Tibetan Medicine
TIBETAN MEDICINE
Tibetans have been in exile
since 1959; most of them live in India
and have Indian papers. Their religion is
Tibetan Buddhism, and their traditional
system of medicine is rather like
traditional Chinese Medicine – but
Tibetan of course. It has been practiced
for around 2,500 years.
The headquarters of their
Medical Institute is in Northern India,
where their doctors are trained and
Tibetan Medicines are made.
Doctors of Tibetan Medicine are
required to study for a minimum of seven
years, where they learn not only the
basics of their medicine, but are
required to learn poetry as
well!
Tibetan Medicine is called
"gSoba Rig-pa" (which translates as the
science of healing) and virtually all of
it is based on herbal
remedies.
They also make a type of pill(s)
from precious metals which has had good
results with the treatment of ailments
such as arthritis, asthma, and ulcers,
just to name a few.
Tibetan medicine teaches that
all suffering is caused by one or a
combination of three poisonous ways of
thinking-wanting, dread, and
denial.
This makes perfect sense when
you think about the medicine in context
with Buddhist philosophy, which teaches
that these are the very three concepts
that the Buddhist aspires to relieve
themselves of.
Tibetan Medicines "Cures" are
based in the elimination of urine, feces,
and sweat. When the good elements of the
body all work together in harmony, the
patient begins to feel better.
The long term causes of sickness
are one of the "three poisons", which are
believed to be caused by imbalances of
time and season, poor diet and improper
behavior. (Please note that this article
has been extremely over
simplified.)
Rlung is to the Tibetans what
the Qi is to the Chinese, the life force
which flows through us all and the
universe.There are five types of
Rlung;
"life grasping" which is
located in the brain and controls
intellect, swallowing, sneezing, and
breathing.
"Upward moving" is in the
chest and controls speech, stamina,
and diligence.
"All pervading" Rlung is
located in the heart, and controls
movement, such as walking and the
opening and closing of the orifices
of the body.
"Fire accompanying" Rlung is
responsible for digestion and
metabolism, and is in the
stomach.
The "downward cleansing"
Rlung expels everything-feces, urine,
menstrual blood, babies, and semen.
This Rlung resides in the
rectum.
With regard to what causes
sickness-time and season, improper
lifestyle or other imbalances-spirits are
thought to cause the sickness if the time
and place is disturbed.
Different spirits can be
disturbed during different times of the
day or year, and consultation with a
tantric practitioner is needed to
determine if angry spirits are
responsible for the patient's
ailment(s).
If this is the case, chanting,
meditation and prayer can be used to
return the spirit, and herbs are used to
alleviate-for example-pain, curing the
symptoms as well as the
dis-ease.
It is interesting to note that
with regard to the sicknesses involved
with an imbalanced diet, Tibetan Medicine
does not recommend only raw foods, only
certain foods, etc.
The teaching is very strict with
respect to a balance of all
foods.
They do not say to never eat
butter, for example, but to eat a balance
of raw and fatty foods.
Diagnosis is done primarily by
testing urine and looking at the
patient's tongue. Heavy, thick, yellow or
dark urine with a strong odor indicates a
"hot" sickness, while clear, thin, or
white urine indicates a "cold"
sickness.
The patient's tongue is tested
for color, smoothness, and hydration. The
doctor will then take the patient's
pulse, and like in acupuncture, can tell
much about blood flow and blockages by
the number of beats and
strength.
Finally there will be a long
list of questions to be answered by the
patient, and treatment will consist of
one of four recommendations, advice on
diet and behavior, which is the first
step of treatment, and/or prescribing
medicine or surgery.
Usually a change in diet or
behaviors helps tremendously, to the
point that medicine-other than symptom
relieving medicine or surgery is not
needed.
Many patients use Tibetan
Medicine regularly as a preventative, and
so many diseases and ailments are caught
in the very early stages.
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