PREFACE The famous Tibetan doctor and physician to His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama, Ven. Dr. Khenrab Norbu (1883-1962 A.D.)1, in one of his compositions, illustrated the First Tantra -The Root Tantra- in a tree form, dividing the content into roots, trunks, branches, leaves and fruits of a tree, using the essential concepts of Traditional Tibetan Medicine- The Four Tantras- in a simple way. With the aim to help his students quickly adapt to the theoretical concepts of Tibetan Medicine in a minimum time, the allegorical tree featuring the gist and overview of Traditional Tibetan medicine was illustrated. Darmo Menrampa Lobsang Choedak (1638-1711 A.D.)2 reasoned out in his commentary of the Explanatory Tantra, legs shes gser gyi thurma3, that “It has the significance of widening one’s own wisdom at large and inspire and attract other fellow students to learn the methods of understanding the medical knowledge through an allegorical tree”. Kempa Tsewang (15th century)4 stated “The root holds the foundation of the entire text, the trunk summarizes the meaning of the text, the branches elaborate on the particular meaning, the leaves expound on the details of the meaning. On them blossoms the flower of health and longevity that bears the three fruits of spiritual life, prosperity and happiness.” Having thus been stated, it has been a curriculum in Tibetan Medical Institutes, such as Chakpori Medical College and Lhasa Men Tsee Khang in Tibet, to memorize the allegorical text and to give oral examination of the same. Manually arranging the roots, trunks, branches and leaves was a part of the traditional exam, along with the oral examination. This tradition still continues to these days in many Tibetan Medical Institutes around the world. Similarly, the sole reason to publish this book is to disseminate and promote the comprehensive knowledge of Traditional Tibetan Medicine (Sowa-Rigpa)5, in an easier and a simpler way, and to benefit those non-Tibetans who are keen to learn the ancient medical science, but are unable to read and understand Tibetan language. Hence, this publication will serve as material for those seeking an English version of the Tibetan medical text. Since this book on the allegorical tree of the Four Tantras is the first of its kind to be published in English, I indeed hope that it will serve as a small contribution from my part towards the dissemination of our traditional healing science. In this book, the medical terms used are extracted from or are uniformly based on the books “The Root Tantra and The Explanatory Tantra from the Quintessential Instructions on the Eight Branches of the Ambrosia Essence Tantra” and “The Subsequent Tantra from the Secret Quintessential Instructions on the Eight Branches of the Ambrosia Essence Tantra”, translated into English by Men-Tsee-Khang6. Priority has been given to directly translate as much Tibetan terms into English as possible, but in certain cases where direct translation has been a challenge such as loong, tripa, baekan, maevel, surya,etc. the Tibetan terms have been written in Tibetan phonetics and italicized to avoid mistranslation. The reason for keeping those terms in Tibetan phonetics is to enhance readability and provide the right pronunciation of the terms. Meanings for the Tibetan phonetics that appear very often throughout the book, Tibetan phonetics of medicinal compounds and the equivalent scientific terms for the Tibetan medicinal ingredients are given in the glossary section at the end of this book. Equivalent transliterated terms for the phonetics have also been included. The Tibetan terms whose meaning relates only to specific chapters are put as footnotes in their respective places.

By the end of the 19th century, British imperial medical officers and Christian medical missionaries had introduced Western medicine to Tibet, Sikkim, and Bhutan. Their Footprints Remain uses archival sources, personal letters, diaries, and oral sources in order to tell the fascinating story of how this once-new medical system became imbedded in the Himalayas. Of interest to anyone with an interest in medical history and anthropology, as well as the Himalayan world, this volume not only identifies the individuals involved and describes how they helped to spread this form of imperialist medicine, but also discusses its reception by a local people whose own medical practices were based on an entirely different understanding of the world.

