This talk is part of course ASIAN M60 - Introduction to Buddhism. Open to public.
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
Rolfe Hall 1200
With the flourishing of the Silk Roads in the first centuries C.E., the two relatively independent worlds of Indo-European and East Asian medicine came into sustained conversation for the first time. This moment in history represents one of the most significant and best-documented instances of cross-cultural medical exchange in the pre-modern world, and Buddhism played a surprisingly central role in facilitating this exchange. Dr Salguero will summarize his survey of medieval Chinese Buddhist medicine from approximately 150-1000 C.E. These texts reveal that medicine and religion were intimately intertwined in medieval Asia, but they also demonstrate intriguing resonances with the globalization of Buddhism in the contemporary period.
C. Pierce Salguero, Ph.D. I call myself a “postdisciplinary scholar of Buddhist medicine.” I have a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and am a professor of Asian History and Health Humanities at Penn State University’s Abington College, located near Philadelphia. My research is especially focused on historical and contemporary intersections between health, spirituality, and crosscultural exchange. I also have been the editor in chief of the journal Asian Medicine: Journal of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine since 2016.
Sponsor(s): Center for Chinese Studies, Center for Buddhist Studies