Gyueshi Translation Project

There are different views on the translation of Tibetan medical textbook called “Gyueshi” into other languages. Many people refute that the Gyueshi translation should not be done by Tibetans. However, many medical books have been translated into English by non-Tibetan speakers, and the translation seems to be distorted as the translator lacks the knowledge of Tibetan medicine. Thereafter, it will create a weak image on Tibetan medicine.     

Chabch Medical College Protest against Chinese rule in Tibet

Amid a spate of self-immolation in Tibet, around thousand students from the Tibetan Medical School (Sorig Lobling) situated at Chabch, staged a peaceful demonstration to protest Chinese policy towards Tibet, on November 26th, 2012, around 6:00 a.m. (CST).  And the crow began chanting anti-government  slogans: "freedom in Tibet" and "equal right for ethnic minorities". After two hours of demonstration, Chinese security forces cracked down on the demonstrators, many were injured and at least 20 were hospitalized.

The provocation was said to be the authorities’ distribution to the students, all in their early teens, of a booklet which denounced Tibetans who had carried out self-immolation protests for their “acts of stupidity” and which described the Tibetan language as irrelevant, reported Radio Free Asia (Washington) No 26.

Significance of Lineage

There are three distinguishable features of traditional knowledge, that can separate it from the modern, scientific knowledge. First, divine source of knowledge, for Buddhism, which is a traditional knowledge and evolved from the enlightened body, not from ordinary ones. Second, logical reason, which supports the fundamental principles of tradition, cannot be changed from time to time. Third, lineage, which means transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next generation, father to sons, teachers to students.  In the traditional system of Tibetan medicine lineage is upheld as important qualification for being a better physician, as the Gyueshi or the Four Tantras mentions:

A physician without medical lineage

Just as a fox which enthrones itself to the seat of the king

is not able to earn everyone's respect

Even if respected, cannot hold the kingdom down      

  

How much should we eat and drink?

How much
How much should one eat and drink as per meal? It is very simple. Divide your stomach into four portions. Fill two portions with food, one portion with drinks and leave one portion unfilled   or empty for the circulation of movement energy. However, digestible foods and drinks one can have more than two portions of the stomach filled up, while indigestible ones one can have less than two portions of the stomach filled up. In the Four Tantras of Tibetan medicine, mentioned as one half of the stomach should be filled with solid food. One quarter should be filled with water and the fourth quarter should be kept empty for accommodating loong.


Benefits of Healthy Eating Regime
Then, it can protect the momentum of the digestive heat in the stomach thereby providing smooth mechanism of digestion process. If the digestion goes well, it is the real insurance of one's life. Health heavily depends not on how much one eats and drinks, but how digestion goes on. Mahamata Gandhi said: "if someone does not the significance of indigestion, he or she does not any thing about health".

Harmful Effects of Unhealthy Eating Regimen

We should eat and drink how much our body demands. No need to drink more water- seven litters of water a day- as our body does not require that much. Drinking too much water unnecessarily leads to weakening of the digestive heat, resulting in the development of indigestion, which is attributable to other conditions such as eating more solid foods, indigestible ones, and eating late in the evening.

The seven psychosomatic natures in Tibetan medicine

We all human beings are equal; there are no more differences in terms of communication and bodily activities such as walking, dancing and eating. However, with regards to physical condition and mental stage, we find difference within us. Some are big, whereas some small. Some are tolerant, whereas some are not. These differences arise due to proportional presence of five elements in our body. Without understanding the type of our body, we could manage our body and mind at the best level. Maintain your health by understanding your body type