Increasingly, modern medicine relies on so called traditional or ancient medical knowledge. Holistic practices such as adhering to proper diet, observing rules for appropriate behavior, and administering medical preparations are coupled with the latest technology and methods to treat the whole patient. In light of this trend, there is much to be gained from understanding of one of the oldest medical systems still in existence. Tibetan Medicinal Plants provides you a detailed analysis of how Tibetan plants are used in this centuries old system. The book opens with a summary of Tibetan medicine and covers the various habitats in which the plants are found. The main part of this volume encompasses 60 monographs listed by the Tibetan plant name. Each monograph consists of several chapters addressing different topics related either to the Tibetan or the Western approach. Most of the monographs contain a description of the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of the used plant parts, and anatomical features of 76 plants are provided. Each monograph presents an overview of the known chemical constituents and pharmacological properties of each plant and describes their use in Tibetan medicine. In contrast to other publications on Tibetan medicine, where translations of the Tibetan terms are given in other languages, this book treats the Tibetan word as a technical term, keeps the Tibetan term and explains its meaning, lessening confusion by reducing the number of translations. Traditional Tibetan medicine has been in existence for centuries. Curative practices existed in the prebuddistic era, and the art of healing developed more than 2500 years ago. Tibetan Medicinal Plants provides a comprehensive overview of all plant types, thus making it easier to grasp the Tibetan concept. It gives you a comprehensive look at this centuries old science.

This is a major anthropological study of contemporary Tibetan Buddhist monasticism and tantric ritual in the Ladakh region of North-West India and of the role of tantric ritual in the formation and maintenance of traditional forms of state structure and political consciousness in Tibet. Containing detailed descriptions and analyses of monastic ritual, the work builds up a picture of Tibetan tantric traditions as they interact with more localised understandings of bodily identity and territorial cosmology, to produce a substantial re-interpretation of the place of monks as ritual performers and peripheral householders in Ladakh. The work also examines the central and indispensable role of incarnate lamas, such as the Dalai Lama, in the religious life of Tibetan Buddhists.

Civilized Shamans examines the nature and evolution of religion in Tibetan societies from the ninth century up to the Chinese occupation in 1950. Geoffrey Samuel argues that religion in these societies developed as a dynamic amalgam of strands of Indian Buddhism and the indigenous spirit-cults of Tibet. Samuel stresses the diversity of Tibetan societies, demonstrating that central Tibet, the Dalai Lama's government at Lhasa, and the great monastic institutions around Lhasa formed only a part of the context within which Tibetan Buddhism matured. Employing anthropological research, historical inquiry, rich interview material, and a deep understanding of religious texts, the author explores the relationship between Tibet's social and political institutions and the emergence of new modes of consciousness that characterize Tibetan Buddhist spirituality. Samuel identifies the two main orientations of this religion as clerical (primarily monastic) and shamanic (associated with Tantric yoga). The specific form that Buddhism has taken in Tibet is rooted in the pursuit of enlightenment by a minority of the people - lamas, monks, and yogins - and the desire for shamanic services (in quest of health, long life, and prosperity) by the majority. Shamanic traditions of achieving altered states of consciousness have been incorporated into Tantric Buddhism, which aims to communicate with Tantric deities through yoga. The author contends that this incorporation forms the basis for much of the Tibetan lamas' role in their society and that their subtle scholarship reflects the many ways in which they have reconciled the shamanic and clerical orientations. This book, the first full account of Tibetan Buddhism in two decades, ranges as no other study has over several disciplines and languages, incorporating historical and anthropological discussion. Viewing Tibetan Buddhism as one of the great spiritual and psychological achievements of humanity, Samuel analyzes a complex society that combines the literacy and rationality associated with centralized states with the shamanic processes more familiar among tribal peoples.

The fascinating Tibetan medical system has never been so clearly explained as in this collection of oustanding lectures presented at the University of Virginia in 1980. Tibetan medicine restores and maintains balance among the three humors of the body through a variety of treatments_diet and behaviour modification as well as the use of medicine and accessory theraphy. The basic system has been enhanced by the practical findings of Tibetan physicians who have used the system for more than a thousand years. Dr. Donden holistically considers factors of personality, season, age, climatic condition, diet, behaviour, and physical surroundings in addressing the means for restoring health. The great strength of tibetan medicine is that it is delicately responsive to patients, complete symptom pattern--no complaint being disregarded--and its wide variety of curative techniques are described in this book.

