Thursday, October 13, 2011

Rising Popularity of Tibetan Medicine

The centre of Tibetan medicine in India is Dharamsala where the chief physician to His Highness the Dalai Lama and several specialists in Tibetan medicine not only practice but also teach Tibetan medicine to students who are beings trained as doctors. The students, besides learning the science of medicine also learn how to recognise medicinal plants which are used in their practice and to prepare such medicines. Tibetan medicine is becoming more and more popular in this country and there are several clinics catering to the people in many cities. A patient at these clinics is diagnosed and receives the medicine, all in the course of a few hours. Diagnosis is made in two ways – by studying the pulse and looking at the morning urine sample.

The author had the privilege of arranging a visit of Amachis Tenzin Choedrag, the chief physician to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama to the National Institute of Immunology and of watching him make his examination. Without taking a history of the ailments-which he did later – he would, on the basis of the pulse and urine examination, make a remarkable diagnosis about the troubles of the patients.

The fundamental concepts of Tibetan medicine are described in Sman Rtzis the journal published by the Tibetan Medical and Astra Institute, Dharamsala. Tibetan medicine starts with the basic premise that the human organism is a composite whole of both mind and matter. The three poisons of the mind explain the origin of the disorders of the mind. The three poisons of the mind are known as Dug-g-Sum while the Byung-ba-Inga theory explains the disorders affecting the physical body.

In Tibetan Buddhist cosmology five cosmic energies are responsible for bringing about changes. These are the energies of space, air, fire, water and earth. The pathogenesis of all physical afflictions are traced to these five energies which are responsible for the material causes of diseases such as bacteria and virus or an unhealthy style of living. In Tibetan medicine much emphasis is placed on the mind. Stability of the mind brings about a well being of the body while an unhappy mental condition or mental stress brings about imbalance in the body systems which results in diseases. This concept is being more and more accepted in western or allopathic medicine.

Recently Dean Ornish has demonstrated that physical exercise, meditation and a vegetarian diet can even reverse the changes in the arteries which lead to coronary attacks. It has also been demonstrated that there are several diseases which arise because of mental stress and anxiety. These include coronary artery disease, bronchial asthma, diabetes and surprisingly, some forms and cancer.

During the time when Lhasa used to be the world’s centre of Tibetan medicine, there used to be 400 medicines made from plants. These medicines were prepared mainly from plants collected in Tibet at Drag Yerpa and in Dohthey. For two months the doctors and their students would collect the herbs and bring them to the monasteries to prepare the

medicines. Today, about 130 different kinds of medicines are prepared in India and supplied to the different clinics throughout the country. Collection of plants is done in India in the summer months from the hills of Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Tibetan medicine has attracted worldwide attention and Dharamsala is constantly visited by international experts in allopathic and alternative medicine. Several research workers from different parts of the world come here to carry out collaborative research or to learn about the treatments offered by Tibetan medicine. Several international conferences have been held on this subject and several books published.

Doctors from Dharamsala travel all over the world to give lectures on Tibetan medicine. We are very fortunate and privileged to have different science of alternative medicine come to us in India. It is important that we also learn more about this ancient system of medicine and try to benefit form it to provide better service to the humanity at large.

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Chitika