Tibetan medicine and Auroville

The first time Tibetan doctors visited Auroville was during the ‘Tibet Week’ held in Bharat Nivas in 1987. At the time Dr. Dorjee Rabten, who is now the principal of the Medical College in Bangalore, Dr. Tashi and Dr. Tenzin Norbu visited Auroville’s still barren lands. It was Auroville’s first interaction with Men Tsee Khan, the Tibetan Medicine & Astrological Institute (TMAI), which is headquartered in Dharamsala.

It was in November 1990 that Dr. Tenzin Choedrak, the personal physician to the Dalai Lama, together with doctors Dorjee Rapten and Lobsang Tsultrim, visited Auroville to give consultations. More than 150 Aurovilians took the opportunity to have their pulses read and purchase the prescribed Tibetan medicines.

Dr. Choedrak also gave talks on the preciousness of the human body and on the origins and nature of the Tibetan medical system. In an interview with Auroville Today he spoke about the mental tension he had observed in many Aurovilians. “Their minds are very busy. They are multi-­minded, always thinking of doing many things, but there exists a lack of tolerance. There are certain heights which they want to reach, and when they cannot reach them, they become tense, depressed and over­anxious.” [see Auroville Today #15, March 1990]

It took more than five years before this visit resulted in the setting up of a permanent Tibetan medical centre in the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture of Auroville. In those years, patients would travel to Bangalore to visit the branch office of Men Tsee Khan. Since 1996, Tibetan doctors have been visiting Auroville every month.

“They started with just two patients and gave consultations on one day only,” recalls Kalsang, the executive of the Pavilion. “This slowly increased. Today the doctor comes from the TMAI branch in Chennai for three or four days a month and treats more than 200 patients, either at the Pavilion or by doing home visits.” The patients come not only from Auroville, but also from the surrounding villages and Pondicherry, and even from Chidambaram, Thiruvannamalai, Neyveli and Karaikal.

Sometimes there are miracle cures, says Kalsang. “There was one patient who couldn’t walk and had been visiting allopathic doctors for years, without result. He was treated by one of the visiting Tibetan doctors, Dr. Dorjee Rapten, who gave him certain medicines and treated him with Sang-bom, also known as ‘suction cups’, one of the external therapeutic treatment methods of Tibetan Medicine. The function of the suction cupping is to improve the Loong (Qi and blood) circulation in the channels of the body as well as reduce stress. As a result, the patient slept for a few days, then got up, stood up and walked away. His family, who were attending him, couldn’t believe what they saw. They all started to cry and the patient dashed off to the doctor to touch his feet in gratitude. He was so happy that he started recommending Tibetan medicine to all and sundry, to the point that we had to ask him to tone down, as his miraculous treatment might not work for everybody and we don’t want people to get disappointed.”

Dr. Samphel Tsering is currently the visiting Tibetan doctor. Born in Tibet, he came as a refugee to India, studied in the Tibetan Children’s Village School in Dharamsala, and then did the five and half year course Menpa Kachupa at the TMAI, getting the equivalent of a Bachelor degree in Sowa-Rigpa. This was followed by a one year internship. He now works at the TMAI branch office in Chennai and has been treating Auroville patients for the last two years.

Dr. Tsering recalls how, during COVID, all Tibetan doctors and their staff had to be vaccinated, using allopathic medicines, which was not to their liking. “In our experience, the western medicines only suppress symptoms of disease. But we use herbal medicines which deal with the root of the problem.”

Asked to what extent Tibetan medicines are compatible with allopathic or Ayurvedic medicines, Dr. Tsering responds that there is no basic incompatibility. “I have patients who only rely on Tibetan medicine. There are others who take Tibetan medicine along with Ayurvedic or allopathic medicine. The combination works. Though the medicines don’t affect each other, the patients are advised to wait one hour before taking the other.”

Has he also observed the mental tension Dr. Choedrak had seen in many Aurovilians so many years ago? Dr. Tsering nods. “Many of my older patients are full of stress, anxiety, depression, and some suffer insomnia. They tell me it is caused by the present political situation in Auroville. Allopathic medicines, such as sleeping pills, block the functioning of the brain. Tibetan medicine connects to the internal energy level. When there is depression, the internal energy fluctuates too much, and the inner balance is lost. We have some medicines which alleviate these problems. They are unique, in the sense that they connect the mind and heart, and are therefore efficient.”

Like allopathic medicines, not all Tibetan medicines work as hoped. But the Tibetan medical system is increasingly accepted. Kalsang foresees that in the coming years, many more patients will seek the help of Tibetan doctors in Auroville.