A loong type of bod

thin

Dry and rough skin

Too short or too tall

Have stooped body shape

Dark or bluish complexion

Creaking sounds from the joints while walking

Emotional

Restlessness

Variable appetite

Sensitive to cold wind

Light sleep

Talkative

Fond of recreational activities

A tripa type of body

Intelligent

proud

Short-tempered

Aggressive nature

Yellowish stool, hair, skin and urine

Excess body heat

Oily skin

unpleasant smell

Sensitive to sunbeam and heat

Good appetite

Excessive thirst and hunger

Average lifespan

Middle class

Medium height

craving for sweet and cold foods

A baeken type of body

Giant

Fair complexion

Upright body posture

Cool body

Less appetite

Tolerante

deep sleeper

Financially wealthy

Longer lifespan

Procrastinator

Longer lifespan

Preferring to hot taste diet

After reading the feature of body type, you may understand the type of your body is. If you find your body is a loong type, then, you are recommended to take more nutritious and warm-natured foods, such as ginger tea. If your body is a tripa type, you should not eat oily foods, try to take less. If your body is a baeken type, then you should eat warm-natured foods, very often noodles, well-cooked food and do daily exercise such as walking.     

see also

Why does name matter?

One day, a disciple asked Confucius: "If a king were to entrust you with a territory which you could govern according to your ideas, what would you do first?"

Confucius replied: "My first task would certainly be to rectify the names."

The puzzled disciple asked: "Rectify the names?…Is this a joke?"

Confucius replied: "If the names are not correct, if they do not match realities, language has no object. If language is without an object, action becomes impossible - and therefore all human affairs disintegrate and their management becomes pointless and impossible. Hence, the very first task of a true statesman is to rectify the names."

Source: Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, UK

What does Health Mean?

According to World Health Organization, health means a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely absence of disease or infirmity. With reference to traditional Tibetan Medicine, health means a balanced state of the three principle energies.  

Going in-between lines of these two disciplines, traditional system seems to be more holistic as it encompasses energy levels, which is beyond the cellular explanation of modern science.  The concept of mental well-being may imply the ability of the mind to function normally, though the mind full of negative emotions such as hatred, delusion and attachment.  Therefore, health is also a state of complete spiritual well-being.

Spirituality largely deals with the way we think, not how the mind is well-being. There is a suitable question which determines the state of your spirituality. Is the glass half full or half empty?

When you say the glass is half empty, you are well mentally but not spiritually. Sticking to the points, when you feel angry, you are well mentally but not spiritually. 

The definition for health given by WHO is a hyponym of complete health definition.    

An Appeal to My Fellowmen

By Yonden Gonpo Yuthok

Thee all,

Abandon selfishness, miserliness, and dissimulation

Avail yourselves in the benefits of patients

With compassionate hearts

Be persistent and consistent,

While not seeking temporary benefits

From rich friends

Render medicine and external therapies

Effectively to treat unbearable diseases,

 Without due consideration of personal position and gifts

Be a universal doctor,

By bridging the gap between the nearness and the farness

Not always be at home

Go to all places, and see all patients

Sweat out not to be a high-ranked physician,

But, to care the poor and the blind,

With full of love

Avert from alcoholic consumption,   

Conversely, rely on dairy products

Avoid riding a horse or a mule

Instead, go on foot to serve sea of patients

Something you have learned

Still many things left to be learned,

Thus, even being old,

You persevere to learn

Do not trial human life as machine,

Accept the limitation of one’s knowledge  

  

    

Human Health and Spring

How Does Season Affect Human Health? 

With reference to the Four Tantras of Tibetan Medicine, "During monsoon, the prevailing oily and cool qualities tend to accumulate tripa, however it does not manifest due to prevailing coolness of the season. It manifests during autumn, when oily and warm qualities prevail, and is pacified with the onset of cool quality of the early winter."The strongest evidence of human seasonality comes in the form of seasonal effective disorder, or SAD. Its victims suffer major depressive episodes related to the seasons, usually beginning in late Fall or early Winter, and subsiding in Spring or Summer. This is one of the modern scientific evidences suggesting positive effect of Spring on human health.Spring is the time when the body is in sync with its surroundings. The endocrine system is rejuvenated and this can up-regulate your mood in the best manner. Spring can get you going as it is this time when the body is most comfortably managing the heat-exchange or energy production and expenditure.This is the time when your appetite is normalized as compared to those cold 'hogging' Winter days and hot 'anorexic' Summer days. Spring is the time when your hormonal system is at its best. This also increases your libido, sexuality, euphoria and spirituality.These long-sunny Spring days would be a perfect time to start with a new fitness program  This is because it will get you the optimum 'fat-burn' during the coming Summer. Summer is the time when the heat-exchange will become faster supporting quicker and better fat-loss.

