by Maxim Woroshilov
 

Tibetan Medicine in  Russia Tatiana Ivanovna Grekova     St. Petersburg, Aton,1998, ISBN 5-89077-036-5,  hard cover binding, 30 b/w photographs, 400 pages, (in Russian)

In the foreword, the author explains her motives in writing about Tibetan Medicine in Russia. One of her main intentions is to refute the erroneous views of some medical historians who believe that it is unnecessary to give the status of a specialised healing science to Tibetan medicine. Tatiana Grekova explains that in Russia today there is still a need for additional research on the history of Tibetan medicine. For example, there are still numerous rumours concerning the Badmaev family. She also writes about the recent development of ‘pseudo-Tibetan’ medicine in Russia.
 
 

The eleven chapters in Part One of Grekova’s book deal with the history of Alexander A. and Pyotr A. Badmaev and their controversial lives in Russia. Most of this material is devoted to Pyotr.

Chapter I: Sultim Badmaev
(later known as Alexander Alexandrovich Badmaev)

This chapter tells the story of the Buryat Emchi Lama Sultim Badmaev (died 1873) based on literary and archive sources. Sultim Badmaev, encouraged by the General Governor of Eastern Siberia, N. N. Muravyev-Amursky, comes to live in St. Petersburg, where he is introduced to the Tsar’s Court and baptised as Alexander. His godfather is Tsar Alexander II. Sultim successfully practises at the Nikolayevsky Military Hospital as an assistant physician, receives further assignments and attempts to translate the main Tibetan medical text, the ‘Four Medical Tantras’ (Tib. rgyud bzhi) into Russian.

Chapter II:  Zham-Saran Badmaev
(later known as Pyotr Alexandrovich Badmaev)

This chapter critically examines some literary sources about Zham-Saran (Pyotr A. Badmaev). Based on archive documents, Grekova narrates the story of his entering the Irkutsk Gymnasium as well as details on his further studies at the Imperial Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg for a period of one year. Thereafter, Pyotr is expelled from the course when he fails to pay his fees. He then continues his studies at the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg University. After graduation, he once again studies at the Academy as a casual student.

Attention is given to the conflicts arising between P. A. Badmaev and the professors of the Imperial Military Medical Academy. Consequently, Pyotr fails his final examinations and leaves the Academy without qualification. Thus, he is not entitled to practise, but does not seem to care much about it. However, the following chapters reveal that his opponents later used his lack of academic qualification against him. In due course, Pyotr Badmaev requests the Tsar, his godfather, to assist him in raising the funds for a journey to Tibet, to further his goal of translating Tibetan medical treatises and establishing a Tibetan medical clinic in St. Petersburg.

Chapter III:  “Your Badmaev will achieve his ambition”

In this chapter the author presents Pyotr Badmaev’s proposal to Tsar Alexander II concerning Russia’s policy in the East. Pyotr A. Badmaev organises a trading house named ‘Badmaev and Co.’ with its main office in the Chita region. He becomes involved in a variety of business, educational and diplomatic activities, and even enters into relations with Lhasa. A story about his friends and opponents is followed by details on his being accused of misusing State subsidies. He eventually returns to St. Petersburg.

Chapter IV: Badmaev translates the Gyushi

The first edition of the translation of the Gyushi by P. A. Badmaev with historical details and commentaries is published in St. Petersburg in 1898. Grekova briefly comments on this publication and exposes the difficulties that Pyotr faces in translating the Gyushi. She also includes different opinions of Pyotr’s contemporaries, bouquets and brickbats, as well as accusations of P. A. Badmaev being a charlatan. Pyotr’s critics do not accept the basic concepts of Tibetan medicine including the principles of the three humours ‘Lung’ (Tib. rlung), ‘Tipa’ (Tib. mhkris pa) and ‘Bakan’ (Tib. bad kan) which regulate the bioactivity of the entire organism. Pyotr’s opponents also do not approve of the effectiveness of pulse diagnosis. The second edition of the Gyushi is published in 1903 with some corrections and additions. Grekova comments on the translation of the Gyushi by A. M. Pozdneyev and his errors.

Chapter V:  Badmaev as presented in the St. Petersburg Media

The author describes some media reports on the results of P. A. Badmaev’s treatments. A discourse on medical ethics follows: Does a patient, who is treated by one physician, have the right to consult another? This discussion arises when a patient who is treated by a Western doctor, also requests P. A. Badmaev for treatment. The question of whether physicians have the right to manufacture medicines themselves is discussed, and Pyotr is accused of keeping the process of medical preparations secret. Following a discussion in the media on the necessity of conducting scientific research on Tibetan medicine, P. A. Badmaev decides to call on the Medical Council, which, at that time, is the highest medical authority in Russia.

