Glimpses into Tibetan medicine

In early November, the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture hosted Dr. Tsewang Tamdin, Visiting Physician to H.H. the Dalai Lama. With over 37 years of clinical experience around the world, Dr. Tamdin is one of the most experienced doctors at the Tibetan Medical & Astro Institute (TMAI) in Dharamsala and is Chairman of the Academic Council of TMAI.

While he was here, Dr. Tamdin gave individual consultations and a talk on Tibetan medicine. He also spoke to Auroville Today.

How does Tibetan medicine differ from conventional allopathic medicine?

Western medicine is often not able to diagnose the deeper reason for disease. For example, when allopathic doctors are treating arthritis, they do not know the real cause factor: they simply try to alleviate the pain. But in Tibetan medicine we understand that arthritis is of many different types with many different causes.

For diagnosis, allopathic medicine depends upon technology, like blood tests or MRI, while we use pulse reading and checking the urine. We can tell by the pulse whether a person has high or low blood pressure, a heart problem, fatty liver, hepatitis, diabetes etc.

In Tibetan medicine, we say there are three principal energies or humours in your body, rlung, mkhrispa and badken, which are there when you are born, and they need to be in balance to allow you to function properly, both physically and mentally. If the balance is disturbed this may manifest, under the influence of factors like diet, age, lifestyle, behavior and the season, as a disease. The Tibetan doctor seeks the specific cause for each individual.

Medicines will act differently on different people according to the predominant nature of the individual. We divide people into seven different natures. In Tibetan medicine, we give the medicine according to the predominant nature of the individual.

In fact, each individual reacts to an external stimulus in different ways. A disease may not give the same response to the same treatment in two different patients. This means that each individual patient is unique and, therefore, the doctor must treat each patient in a very individual manner. This is also very different from the allopathic approach.

In other words, the Tibetan approach to treatment is holistic and penetrates to the underlying causes of disease. This approach gives a very good response, and it is why many diseases which are untreatable in the West can be treated by Tibetan medicine. However, at times it can be useful to use technology, like machines that check for blood pressure, blood sugar etc. if there are doubts or to confirm an initial diagnosis.

What about the role of the mind in illness?

We believe that the mind is the number one cause of many illnesses because the state of the mind determines what happens in the body. Tibetan medicine, like Buddhism, teaches that the mind is the creator and destroyer. It can cause both disease and health, depending on the thoughts and emotions that are predominant in one’s experience.

This is another major difference from allopathic medicine which is only now beginning to acknowledge the influence of mind upon body.

There is also the influence of karma. We believe you have been a human being many times before, and the karmic action, or consequences, of what you did before will manifest in later lives. So karmic action combined with an imbalance in the energy in the body can also cause sickness.

How do you recognise a ‘karmic’ disease? Can it be treated?

A karmic disease will not respond to any treatment. The doctor can help by reducing the intensity of the suffering to a certain extent, but the patient has to suffer until it is over: there is no escape. The Buddha said you have to suffer the consequences of what you did and learn from it.

There is also a karmic relationship between the doctor and the patient. Sometimes a doctor can be wonderfully experienced but can do nothing with a patient, while another can do a wonderful job because of a positive karmic relationship.

Tibetan medicine is obviously deeply-rooted in Buddhist philosophy. If the patient is a non-believer does this affect the efficacy of the treatment?

We heal by science not by spirituality. We call it Sowa-Rigpa, the “science of healing”. Every Tibetan doctor has to undergo rigorous training before he qualifies. It takes six years to attain the first qualification, a degree equivalent to a MBB but 30 to 40 years to complete the full training, although, of course, one continues to learn for a lifetime.

Every doctor learns how to diagnose, and how to treat the patient through astrology, herbal and mineral remedies and to use what we call external therapy. This can be moxibustion, compression, massage, purgatives etc. He will also learn about proper diet and lifestyle because in Tibetan medicine we say proper diet and lifestyle are the two major ways of maintaining health and prolonging life.

But there is another very important aspect to being a Tibetan physician. It is not necessary to be a monk – I’m not a monk – but in your heart you should be a monk, meaning that you should have compassion and kindness towards all. When we learn medicine, the aim is not to become famous or get a lot of money. The prime intention of the Tibetan doctor is to serve people who need help through kindness and compassion. Moreover, as the Buddha says, it is important to be a good example yourself before trying to heal others.

This is where our mentality is quite different from that of many allopathic doctors.

Ultimately, however, the main requirement is for each individual to know how to preserve their own health. You should not have to rely upon doctors giving you a remedy every time you fall ill.

You have worked extensively with Western as well as Tibetan and Indian patients. Are there particular health problems associated with Westerners?

Definitely. Mind problems like depression, anxiety, and nervousness are very common with Westerners, as well as heart problems, liver and digestive problems, MS, Parkinson’s, diabetes and high blood pressure. Some of these problems, like depression, have no real remedies in Western medicine.

The Western emphasis on the individual, the ‘I’, gives rise to strong egos. The ego always desires something more and is never happy with what it has, and this creates stress and anxiety. This causes disturbances in the body.

How do you treat such problems?

We say you should learn not to keep putting yourself first. This can be a particular challenge if you are young and have no trusted adviser to stop you going in the wrong direction, which is often the case with Western youngsters who leave home around 17 or 18 years old.

In Tibetan society, even when you are 40 or 60 years old, you still live with your family and your family supports you. And if you are doing wrong you are expected to listen to the advice of your elders and to act upon it.

Tibetan society is not such an ego-driven, individualistic society as the West as having good relationships is very important to us. In the West, when people retire they often get depressed because they no longer have any meaning in their lives. But when you retire in Tibet you feel happier because now you have more time to take care of your grandchildren and parents, and you can do more spiritual activities.

What about the younger Tibetans who have grown up in India? Do they have different health problems from the older ones who were born in Tibet?

Yes. Those who have grown up in India are more Westernised and have more diseases because their food habits are very bad: they do not eat organic food, they don’t eat or sleep at the right time and, generally, they are very anxious. The older ones who were born in Tibet are more patient. If they fall ill, they say it is karmic action and bear it with less anxiety. Also, sometimes they recite mantras or do prostrations, which can be very helpful for these individuals.

You are a visiting physician to H.H. The Dalai Lama. Why does such a spiritually-evolved individual need a doctor?

It is true that he is an enlightened person spiritually but as a human being his body is composed of the same five elements as the rest of us, and, like the rest of us, eating, drinking, sleeping and the environment all affect his body. He has a human form like others so he can suffer like us. However, he is very knowledgeable about preserving his health and if we give advice, he always listens and is very cooperative.