1000th Birthday of Terdhon Drapa Ngonshey

In the history of Tibetan Medicine, Terdhon Drapa Ngonshe (གཏེར་སྟོན་གྲྭ་པ་མངོན་ཤེས) is in the chain of the unbroken lineage of Tibetan Medicine, and is a man who used his life to the preservation of traditional surgery. He is a man beyond compare.

He was born in the year of 1012 A.D, and was contemporary with Marpa Lotsawa, a great master of Kagyue sect. He began his life—doing a shepherded to a family settled in Ngayul, for five years and then learned traditional knowledge, including Tibetan Medicine and Surgery from Zey Lama.

His name "Terdhon Drapa Ngonshey" partly accounts his works and achievements. 'Terdhon' is a re-discoverer of ancient text. "Drapa" refers to his morality being at the centre of scholarly attraction. "Ngonshey" refers to his immeasurable knowledge on Abhidharma, (Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic and scientific re-workings of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist Sutras).

In an attempt to save his teacher, Zey from cardiac effusion, he made his teacher frightened by spraying very cold water over the face, at same time inserted a surgical instrument called ‘thurma’ to drain out the fluid from the heart, unfortunately resulting in the death of his teacher due to malpractice of the surgery. 

At the age of 79, he also suffered cardiac effusion and found room for the practical demonstration of surgical therapy called "thurma" in Tibetan Medicine, to his followers, and practiced it on his body and unfortunately died of the unsuccessful surgery.   

He handed over the great work of Youthok Gonpo to the next generation. The work of the Four Medical Tantras or Gyueshi, is pragmatically ascribed to Youthok Yonden Gonpo Nyingma. At the rein of the King Trisong Detsen, he composed the Four Medical Tantras, the fundamental text book of Tibetan Medicine partly based on Indian and Chinese Medicines. There is a stream of explanation that Youthok Y Gonpo secretly hid it at Samyae U tsi and Terdhon Drapa Ngonshey collected the buried treasury scripture from the shrine place (Sorig Kundue 1990), and passed it on to the next generation.

He composed great works including "Compendium of Tantra" or རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་བསྡུས་དོན།

His determination to pass the practice on to the next generation, is beyond human thought. Without his work and contribution, the lineage of Tibetan Medicine would have been 'broken'.

References:

Thinlay J. gangs ljongs gso rig bstan pa'i nyin byed rim byon gyi rnam thar phoghs bsgrigs. Dharamsala: Men-Tsee-Khang, 1991                                                                       

Tsering T. krung go'i gso rig kun 'dus lus bod kyi gso ba rig pa. Tibet: Minority Publishing House, 1990

Maintain your health by practicing Bodhichitta

Bodhichitta is a Sanskrit word meaning of 'awakening mind' or 'mind of enlightenment.  It is simply an aspiration to render service to worldly beings on the same foot as we do something to our own children, and is a practice by which one can sooner or later attain Buddhahood. Beyond the concept of Buddhism, the practice of cultivating Bodhichitta brings valuable advantages to oneself as well as others, especially prevents process of aging, disease and recuperation. Thus, the practice of Bodhichitta is not only a tool to attain the Buddhahood but is a noble medicine for mental health.

