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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. 1 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 2 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 (n.d.). Retrieved May 9, 2014, from classicalchinesemedicine.org. (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. Traditional Chinese Medicine World Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved from TCM World Foundation : www.tcmworld.org 6 7