Legacy of Tibetan Medical System
Tibetans, Tibetan Medicine: Ancient System of Medicine and Philosophy
I read the news the other day, (July 6, 2020) that His Holiness Dalai Lama celebrated his 85th birthday. I have fond memories of his immigration to India. It was the summer of 1959, and I was working in Himachal Pradesh in a hill station, called Dalhousie. I was an Entomologist, working for the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control. Although he entered India on the 31st of March 1959, he came to Dharmashala in Himachal Pradesh on the 30th of April 1960, to establish a temporary home for Tibetan immigrants, who followed him. During his frequent visits to India and travel within the country, he made a visit to Dalhousie in the spring of 1959. Of course, I made it a point to go to the city center to join the crowds, who had come to pay their respect to this ‘living God.’ I saw him again in the Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis after almost half a century. His visit to the Twin Cities (May &, 2011), was hosted by the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota. “One Heart, One Mind, One Universe” -Medicine Buddha. Empowerment: A Tibetan Cultural and Spiritual Ceremony. Mary Jo Keitzer, director of the Center for Spiritual Healing, University of Minnesota welcomed him for this special event.
Back to my essay, -everywhere he went, he was greeted by huge crowds of well-wishers, admirers, many of them who had traveled long distances, just to get a glimpse of him. According to the news reports, the task of hosting the Tibetan followers of Dalai Lama “was not made easier by the fact the Lamas’ followers were explosively sensitive, to the smallest niceties or protocol.” This essay is not about His Holiness, who is even now revered all over the world, and Indians, in general, are proud to have him and his followers as special guests. This essay is about the extreme sensitivity that exists even to this day, when it comes to interaction, with this protected minority community in India.
In late November of 2019, I read an article in the Times of India titled, “India and China now spar over the legacy of the Tibetan Medical System.” It further stated, “India and China are at loggerheads over the legacy of one of the oldest systems of traditional medicine, known as Sowa-Rigpa, which has similarities to Ayurveda,” since it is popular in the states of Sikkim, Arunachala Pradesh, West Bengal, Darjeeling, Himachal Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Ladakh. This news item reminded me of my earlier attempts with AYUSH, to get recognition for this system of medicine.
During my tenure at the Medical School at the University of Minnesota, I was quite actively involved in the newly developed Department of Spiritual Healing, which was headed by Mary Jo Keitzer. Professor Miriam Cameron used to teach both Ayurvedic as well as Tibetan Medicine. In fact, I had convinced Prof Cameron to collaborate with me on validating the Dosha System of classification of metabolic disorders, in Traditional Indian and Tibetan Medicine. Anyway, during that period, Prof Cameron suggested, that we should get full recognition of the Tibetan Medical System by the Government of India. Hence, I tried to contact the Director of AYUSH to convince him of the importance of recognizing this ancient science of traditional therapy. When some of the senior members of the Tibetan Medicine came to know about our attempts with the Government of India, they wrote to me in very simple terms, -Not to meddle with such requests and mediation.
In view of this unanticipated development, I gave up my attempts to get recognition by the AYUSH for Tibetan Medicine as a part of the Traditional Medicine of India. The news that I read in Times of India, about the new irritations between the two Asian giants, -about who owns this ancient healing science, renewed my curiosity. An article in the New York Times (NYT) dated July 27, 2017, titled, “China and India File Rival Claims Over Tibetan Medicine,” explains how this story developed over the years. According to the NYT, in March of 2017, China filed paperwork asking the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization to recognize medicinal bathing, one of many practices of Sowa-Rigpa, the Tibetan medicine, as part of its “intangible cultural heritage.” “If China is applying, of course, India can also apply,” says Geshe Ngawang Samten, the vice-chancellor of the Central University of Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, India. Continuing this debate,-the founding text of Tibetan Medicine is “for the whole world to enjoy” says Tashi Tsering Phuri, the director of the Tibetan Medical and Astro-Science Institute in Dharmashala, the Indian City that serves as the seat of Tibetan Government in exile and the residence of the Dalai Lama.