Doing something for the benefits of others and thinking the other being more important than oneself is an unimaginable thought to benefit oneself as well as others. In the pursuit of Bodhichitta one should always extend your helping hand to all, share the suffering of others and meditate on the welfare of all sentient beings. The Buddha said, "to make oneself happy, should you make others happy." Without involvement of other people conventionally one cannot be happy by oneself. If there is one who is in the dire need of help, if you do help, he or she will be happy by the way you become happy. Happiness that you pant for more comes from doing help to others. Happiness keeps your mind always peaceful and calm. The more your mind is peaceful and calm, the more your body becomes healthy. Thus, there is a saying from the Jewel Lamp: A Praise of Bodhicitta

With bodhichitta one drives feelings of pain
With bodhichitta one overcomes nastiness
With bodhichitta one cures unhappiness
With bodhichitta  one gets rid of fear

However, if you practice bodhichitta to benefit for yourself, is not a genuine practice of bodhichitta.

In modern science happy mind plays a significant role in health. The happy mind protects your immune system which keeps us away from infection. To be happy should we practice bodhichitta.While cultivating Bodhichitta there is no spacious room to develop illness and even the sick relieving from the pain. Thus, bodhichitta is a noble medicine for our mental health too. Thus, there is a saying from the Jewel Lamp: A Praise of bodhicitta:
By relying on the medicine of bodhicitta
all the diseases of defilement are cured
so in all the world it is definite
that there is no medicine like this

Who can study Tibetan Medicine?

To learn Tibetan Medicine, first one should have commitment to serve the poor and the needy, irrespective of caste and religion so forth.

Although Tibetan Medicine, both practically and theoretically, has deeply rooted in the principles of Buddhism, yet, one should not be a Buddhist follower can learn it. If someone who is equip ed with sublime motivation, there is no bar to learn the discipline.

However, depending on the education policy, above 25 years old students cannot apply for the course of Tibetan Medicine in some colleges.
   

The way to get man back on his feet

Sources: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article2562901.ece

PROFESSOR B. M. HEGDE

Time has come to abandon the disease era of medicine. We have to concentrate on the whole human organism for the future management of altered physiologies.

“There is no science of man,” wrote Nobel Laureate Alexis Carrel in his celebrated book Man, the Unknown. Modern medicine, even today, nearly 85 years after the death of conventional science following Werner Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, is buried in the linear science of Newtonian Physics which believes that man is made up of matter, which follows certain deterministic predictability patterns. That was before the new awareness in science of the atom having been made up of smaller sub-atomic elements. Even more earth- shattering was the discovery that atoms emit various strange energies such as X-rays and radioactivity.

water before meals helps to lose your weight

Some people like to drink water before meals but some like to drink water after meals. It is not the way always to follow personal taste and preference, though the body wants something else. Thus, our habit sometimes wants to change for the purpose of maintaining a proper health. If someone wants to lose the weight, one should drink  before meals, instead after meals. It helps to lose weight as one could not eat more.

It is possible somebody may be a diehard traditionalist or modernist. However, "Water before meals helps to lose one's weight" is explained both in Traditional Tibetan Medicine and  Modern Science.  In a publication of the Times of India dated on September 28, 2011, appeared a scientific finding " Water before meals aids weight loss". It reasons that water before meals curbs appetite and sheds weight. In a 7th century book entitled "Gyueshi" the fundamental textbook of Tibetan Medicine also mentioned, "one wants to lose weight, drink water before meals". It gives a different explanation but produces the same result. Water before meals vitiates the power of digestive heat. Once it gets weak, one could not eat more, resulting in weight loss.


 Too much weight gain or loss is a recipe for health hazard. In order to lose your excessive weight, please drink water before meals as it has mentioned both in traditional system and modern science.

Blessing from Sakya Gongma Rinpoche

Sakya Gongma Rinpoche transmitting the abridged teaching of Medicine Buddha to the students and staffs of Men-Tsee-Khang on 25th September, 2011, at Mentseekhang Hall, Dharmasala

Drinking water is helpful to your health

Every day one should drink  six liters of water, and more especially during summer times and hot days. Since water constitutes 75% of our body, it helps to smooth functioning of blood circulation, and bowl moment as well. Even a single cellular function needs water as a transporting agent to receive nutrients. Every half an hour our brain needs water for neurological functions.