India has long occupied an important place in Tibetan medicine's history and development. However, Indian Himalayan practitioners of Tibetan medicine, or amchi, have largely remained overlooked at the Tibetan medical periphery, despite playing a central social and medical role in their communities. Power and legitimacy, religion and economic development, biomedical encounters and Indian geopolitics all intersect in the work and identities of contemporary Himalayan amchi. This volume examines the crucial moment of crisis and transformation that occurred in the early 2000s to offer insights into the beginnings of Tibetan medicine's professionalization, industrialization, and official recognition in India and elsewhere. Based on fine-grained ethnographic studies in Ladakh, Zangskar, Sikkim, and the Darjeeling Hills, Healing at the Periphery asks how the dynamics of capitalism, social change, and the encounter with biomedicine affect small communities on the fringes of modern India, and, conversely, what local transformations of Tibetan medicine tell us about contemporary society and health care in the Himalayas and the Tibetan world. Contributors. Florian Besch, Calum Blaikie, Sienna R. Craig, Barbara Gerke, Isabelle Guérin, Kim Gutschow, Pascale Hancart Petitet, Stephan Kloos, Fernanda Pirie, Laurent Pordié

There is a growing interest in studies that document the relationship between science and medicine - as ideas, practices, technologies and outcomes - across cultural, national, geographic terrain. Tibetan medicine is not only known as a scholarly medical tradition among other Asian medical systems, with many centuries of technological, clinical, and pharmacological innovation; it also survives today as a complex medical resource across many Asian nations - from India and Bhutan to Mongolia, Tibet (TAR) and China, Buryatia - as well as in Western Europe and the Americas. The contributions to this volume explore, in equal measure, the impacts of western science and biomedicine on Tibetan grounds - i.e., among Tibetans across China, the Himalaya and exile communities as well as in relation to globalized Tibetan medicine - and the ways that local practices change how such “science” gets done, and how this continually hybridized medical knowledge is transmitted and put into practice. As such, this volume contributes to explorations into the bi-directional flows of medical knowledge and practice.

The first edition of the Fundamentals of Tibetan Medicine, published in 1981, has remained one of the most popular and widely used publications on Tibetan Medicine available in English. In 1995, a second revised edition was published in response to an increasing interest in Tibetan Medicine and a greater demand for literature on the subject. The need for a third revised edition was again felt and in 1996, the Director of Men-Tsee-Khang appointed us to expand and revise the book. However, due to our other Institutional responsibilities, we could not begin work on the project until the summer of 1997. We are pleased to bring out this book, started initially during the Directorship of Mr. Tsering Tashi, and completed with the encouragement of our current Director, Mr. Pema Dadhul Arya. The support of both Directors has been invaluable. In this third Edition, as in the Second, alterations, additions and deletions have been made to material from the edition preceding it. The material in Part One has been divided into four distinct chapters, with the addition of an introductory section on the history of Tibetan Medicine. Where new information has been added from the rGyudbZhi or its commentary Vaidurya sNgon-po and the original text was too complicated or technical for the purposes of an introductory book such as this, we have attempted to simplify the material without sacrificing the essential points. In doing so, errors or omissions may have occurred, for which we take full responsibility. When it seemed useful, we have condensed material into tables. We have updated some photos from the previous edition and also have added a pronunciation guide to Tibetan medical terms. It is our sincere desire that all who read this book will benefit from it and experience good health. Dr. Lobsang Tsultrim Dr. Tenzin Dakpa

All of us want to be happy and avoid suffering. So why are many of us anxious, angry, depressed? We suffer from pain, hypertension, inflammation, indigestion, insomnia, and addictions. Yet, too often we make choices that sabotage us rather than reverse what’s wrong. Tibetan medicine, Tibet’s ancient, comprehensive science of healing, offers effective tools for transforming suffering into health and happiness. Tibetan medicine teaches that the purpose of life is to be happy, and that after our basic needs are met, happiness results primarily from our own thinking. When challenges arise, we can wallow in negativity and get sick - or even sicker - in mind and body. Or we can decide to create health and happiness. Making positive choices won’t solve every problem but will produce better results than poor or thoughtless decisions do. This unique book explains in everyday English how to use Tibetan medicine for self-care and as a complement to modern medicine. Tibetan medicine sheds light on the intricate relationship between mind and body. Each of us is born with a unique combination of energies called our constitution. Understanding our constitution empowers us to make conscious, informed decisions about our thoughts, diet, and behavior to keep our energies in balance. We learn to reduce stress, create health, prepare for death, and be happy.