Category: Culture

Tibetan Medicine Tibetan medicine is a holistic approach to health. Formalized in the seventh century, Tibetan medicine synthesizes indigenous medical traditions as well as traditions from ancient India, China, Persia, Unani and Greece.  It has a rich and dynamic history demonstrated by its highly developed remedies and treatments. Today, different components of Tibetan medicine are practiced around the globe. From small clinics to in-patient hospitals, from rural towns to large cities, Tibetan medicine is becoming an increasingly available alternative to the Industrial Medical Complex, or “Western Medicine” as some may call it. The cornerstone and key treatise of Tibetan medicine is a text known as the Four Tantras (Gyushi). It is generally accepted that this native Tibetan text was a compilation effort by Tibetan physicians, initially started in the seventh century A.D. and completed during the 12th century A.D. Found within this text, and in the practices of Tibetan medicine, are the influence of thousands of years of observational medical history. Texts brought from India, which were the same texts that seeded the development of Ayurveda, added key insights to what became Tibetan medicine, and the second and third Dharma Kings are said to have convened physicians from India, China, Persia, and Dolpo who produced treatises and later staged the first ever Tibetan medical conference at Samye Monastery. The Three Nyepas Essential to this text and to Tibetan medicine as a whole is the balance between the three nyespas, Tripa, Baekan, and Loong.  Tripa corresponds to metabolic functions, blood and vascular processes, inflammation, some infections, and thermoregulation of the body (often described as “heat”-related processes in the body).  Baekan corresponds to mucosal and membranous functions, muscular, fat and osteopathic conditions (often described as “cold”-related processes).  Loong is connected with neuroendocrine functions, variants of emotion, stress, tension, and the transport of