The basics of Tibetan medicine

The founder of the Bonpo religion, Lord Sherab Mewo, taught the Tibetan medical system to his favourite son and disciple Chebutishe, who proceeded to write many commentaries on the subject. This system was to prevail for many years in Tibet until it came into contact with Ayurvedic medicine following a visit of two South Indian physicians to Tibet. In the 7th century A.D., an international conference was held in a Tibetan monastery during the reign of King Drisong Detsen, that was attended by physicians from India, China, Persia and Nepal.

During the 11th or 12th century the essence of all the different medical traditions was collected into a text called the ‘Four Great Tantras’, which is still the main reference work for the Tibetan medical system.

Tibetan medicine is based on the notion of the interdependence of the five basic cosmophysical elements: earth, space, water, fire and air. As our bodies are composed of the same elements as our environment from where we draw sustenance, a disrupted environment can cause many diseases. A Tibetan prophecy from one of the medical tantras states that “there will be a time when material progress will be so great that the value of love and compassion as well as positive mental attitudes will be greatly diminished. There will be many conflicts between different ideas and ideologies. Because of material progress there will be great advances in science and technology but due to this, people will engage in the destruction of their own environment. The earth will be shaken and polluted, its ecology destroyed. Pollution of the environment will affect all forms of vegetation and the consumption of affected vegetation will weaken the organs and immune systems of the human body and give rise to a variety of fatal diseases.”