Chapter VI: The Main Opponent

This chapter tells the story of one of the main critics of P. A. Badmaev, Dr. N. V. Kirillov (1883 -1920) who, after graduating from Moscow University, moves to Siberia. Being interested in Tibetan medicine, Dr. Kirillov travels to Mongolia for a six-month study tour. His a priori conviction is that Western allopathic medicine is much more efficient and therefore superior to any of the oriental traditions. He denies the accuracy of pulse diagnosis and the principles of Tibetan pharmacology. Kirillov accuses P. A. Badmaev of being a charlatan. The author himself categorises Kirillov’s works as ethnographic writings, which are primarily descriptive.

Chapter VII: A Libel Case

This chapter tells the story of a physician named Kraindel who overtly accuses P. A. Badmaev of being incompetent in his professional treatment of patients. He supports his statement by citing the case of the Conservatory’s Professor Fon Ark, whose death was, according to Kraindel, caused by Badmaev failing to diagnose his cancer of the bowels. P. A. Badmaev sues Kraindel for libel but loses the case since it becomes known that he does not have any legal license to practise medicine. Subsequently, pharmacists also assault P. A. Badmaev, because he prepares drugs independently without their support. The case causes a wide discussion in the media about whether medical practitioners have the right to prepare drugs themselves. Some of the practitioners take Pyotr’s side. The medical inspector of St. Petersburg attempts to close down his practice.

Chapter VIII:  “The status of national medicine cannot be granted to Tibetan medicine.”

Buryats and Kalmucks file a petition to a Special Committee of the Medical Council for the recognition of Tibetan medicine in Russia. They attempt to define the rights and duties of Tibetan doctors, the rules for establishing educational institutions of Tibetan medicine and guidelines on how to deal with impostors. Following a favourable response by the Head of the Department of Foreign Religious Affairs, the Medical Council takes a different decision. It resolves that, “the status of national medicine cannot be granted to Tibetan medicine, since it does not appear to be more than a conglomeration of primitive, archaic science and superstitions. On the same ground the Government should not authorise the establishment of Tibetan medical schools.”

Following the decision by the Medical Council, new assaults on P. A. Badmaev commence. Pyotr continues to struggle for the recognition of Tibetan medicine. He establishes a school on Poklonnaya Gora and publishes the Memorandum on the Situation of Tibetan Medical Science in Russia. The opponents of Pyotr try to impede his practice of importing Tibetan drugs under the pretext that Asia is a source of epidemic diseases.

Chapter IX: Doctor P. A. Badmaev: Who was he?

The author refutes the prevalent belief that Badmaev living far from his own people was a charlatan who abused his influence at the Tsar’s Court. This chapter also deals with Pyotr as a politician. His relationship with Grigory E. Rasputin and the inaccuracies in Earl Iusupov’s memoirs in respect to this relationship are discussed in detail. Some information on the personal life of Pyotr and on his second marriage is also included.

Chapter X: The Dark Times

This chapter deals with Pyotr Badmaev’s situation during the time of the February Revolution of 1917. The provisional government accuses him of being an ally of the Tsar. The author critically examines whether there really existed a so-called ‘Omnipotent Badmaev Circle’. Inspections of P. A. Badmaev’s apartment and the dacha follow. He is arrested and sent into exile abroad for a short period of time.

Chapter XI: “I am Russian  and will be with my country.”

P. A. Badmaev returns from exile, but fails to leave Russia for a proposed journey to Tibet. He is again accused of being a monarchist. He is rearrested, investigated and this time sent to a forced labour camp. This results in a struggle for his release.

The memoirs of Nikolay Evgenyevich Vishnevsky, a grandson of Pyotr Badmaev, mention that at the beginning of the October Revolution Pyotr Badmaev is offered asylum by the Japanese government. But he refuses the offer saying, “I am Russian and will be with my country during its difficulties as well as during its success.”

On May 1, 1920, he is finally released under an amnesty for political prisoners. But, shortly thereafter, he is again arrested. The author examines the story that the Special Commission (KGB of that time) attempts to let Badmaev participate in a journey to Tibet, organised by them. Shortly after his release from prison, Pyotr Alexandrovich Badmaev passes away.  His last will and testament is released. His second wife, Elizaveta Petrovna, carries on Badmaev’s cause, and is arrested in 1937 for ‘illegal’ medical practice.
 
