The Tibetan Medicine
The Tibetan Medicine
What is Tibetan Medicine ?
Tibetan Medicine is a very ancient medical system based on Buddhist philosophy and psychology. It explains that everything existing or non-existing in the world derives from the mind and the five elements. The mind is considered to be the base because all existences and moments depend on its movements; it is the creator of every external and internal phenomena.
The Tibetan Medicine
Body Constitution
The term used to denote a person’s general constitution or body type is rangzhin, which also means “inherent nature” or “essence.” As a result of the particular assemblage of the five elements engineered by one’s karma, people have a certain physiognomy from birth. The details of this process are described in embryology.
The Tibetan Medicine
The Three Humors
The mind is the background, the pillar of life, the hidden power, the essence, and the covering of the body which provides the base for the physical body to exist. The humors then build the body constituents and develop the system of the body and its functions, and are the basis of the theory and practice of Tibetan Medicine. The theory describes the three principles of the humors and their threefold causes (mental predisposition, elemental energy and physical cause) and their functions.
The Tibetan Medicine
The Medical Practice
A doctor of medicine or healer-physician (tsojé menpa) knows mind and emotions, the body and humoral function, etiology, pathology, treatment, materia medica, and pharmacy, and applies this knowledge skillfully.
The Tibetan Medicine
Seasonal Advice
Seasons are the natural global earth clock and the rhythm of the world. Equinox and solstice make the two main divisions of the seasons, which further divide into four seasons. The same seasonal phenomenon is found inside the body of each being living in this world. Tibetan Medicine and Buddhist tantras explain that the external seasons exist because of the solar and lunar systems. Similarly, the internal solar and lunar channels reflect the phenomenon and give the internal seasons. Most people know the seasons, but few of them know their effects on the body/mind and their prevention.
The Tibetan Medicine
Disorders
From birth, all human beings and animals are ruled by the three mental poisons and humors. When the balance between the humors is maintained by right diet, behavior and psychology and climate, the body remains healthy, or in a state of what Tibetan Medicine calls: Thamel-neme (thamel-nedmed). If the humors are vitiated and disturbed by the wrong factors, their energy can decrease or over accumulate leading to imbalance and subsequently to disease.
