.

Deane, Susannah. 2024. “For This Kind of Thing, the Lama Is Better”: Religion, Medicine, and the Treatment of “Madness” among Tibetans in Amdo. In Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World, edited by C. Pierce Salguero, Kin Cheung, and Susannah Deane. University of Hawai‘i Press.

Deane, Susannah. 2025. Illness and Enlightenment: Exploring Tibetan Perspectives on Madness in Text and Everyday Life. Berghahn Books.

Eskildsen, Stephen. 2008. “Some Troubles and Perils of Taoist Meditation.” Monumenta Serica 56, no. 1: 259–91.

Fisher, Nathan. 2021. “The Dark Night of the Soul in Abrahamic Meditative Traditions.” In The Oxford Handbook of Meditation, edited by Miguel Farias, Mansur Lalljee, and David Brazier. Oxford University Press.

Helderman, Ira. 2024. “The Average Meditator and What No One Is Talking About: Framing the Adverse Effects of Meditation in American Popular Media.” In Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World, edited by C. Pierce Salguero, Kin Cheung, and Susannah Deane. University of Hawai‘i Press.

Lee, Byoungjai. 2026. “Five Hundred Monks in Crisis: Meditation‑Related Difficulties and Prescriptive Responses in the Pāli Commentarial Tradition.” Religions 17: 390. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17030390.

Looking for more scientifically-oriented research?

The Cheetah House bibliography is a great starting point.