Download The Ancient Phenomenal Culture of Tibetan Medicine

Lisa Hook
Business and Culture Along the Silk roads, Fall 2014
Cultural-Final Project
བོད་ཀྱི་གསོ་བ་རྱིག་པ་
The Ancient and Phenomenal Culture of
Tibetan Medicine
The craft of Tibetan healing (sowa rigpa) beautifully demonstrates
the cultural entanglement of medicine, religion, and science, which
transports us beyond the all too common dualistic views of traditional
and
modern.
Tibetan
medicine
has
a
profound
value
for
medical
anthropology, social science, health workers, practitioners of the
healing arts, and health seekers.
The humanistic insights of Tibetan
theories and practices of health care interface the science and religion
of our increasingly globalized world as we renegotiate the theories and
practices of health care. Tibetan medicine is becoming an emerging and
viable form of healing in the West’s evolving health care system.
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In contrast to our biomedical approach in the U.S. Tibetan medicine
views the patient holistically, focusing on a number of moral, physical,
spiritual, and emotional factors in treatment. Perhaps some of the
recent fascination for traditional eastern medicines might possibly be
due to their distinctive philosophy, wisdom, and seemingly magical
manifestations. To date much more is known about Traditional Chinese
Medicine and Ayurveda medicine of India and relatively little about
Tibetan medicine. Tibetan medicine, however, has such a rich inheritance
and value that it is important not only to enrich our knowledge but also
to preserve the information gathered through the centuries. It is one of
the world's oldest known medical traditions and an integral part of
Tibetan culture. The understanding of health and disease in Tibetan
society is explained extensively in a system known as sowa rigpa or the
science or knowledge of healing. The original teachings of this system
are generally attributed to the Buddha, who is said to have taught the
root of this tradition in the manifestation of Medicine Buddha. The
essential aspects of this teaching are touched upon widely in the four
tantras (giu shi), the medical text.
Medicine
Buddha
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All of the material that makes up our universe and sentient beings are
based on the qualities of 5 basic elements, which are described in the
ancient
physics
traditional
depicted
people,
lived
in
in
Tibetan
direct
medicine.
contact
Tibetans,
as
with
natural
the
all
environment. They understood through experience and study that the
forces manifest in the natural environment directly correlated with and
influenced the functioning of the human organism. In the theory of the
five elements, we see an effort to define the qualities of the basic
forces that exist in nature. Once defined they are named for their most
identifiable manifestations: earth, water, fire, wind and space. The
characteristics (such as a substance's taste) and therefore, the nature
of all matter then result from the qualities of these elements
individually or in combination.
(Baker, 1997)
3
We are nothing but the union of our ‘body’ and ‘consciousness’.
The body is composed of the five elements (said to be flawless seeds
from our father and our mother), sustained by those five elements and
afflicted by the same elements when they are either in an augmented,
exhausted or agitated state.
The dominant characteristic of Tibetan
Medicine is that it is Buddhist medicine. This is evidenced from its’
important principles of the ‘Three Humours of Bile, Phlegm, and Wind.
Diseases are classified according to these three principles. This
connects to the Buddhist concept of the ‘Three Fires’ (that burn to
some degree in each human being) of greed, hatred, and delusion (the
mental
poisons).
Ignorance
or
delusions
constitute the long-term cause of disease.
and
the
mental
poisons
The three Humours constitute
the short-term causes of disease (desire gives rise to wind, hatred
gives rise to bile, and stupidity and laziness to phlegm.)
are balanced, there is health.
illness.
When these
When these are unbalanced, there is
Another factor, which, according to the Buddhist view is more
influential than the physical body, is the mental faculty that when in a
disturbed state, causes us to feel unhappy.
The diagnosis of a patient
is made through visual inspection, touch with pulse readings, and
interrogation.
Pulse reading is a great Tibetan art and is the main
diagnosis by touch.
Tibetan medicine works more with plants and pulse
then instruments. Herbal medicines are made by hand and the practice is
passed from one generation to the next.
Tibetan Medicine provides various preventive remedies in forms of
diet and behavior, and curative remedies in the forms of medicine,
meditation, and external therapy, all in order to treat and pacify the
disturbed state of the Five Elements and Three Humours.
4
Ancient Tibetan healing incorporated medical knowledge from India,
China, Persia, and Greece over the span of thousands of years.
medical tradition is highly effective.
Tibetan
It employs different kinds of
ingredients such as herbs, trees, rocks, resins, soils, precious metals,
saps etc. However, much of Tibetan medicine is based on herbs, and
detoxified precious metals. (Bradley)
These are medicines, which
produce no lasting side effects, are sustainably harvested resources of
the natural environment, and respect basic compassion as the essential
basis of health and wellbeing. This in itself demonstrates a deep and
powerful
integration
of
spiritual
and
practical
understanding.
Traditional medical systems should be integrated into health care not
only for their own methodical treatments, but to evolve and offer
innovative solutions in Public Health and enrichment in modern views of
healing.
5
Bibliography
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(n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from wikipedia.com.
Baker, I. (1997). The Tibetan Art of Healing. San Francisco: Chronicle Books
.
Bradley, D. T. (n.d.). Dharmapala Thangka Center. Retrieved November 30, 2014,
from Thangka.ed.
China Buddhism Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2014, from
www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com.
Dharma Haven. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2014, from dharmahaven.org.
Journal of alternative complimentry medicine. (2008, June). Traditional Chinese
Medicine. Retrieved May 9, 2014, from pubmed.gov: www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov
Kolts, R. L. The Compassionate-Mind Guide to Managing Your Anger. Oakland, CA:
New Harbinger Publications, Inc
.
Sullivan, M. (1999). The Arts of China. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
The Theory of the Five Elements. (n.d.). Retrieved May 8, 2014, from
www.china.org.cn.
Tibetan Medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2014, from tibetanmedicineedu.org.
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Foundation : www.tcmworld.org
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