Thereby water loses from our body in a swift way, even taking a few steps, in such case we could not notice its loss. It is important to replace the lost water timely, otherwise causes headache, thirst, blurring vision, dryness in the mouth to name a few. 

2nd International Conference on Tibetan Medicine

A three-day International Conference on Tibetan Medicine will be held at Men-Tsee-Khang, Dharamsala. This  second international conference is organized by the Central Council of Tibetan Medicine, Men-Tsee-Khang, CUTS, and Chokpori Tibetan Medical Institute.

This conference will be the 2nd international conference on Tibetan Medicine, considering the medical conference held at Samye, Tibet during King Tresong Duetsen in the 8 th century as the 1st international medical conference.

The organizing committee has invited Tibetan medical scholars from all round the world to explore their knowledge and practical experiences in accordance to the title of the conference. In addition, It will also provide younger Tibetan doctors with opportunity of paper presentation.

Will it be a historical day for us?

If we want to make the conference on Tibetan Medicine as a historical acclaim, we must turn our head back and find out the footprints laid by the First International Conference on Tibetan Medicine. It was held in 727 A.D. at Samyay under the ageist of King Trisong Deutsen. It was maybe the longest conference that had been conducted, as it involved in deciding the undecided principles through analytic debates and experimental observations, not just paper presentations. Finally, it composed a book called "Fearless Weapon', which was comprised of sublime wisdom acquired from China, India and Persia.

In 1998, so-called "First International Congress on Tibetan Medicine" was held at Washington for three days. Its proclamation failed as the First International Conference on TM already held in Tibet. In this case, it would be the Second International Conference on Tibetan Medicine, and the upcoming conference 2012 would be the third.

If we want to proclaim the upcoming conference as second international conference on Tibetan Medicine, we should be able to invite scholars from around the world and able to collect conclusive essence obtained through panel discussions. For instance, the origin of Tibetan Medicine should be debated and decided " Tibetan Medicine evolves from the civilization of Tibet". Taking into account all matters, three-day is not enough.

Moreover, same topics such as history of Tibetan Medicine, about research, there are no more precise topics and presentations. Why there is no topic like whether Youthok Yondon Gonpo composed Gyueshi or not, and  having Bon traditional speaker, Ayurvedic speaker, speakers from Tibet, and rest of the countries, on this particular topic

If the undecided remains undecided, it will not be the second international conference on Tibetan Medicine.  

A Successful Workshop on Tibetan Medicine at MCC, Ladakh

Tibetan Medical and Astro. Institute of H.H the Dalai Lama conducted  5-day course on Tibetan from July 4 to July 9, 10-day course on Tibetan from 11July to July 21. This kind of course on Tibetan Medicine can be considered an opening gate to those who are interested at learning Tibetan Medicine through English medium, as well as a piece of contribution towards the promotion, dissemination, preservation of centuries-old system of Tibetan Medicine. With these sheer aims and objectives, the courses on Tibetan medicine received huge compliments from the students and has benefited a lot.

The course was organized at Leh, Ladakh. The place is a mainstream of tourist attraction, and moreover reminiscent of some parts of Tibet.  Unforgotten to mention, there is a monastery which is somehow carbon-copy of Potala Palace, amazingly rising in the beautiful city of Lhasa. Going to Ladakh means many. To a Buddhist, it is meaningful pilgrimage, while to a non-Buddhist, it would be great adventure.    

                                                         A view of class presentation

Remembrance of Prof. Jampa Thinley

On 21 Feburary, 2011, Prof. Jampa Thinley passed away at the age of 83, due to an illness, at his residential place of Lhasa, the Chinese occupied capital city of Tibet. He did various works on Tibetan medicine and astrology, despite shouldering the main responsibility of Men-Tsee-khan Administration. He can be counted as one of the men who have kept Tibetan culture alive over fifty years. His uncertain demise་is a great loss to our generation.Our solidarity with his family members.