 

The nine chapters of Part Two deal with the continuation of the Badmaev legacy through Pyotr’s nephew, Nikolay Nikolayevich Badmaev (1879 - 1939), his fight for official recognition of Tibetan medicine in Russia and the downfall of Tibetan medicine in the country after the 1917 October Revolution. Details on the relationship between the eminent Russian artist Nicholas K. Roerich (1874 -1947) and Tibetan medicine are also presented.

Chapter I: Those Past Years

Following the October Revolution, a movement for the re-establishment of Buddhism emerges in Russia. The followers of the movement attempt to turn the Tibetan medical schools at the Buddhist Datsans into secular schools, to which lay people and even women would be admitted for the study of Tibetan medicine. A committee for the advancement of Tibetan medicine is set up. A forum of Buddhist Emchi Lamas meets in 1926 and elects a Council of Tibetan doctors. The State adopts a new policy towards religion and the Church; the religious institutions are now prohibited from treating people medically; the sanatoriums for hydrotherapy, which are very popular among Buryats, are closed. Agwan Dorjiev emerges as the Head of the Tibetan doctors of Buryatia.

Chapter II:  “I am requesting you to attach me to the Military Medical Academy.”

This chapter is dedicated to N. N. Badmaev, the nephew of Pyotr A. Badmaev. Nikolay N. Badmaev is not only successfully applying Tibetan healing methods but aims at a synthesis of the occidental and oriental traditions. Having studied Tibetan medicine with his uncle, he is also a graduate from the Imperial Military Medical Academy. There, for the first time, he initiates his scientific research on Tibetan medicine. Dr. Kraindel, who was already an opponent of Pyotr A. Badmaev, starts a struggle against Badmaev’s ideas and influences by attacking N. N. Badmaev. Nikolay N. tries to draw attention to Tibetan medicine by contacting various official bodies, like the Commissariat of Health Care, the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, and others.

Chapter III: At the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine

In 1890, the ‘Emperor’s Institute of Experimental Medicine’ is founded, and in 1917, renamed the ‘Institute of Experimental Medicine’. In 1932, it becomes the ‘All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine’. Twice again it is renamed, and, since 1991, it has been known as the ‘Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Russian Academy of Sciences’.

In April 1934, the ‘Department of Oriental Medicine’ opens at the ‘All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine’. Its staff members journey far into the remote regions of Lake Baikal to collect medicinal plants. Eminent scholars and authorities support the Institute. N. N. Badmaev insists on applying the integrated traditional research methods, but the Director of the Institute suggests limiting the research to certain species of the Tibetan materia medica and to the extraction of the active ingredients from those examined plants. The department is closed in January 1935 under the pretext of re-organising the Institute.

Chapter IV: The Difficult Path to Recognition

During the 1930s, a group of renowned scholars form a core group of Tibetan medical research. A seminar on Tibetan medicine is organised at the Academy of Sciences. The issue to officially recognise Tibetan medicine arises during a session of the Medical Council in the Commissariat of Health Care. N. N. Badmaev presents a report at the session of the Medical Council the text of which is included in this chapter. A struggle develops. Opponents slander N. N. Badmaev and spread erroneous political information about him. The research core group protests against these assaults. Two programmes on Tibetan medical research are organised. The protocol of the Medical Council’s session, dated July 15, 1936, is published here as well.

Chapter V: The Leningrad Clinic of Tibetan Medicine

This chapter tells the story of the Tibetan medical clinic in Leningrad. The building is acquired in August 1937 and renovation work begins. Teaching courses are opened and a space for the drug store and laboratory is being prepared. But the Municipal Health Care Department creates impediments. For a short period, the clinic functions only as an ambulant clinic. On April 10, 1938, it is closed down and its staff arrested, before they can pursue their full-fledged activities and open the proposed hospital.

Chapter VI:  What the Newspaper Buryat-Mongolskaya Pravda was about and what it concealed

In 1937, mass repression starts in Buryatia. The author presents a survey of the works on Tibetan medicine that are published between 1937-1938 in the newspaper Buryat-Mongolskaya Pravda. All articles are aimed at suppressing Tibetan medicine in Russia. By 1938, all members of the movement are arrested and, soon after, the political situation leads to the destruction of Tibetan medicine in Russia.

