Books on Tibetan Medicine
FOUR BOOK REVIEWS by Barbara Gerke
A
commentary on the Gyushi by KYEMPA TSEWANG CHOG
Dharamsala 1997, hard-bound, 592 pages
(Tibetan)
KYEMPA TSEWANG CHOG was a renowned scholar and physician of the 15th century Tibet. His writings left a major impact on the studies of Tibetan medicine. Especially his commentaries on the "Four Treatises" Gyushi (rgyud bzhi), which were completed in the Earth Pig year of 1479, are still used by modern students of Tibetan medicine. The first two of his four commentaries have recently (1997) been reprinted as a hard-bound book (592 pages) by MEN-TSEE-KHANG in Dharamsala, India.
KYEMPA TSEWANG was a student OF LAGLEN THARCHIN KYEMPA TSEWANG DORJEE (lag len mthar phyin skyem pa tshe dbang rdo rje) who himself was a direct disciple of ABO CHOJE (a bo chos rje), the famous Tibetan physician ZURKHAR NYAMNI DORJEE (zur mkhar mnyam nyid rdo rje) (1439 - 1475). KYEMPA TSEWANG thus followed the tradition of the Zhurkar that developed about half a century after the Jangpa tradition (byang pa). The treatises of the Zurkhar school continued to be published after the 17th century and were still of some importance to medical studies, whereas the Jangpa tradition did not last longer than the 17th century.
KYEMPA TSEWANG wrote his commentary at a time when the indigenous medical culture was still flourishing widely in Tibet. The Gyushi enjoyed a high popularity amongst other medical treatises at the monastic medical centres of Tibet, during the 15th and 16th century.
KYEMPA TSEWANG arranged his work in four sub-treatises:
* snying po snang ba "Eluminating the Essence"
- A commentary on the Root Tantra (rtza rgyud)
* tsig don nyi ma "The Sun of the Word Meaning"
- A commentary on the Explanatory Tantra (bshad
pa'i rgyud)
* bde ba'i 'dod 'jo "A Wish-fulfilling
Cow of Happiness"
- A commentary on the Oral Instruction Tantra
(man nag gyi rgyud)
* lag len gsal byed "Clarifying the
Practical Knowledge"
- A commentary on the Last Tantra (phyi ma'i
rgyud).
Apart from these commentaries he wrote sman
dpyad lag len tse dbang brgya rtza and gso dpyad kyi spyi don legs bshad
'dod 'jo. Kyempa TSEWANG gives considerable importance to the ethics and
pre-requisites for students as well as teachers of Tibetan medicine and
devoted the entire first chapter to the subject. Not only personality and
character development of student and teacher, their ethics in teaching
and receiving the teachings, but also spiritual guidelines are included
in his expositions. The importance of the right attitude towards the healing
arts, going back to the teachings of the Buddha, are presented in from
of various quotations of contemporary scholars of his time, as well as
- following the Indian roots of Tibetan medicine - ancient Indian physicians,
such as CARAKA (tza ra ka). This treatise shows the same structure of chapters
as the "Blue Beryl" (vaidurya sngon po) by SANGYE GYATSO, written about
two hundred years later, at the end of the 17th century.
pod sman nad bcos nyams zhib kyi tsogs
chen
Proceedings of the Conference on
Clinical Research in Tibetan Medicine
The conference was organised in March 1996 by the Research & Development Department, MEN-TSEE-KHANG, Dharamsala with focus on diabetes, cancer and research approaches. With an introduction by DR. LOBSANG WANGYAL and DR. NAMGYAL QUSAR who outlined the aims of the conference, the discussions mount to 315 printed pages. The contents of the book read as follows (translated from the Tibetan):
LECTURES
1. Lecture on gcin snyi (Personal physician
to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, DR. TENZIN CHOEDRAG)
2. gcin snyi (Diabetes) in Western medicine:
diagnostics, classifications, treatment and research approaches (Personal
physician to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, DR. TSETEN DORJEE)
PANEL DISCUSSIONS
1. Various medical literature, mainly that
of the Gyushi, and other publications explaining especially the treatment
of gcin snyi disease, scientifically and from personal experience.
2. + 3. Personal experience in connection
with gcin snyi disease and about which of the main drugs should and
should not been applied.
RESEARCH PAPERS
Some of the papers presented here are entitled following a traditional Tibetan literary custom: the first part explains the subject which is then hemmed to an ornamental title.
1. A well-written explanation on the examination
of the gcin snyi disease - "Loving wealth of youth"
by DR. LOBSANG CHOEPHEL
2. The way of two traditions (Tibetan &
Western)examining gcin snyi - "A spotless clear mirror"
by DR. PEMA DORJEE
PART ONE: ON GCIN SNYI DISEASE
- DIABETES
3. From advice on diet and behaviour for gcin
snyi disease - "Beginner's practice"
by DR. TSERING DORJEE
4. The main factor to be considered in diabetes
: bad kan
by DR. TSEWANG TAMDING
5. Looking at gcin snyi disease from two perspectives
- "A beautiful ornament for new experiences"
by DR. SONAM WANGDU
6. Looking, hearing and experiencing diabetes
as a minor disease, presenting its primary and secondary causes
by DR. SONAM THAMO
7. Diabetes is not gcin snyi disease
by DR. LOBSANG TENPA
8. The similar diagnostic approaches of gcin
snyi disease from each tradition of Ayurveda, Western medicine and Tibetan
medicine
by DR. DORJEE RAPTEN
9. A summary of personal experiences
on gcin snyi disease
by DR. TSERING CHOKYI
PART TWO: ON TUMOURS ('BRAS )
LECTURES
1. Explanations on 'bras ( Personal physician
to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, DR. LOBSANG WANGYAL)
2. Introduction to the diagnosis, classification
and treatment of cancer according to Western medicine (DR. TSEWANG NGODUP)
PANEL DISCUSSIONS
1. Various medical literature, mainly that
of the Gyushi, and other publications explaining especially the treatment
of 'bras disease, scientifically and from personal experience.
