To make a valuable contribution to the study, translation and preservation of classical Tibetan medical texts, ITTM has been preparing the electronic versions of key Tibetan medical works, covering the period of the 9^th to 19^th century AD.

The data input of Tibetan medical texts has been an ongoing project, financed through the contributions of visiting scholars to ITTM. The project commenced in March 1999 and was initially sponsored by the Asian Classic Input Project (ACIP), New York. The project generates income for Tibetan women in Kalimpong who are trained at ITTM. Since July 2000, two new input operators, Diki Choden Bhutia and Chaying Lhamo, have been working full-time on the data input. All texts are typed in twice, then compared electronically and checked again for typing errors. So read about the project methodology in detail, click here.

So far, not even the main medical text, “The Four Medical Tantras” (Tib. rgyud bzhi) has been fully translated and published in English. The corpus of Tibetan medical texts is enormous, and an entire translation of the main works would still take decades to be completed. It seems more feasible for individual scholars to research specific subjects of Tibetan medicine and translate sections from various texts on selected research topics. The old texts are not indexed and electronic search will help to deal with the Tibetan medical literature according to subjects, more specifically and economically.

The following summary introduces the medical works available in the database. We aim to present the data online as and when corrections are completed. Currently, interested scholars can have access to the data for their personal research and can undertake electronic searches while in residence at the ITTM Centre.

So far the following texts have been typed into computers in ACIP transliteration which can be converted with the Sambhota programme into Wylie transliteration and the Tibetan u chen script. Click here to see the full list of archived Tibetan Medical Texts.

Sponsorship & Donations

We are actively searching for further funding to complete the corrections of the electronic versions of these Tibetan medical texts. One-time contributions of colour display monitors and second hand computers for data-input are welcome! Depending on the funds, we wish to fulfil a secondary socio-economic objective of increasing the number of input operators in the project and help generate more income for Tibetan women in Kalimpong!

Currently extra funds are required to print all texts for the final proof reading. The first texts to be completed and made available on this website will be the "Four Tantras" (rgyud bzhi) and a history of Tibetan medicine by Desi Sangye Gyatso (gso rig sman gyi khog 'bugs).

Donations can easily be sent to ITTM through Western Union or directly through PayPal on our donation page.

All Donors will receive a donation receipt by mail and e-mail and their donations will be acknowledged on this website and in the ITTM Performance Reports.

THANKS TO OUR DONORS

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support for the completion of the khog 'bugs corrections by Dr. Frances Garrett, Toronto, Canada.

We also thank Daniel Muller, Switzerland, for his continuous tireless voluntary efforts during his regular visits to ITTM since 2002 to upgrade and repair ITTM computers, and for his support in the corrections and electronic presentation of the data.

  

For further details please contact us.