1928-2011

About His family:
He was born in 1928 to Mr, Kunchok Woeser and Mrs Kalsang Tsomo, a family called “Gyaltse Tshongkhang” dwelling in the god-blessed city, Lhasa. At the age of six, he learned Tibetan writing and reading from his father, without any difficulties. At the age of seven, he began to enroll in the prestigious private school called Kyiray Lobgra, in Lhasa. He studied there Tibetan writing, reading and spelling for six years and scored excellent results. At 13, his father died.

Education:His mother decided to educate him in order to uphold the unbroken lineage of his parental medical practices and asked Ven. Kenrab Norbu, a great scholar of Tibetan medicine and astrology, for help. By the virtue of having a pure and perfect relationship (guru-disciple) with late Dorjee Gyaltsen, (greandfater of Jampa Thinley) Ven. Kenrab Norbu accepted the boy with gold of heart, and recognized him as a reincarnation of his grandfather, Dorjee Gyalsten, a spiritual master from whom Kenrab Norbu received vows, teachings, and oral transmission. At his tender ages, he was not only a quick study but also a great persevering boy. When he was passing the age of eighteen, he accomplished an excellent result on traditional Tibetan medicine and astrology, after having learned Tibetan literatures, especially medical and astrological studies over nine years.  He kept on learning especially Tibetan medicine and astrology in addition to grammar, poetry, and Buddhist philosophical books including legs bshad klu sgrub dgongs rgyan ( The Perfect Words of Naga Juna)  and snying thig gi skor myur lam ‘kho ba’I gdms pa. Due to his perseverance, intelligence, and availability of his great masters, he became an eminent scholar. Besides, He received the Cap Award for his excellence in traditional Tibetan medicine and astrology. The Cap Award was established by Ven. Kyenrab Norbu in recognition of outstanding academic advances. The cap, made of a silk, the front embroidered with the picture of a myrobalan arjuna, representing medicine and the back embroidered with the pattern of a sword on a lotus, representing astrology. He was only the recipient of the Cap Award among his contemporary medical practitioners.

Contributions and Works:He composed or edited various books such as Biography of Desi Sangay Gyaltso,   Biographies of Great Medical Practitioners, Chronological Events of Lhasa Men-Tsee-Khang, An Attractive Allegory of the Four Medical Tantras, A Book on Tibetan Materia Medica, and Medical Painting Depicting Compendium of the Four Medical Tantras, totaling up to eight volumes, eighty research papers, and eleven textbooks.  He published some of these works in national and international journals and magazines, and received various awards, last not at least, huge compliments from the readers.

He incepted the Statue House in which statues of over fifty eminent scholars of medicines and astrology erected. On September 3, 1989, he found the University of Tibetan Medicine (sbod sman slob chen). He established Sorig Literature Research Center and also Astro. Research Centre. In addition, he began to run all hospitals and clinics through a medical system involved both Allopathic and traditional medical knowledge, in a well-controlled manner, thus he got remarks even from Jang Zeming, the former premier of PRC, “Jampa Thinley is a director imbued with outstanding controlling capability.”

Under the guidance of High Level Commisions, he was appointed in 1959 as an administive assistant to Ven. Khyenrab Norbu. As soon as the news of his appointment reached to the ears of the Director, Ven Kyenrab Norbu said with full of gladness, “ Now it is good. In my mind also needs an assistant director.”  Following the sad demise of Ven. Kyenrab Norbu, he was promoted to Director and had served Men-Tsee-Khang over thirty years (Thinley 1992).

He did the Chief Editor of gso rig kun due chen mo( Medical Textbooks), Advisors to many organizations and educational centers.

Further Reading: 

1.   Dadul. bod lugs gso rig tshig mdzod chen mo. Beijing: Minority Publishing House,    2006:545-546   

      2. http://www.tbrc.org/#library_person_Object-P4853

      3. www.amdotibet.cn

      4. Thinley, Jampa. gang ljongs gso rig bstan pa’i nyin byed rim byon gyi rnam thaphyongs bsgrigs. Dharamsala:       Men-Tsee-Khag, 1992. 455-462