2. Personal experience in connection with
'bras disease and about which of the main drugs should and should
not be applied.
RESEARCH PAPERS
1. What is known as "Cancer" carries the meaning
of "Scorpio" (sdig srin)
by DR. PEMA DORJEE
2. Cancer is not necessarily to be identified
as being protrude, round-shaped and infiltrating
by DR. MIGMAR
3. Ideas on 'bras disease - "drops of nectar
essence"
by DR. THUPTEN GYALTSEN
4. "cancer" is a dangerous (type of)
'bras
by DR. LOBSANG TENPA
5. Preliminaries of treatment for 'bras
and skran diseases, having a malignant aetiology
by DR. YANG BUMGYAL
6. The difference between cancer and 'bras
by DR. KARTSANG TENZIN DECHE
PART THREE: ON RESEARCH
1. A compilation of documents from the various
branch clinics, useful for (treating) gcin syi (DR. NAMGYAL TENZIN)
2. Introducing research methodologies for
therapy.
PART FOUR: CONCLUSION
Interviews with the participating physicians
(conducted by DR. NAMGYAL QUSAR).
They cannot be easily amalgamated, even though
they can benefit from each other.
2. Read about the principles of Tibetan medicine
prior to your consultation. These are well explained in introductory literature
widely available. Having a basic idea will help you to understand the nature
of your imbalance and why certain changes in food and habits are being
advised. (Introductory Literature: Fundamentals of Tibetan Medicine, MEN-TSEE-KHANG,
Dharamsala 1981, 1995. CLIFFORD, TERRY. Tibetan Buddhist Medicine and Psychiatry:
The Diamond Healing. 1977. S. Weiser, York Beach, Me. 1984.)
3. Be clear about your expectations and know
that a Tibetan doctor is not a miracle healer! A recent study by a German
Ph.D. candidate, interviewing patients before and after consulting a Tibetan
physician, showed that the expectations were in most cases extremely high,
unreasonable due to lack of information about the Tibetan medical culture.
Such expectations led to a high degree of frustration when they were not
met.
sman ming tsig mdzod blo gsar sgo 'byed lde mig
A key to open the door of a new
understanding
- A dictionary of Medical Terms
BY DR. TSERING NORBU
The young author, born in 1966, who completed his medical education in 1986, at Lhasa Medical College, in Tibet, presents his first work on medical terms of the Tibetan materia medica. He has been working at the MEN-TSEE-KHANG, Dharamsala, ever since escaping from Tibet in 1990. Gaining experience from his work in the Materia Medica Department, he compiled a descriptive glossary of Tibetan medical terms, along with their tibetanised Sanskrit transliteration, and also Mongolian equivalents (in Tibetan transcription).
His work is mainly based on dri med sel gong dri med sel phreng, a famous treatise by the 18th century Tibetan scholar and physician DE'U MAR GESHE TENZIN PHUNTSHOK (dil dmar dge bshes bstan 'dzin phun tsogs). (Reprint 1983, by URGYEN NAMGYAL, based on the Derge edition, 488p, published by D. W. TASHIGANG, Leh, Ladakh, India.)
DR. NORBU'S book comprises 5603 materia
medica entries with explanations on their classification, taste, potency,
etc. It would be very useful to expand this work by adding Latin botanical
names and preparing an index.
"Tibetan Medicine :
East meets West - West meets
East"
by JUERGEN C. ASCHOFF and INA ROESING
Ulm 1997, paper back, 130 pages, DM / SFr
34.- / US $ 20,
ISBN 3-931997-04-9 (English)
The book presents the major contributions to the symposium on Tibetan medicine held at Ulm University in Germany, on 19th and 20th July 1996. Eleven lecturers and 112 participants in the field discussed current problems and subjects on Tibetan medicine of interest to practitioners in both East and West. (see AyurVijnana Vol. 3, 1997).
The palpable tendency of researching Tibetan medicine by conducting clinically controlled studies of drugs are reflected in the presentations by JUERGEN C. ASCHOFF (Ulm), T.Y. TASHIGANG (Delhi), JACOB MAIER (Basel), C. PAULUS VAN PAUWVLIET (Utrecht), HERBERT SCHWABL (Zuerich) and CHRISTA KLETTER (Vienna). These contributions form Part I of the volume.
Part II focuses on various institutions and schools of Tibetan medicines, as well as possibilities, obstacles and legal limitations related to its practice. Contributors are T. Y. TASHIGANG (Delhi), KLAUS JORK (Frankfurt) and EGBERT ASSHAUER (Hamburg).
The most interesting paper and the one that turns the entire publication into a valuable wide-ranging forum on Tibetan Medicine is INA ROESING's article on the hidden psychology of ritual healing. Opposing all approaches of papers published in Part I of the volume, INA ROESING (Ulm) presents her view point as a medical anthropologist. She does so by focusing on the numerous, non-clinical factors implied in any healing. Thus, a particular set of difficulties, often overlooked by researchers, that are associated with transferring concepts from one medical system to another become evident.
Despite its generally narrow approach to research in this field, the book is a valuable contribution to the understanding of Tibetan medicine and the difficult problems it faces as it moves from an Eastern to a Western milieu.
Note: The Tibetan transliteration used in
this publication follows the
ASIA CLASSICS INPUT PROJECT (ACIP) Scheme
supported by the
SAMBHOTA PROGRAM.
Barbara Gerke,
Editor, AyurVijnana.