Tibetan medicine forms a fundamental part of Tibetan culture. Known as one of the oldest medical traditions, it is believed that this medical system is as old as Tibetan civilization. The medical studies are based on Buddhist teachings and on the culture that prevailed in South Asia and the Himalayan regions before Buddhism took over.
Ideas behind this medical culture
This medical system emphasis on three main ideas.
- A human body has three vital factors- Long (breath), Peigen (soil & water) and Chiba (internal heat).
- A human body has seven elemental substances- flesh, fat, diet essence, blood, marrow, bone and spirit.
- A human body has three types of excreta- sweat, faeces and urine.
According to Tibetan people, the impact of climate, environment, daily life and diet cause various human diseases.
Four methods of diagnosis
Tibetans imbibe four ways to diagnose the disease- a) observation, b) auscultation and olfaction, c) interrogation, d) pulse feeling and palpation. The first urine in the morning and change in the tongue’s coating are also taken into consideration. Diseases are categorised as cold disease and hot disease, whereas, the treatment is divided into oral and external treatment.
Bloodletting, acupuncture, stanching bleeding with hot butter, cupping and putting distiller’s grains to the damaged area are some of the external methods of treating.
The traditional medicines
Do you know that there are almost 2,294 kinds of medicines available? Approximately, three hundred medicines are mostly used, among which 70% are extracted from herbs and plants, 14% and 12% from minerals and animals respectively. One-third of Tibetan medicine uses raw materials similar to Traditional Chinese Medicine and more than half contain herbs and plants indigenous to Tibet. These medicines are further classified as per their functions, tastes and nature, which involves six tastes, seventeen functions and eight nature.
Interestingly, there are over thousand of wild plants used to make medicine. The well-known plants comprise Fritillaria Thunbergii, rhubarb, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, Chinese caterpillar fungus, Caulis Spatholobi, Rhizoma Gastrodiae and pseudo-ginseng. Besides, there are more than two-hundred fungi found, including mushrooms, yellow fungi, songrong, zhangzi fungus, tremellas, hedgehog hydnum and black fungi. Stone-like omphalias, tuckahoes and songganlan are used for medicinal purpose.
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