[10/07/2025] Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World

This talk concerns a contemporary Asian American Buddhist healing community. Cheung Seng Kan (b. 1955) is a Chinese American religious healer who employs an eclectic mix of qigong, Reiki, and Buddhist spells. He shares these practices and exchanges healing with an immigrant community in the New York City area. This talk presents the Sinophone resources he uses to teach himself and others religious healing arts as an example of the transnational network of Chinese American Buddhist information.

About the Speaker

Dr. Kin Cheung is an associate professor of East and South Asian Religions at Moravian University, and chair of the Global Religions and Philosophy Departments. He researches how contemporary agents use Buddhist doctrine and ritual practices in Chinese and American contexts as well as transnational networks. He has published on such subjects as Buddhists engaging with healing, meditation, ethical dilemmas, economics, capitalism, secularism, science, and technology. His work appears in The Journal of the American Academy of Religion; Religion, State and Society; The Journal of Buddhist Ethics; Miracles: An Exercise in Comparative Philosophy of Religion; Teaching About Asia in a Time of Pandemic; Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Sources; Studies in Chinese Religions; and Handbook of Ethical Foundations of Mindfulness.