Chapter VII: The Doctor and his Patients

In this chapter, the reader comes to know some famous patients of Dr. N. N. Badmaev. Among these are eminent scholars, high officials, high military officers and authorities of the Party, as well as NKVD (secret service) officers. The author has acquainted herself with the patients’ charts that are kept in the Badmaev’s archive. The author herself claims that it seems more likely that N. N. Badmaev is arrested because of his proximity to the power elite of the capital.

Chapter VIII: N. N. Badmaev is accused of being an Agent of a Foreign Intelligence Service

This chapter was written on the basis of material available to the author regarding the investigation proceedings of the N. N. Badmaev case and the cases of two of his colleagues. Presently, the author is in possession of materials on three more case proceedings. All of the accused have been granted posthumous rehabilitation.

Chapter IX: Nicholas K. Roerich and Tibetan Medicine

This chapter deals with the renowned Russian artist and scholar Nicholas K. Roerich (1874-1947) and his relationship with Tibetan Medicine.  Roerich is especially interested in the psychological techniques explained in the Tibetan medical tradition. His highly appreciative attitude towards P. A. Badmaev’s activities is mentioned. The author also tells about the Central Asian and Himalayan expedition of the Roerichs, and the establishment of the Urusvati Institute by them at Naggar, in the Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. Investigation proceedings from the archives throw light on the fate of Dr. N. K. Ryabinin, who joined the Roerich expedition, and who was arrested twice by the Security Services or OGPU (KGB of that time) after his return to Russia. It is known that he was able to help people in jail by using methods of Tibetan medicine.
 
 
 

Part Three of the book deals with two descendants of Nikolay Nikolayevich Badmaev and the present-day research on Tibetan Medicine in Russia.

Chapter I: The Family Tradition is alive

This chapter tells the story of Nikolay N. Badmaev’s descendants, Andrey Nikolayevich and Nikolay Andreyevich Badmaev, who are also qualified physicians and have been struggling for the rehabilitation of their father and Tibetan medicine.

Chapter II: A new Birth

In 1968, a new period of research on Tibetan medicine in Russia begins at the Buryat Scientific Centre of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The book ends with a summary of the research work that has been accomplished by numerous Buryat scholars at the Centre.

After the publication of Tatiana Grekova’s Tibetan Medicine in Russia the author requested her Russian readers to communicate to her any available details on her heroes’ fate. The appeal was heard and the author received a number of letters from older individuals who had been treated by Elizaveta F. Badmaeva (the second wife of Pyotr A. Badmaev), Pyotr’s nephew Nikolay N. Badmaev and Nikolay’s son Andrey N. Badmaev, both of whom were qualified physicians. Those patients confirmed the effectiveness of Tibetan medicine from their personal experience. The letters also revealed that Grekova’s book has already caused a great interest among people from different backgrounds and professions in Russia. An English translation of her book would be very desirable and would help expanding the research on the Badmaev family tradition to an international level.

 About the Author:

Tatiana Grekova graduated from the Department of Biology of Leningrad State University in 1965, specialising in Physiology. From 1962 to 1965 she was the editor-in-chief of Leningrad Department of the All-Union State-Owned Publishing House of Medico-Biological Literature. In 1969, she pursued her doctoral studies at the Institute of Experimental Medicine where she defended her dissertation on the subject of deep subcortical structures of the human brain in 1974. From1980 to the present she has been researching the history of medicine as well as physiology. She has to her credit four books and approximately 70 articles devoted to these subjects. Since 1990 she has been working as an independent scholar. Her research on the history of Tibetan medicine in Russia commenced in the early 1980s. Her book Tibetan Medicine in Russia was published in Russian (Aton, St. Petersburg, 1998).

Tatiana Ivanovna Grekova
d.17, kv.17 Manezhny Pereulok, St. Petersburg 191123, Russia
Phone: (007)-812-2732900

Maxim Woroshilov graduated from the Department of Oriental Studies at St. Petersburg University in 1995. He is now teaching Sanskrit at the Ramakrishna Mission in St. Petersburg. He is pursuing his Ph.D. research in the tradition of Kashmir Shivaism, and has also studied the Ayurvedic medical text Ashtanga Hridaya Samhita and has been actively involved in the ITTM glossary database project, which is based on this text.

Maxim Woroshilov
Antonova - Ovseenko 23, korpus 2, ap. 88
193168 St. Petersburg, Russia
Phone: (007) 812- 587-0370
E-mail: kaivalya at shemesh.vicom.ru