In 2010, India officially recognized Sowa-Rigpa as an India medicinal system. India notes on a government website that while “there are various schools of thought about the origin of the medical tradition,’ most of its theory and practice is like that of Ayurveda, an Indian tradition that India says first came to Tibet in the third century. Robert Thurman, a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University, said that because China “forcibly” owned most of the Tibetan Plateau. But to claim that somehow China has been the origin of the tradition is, frankly, just silly, Mr. Thurman wrote in an email. Having said that, it looks like Tibetans have no easy options to safeguard their cultural heritage under the current political conditions.
Prominent Tibetans feel that “if you do not take advantage of funds and opportunities, Tibetan medicine, together with much of traditional Tibetan culture, will gradually disappear.” Global Times dated 11/27/2019, has a report titled, “China makes great efforts promoting Tibetan Medicine as India continues hyping its claim.” It is hard to understand the position of India. When I initiated a dialogue with the Government officials and AYUSH representatives, they had no enthusiasm to consider the establishment of a Tibetan Medical School or to include the Tibetan Medicine as a part of the healing arts on AYUSH planform. Whereas, China’s first University for Tibetan Medicine, the School of Lhasa, Southwest of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, has maintained 7,000 talents on Tibetan Medicine. The University has six key national-level laboratories and provides seven undergraduate courses. The University has sent experts to promote Tibetan Medicine in 24 countries around the world.
According to Luobu Zhaxi, vice director of the Tibetan Medical Center at the China Tibetology Research Center, Beijing, - previously Tibetan medicine lacked support from experimental data, which has been a barrier for it to work with modern medicine. People may think that Tibetan Medicine contains minerals which may be toxic. These statements are true for Indian Traditional medicine as well. There are 94 Tibetan Medicine hospitals in China and five higher education institutes on Tibetan Medicine.
After seeing these correspondences and News Items, I wrote to Prof Miriam Cameron. I have reproduced her reply here for the readers:
Thank you, Gundu, for sending the link to the article. I just read it. This message also is going to my husband and colleagues so that they can read the article.
Yes, Tibetan medicine is much more like Ayurveda than Chinese medicine. His Holiness the Dalai Lama frequently says that he is a son of India and Buddhism came from India. Tibetans here are grateful to India for harboring them, whereas the Chinese Government continues to oppress Tibetans. You are fortunate to be Indian. I have a love for India and the people of India.
P.S. I forgot to tell you that in 2014 I developed another graduate course, CSPH 5319 - "Yoga and Ayurveda in India." Now Dr. Katie Schuver teaches the course. U of MN students’ study at Sadhaka Grama Ashram (the ashram of my late, great Yoga guru, Swami Veda Bharati (Professor Ushrabudh Arya of the University of Minnesota) near Rishikesh. They spend 2 days at the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust and Ayurveda Center (Institute created by Late Swami Rama) in Jolly Grant.
In 2016, we visited the Tibetan Medical College and related institutions in Xining, China (Amdo, Tibet). We saw that the Chinese Government is spending a great deal of money to support Sowa Rigpa. The Tibetan Medical College now offers a bachelor's degree, master's degree, and PhD in Tibetan medicine and a bachelor's degree in Tibetan medicine nursing. The nursing graduates take the same exam as other nursing graduates in Tibet. Even with all these accomplishments, the Tibetan doctors with a PhD are under intense pressure from Chinese authorities to support the Chinese Government and deny the existence of Tibetans outside of Tibet.
This international sparring reminds me of our efforts to get Tibetan Medicine recognized by AYUSH a decade ago. At that time, neither the AYUSH nor the Tibetan administration in exile wanted my mediation, now it looks like AYUSH has recognized it as part of its Traditional Medicine Systems.
Yes, I understand that AYUSH has recognized Sowa Rigpa as part of its Traditional Medicine Systems. Thanks for your help to accomplish this important goal.
Enjoy!
Mim
As you know, the U of M Center for Spirituality & Healing is expanding my decade of scholarly work involving Tibetan Medicine and Yoga by launching the exciting, new Tibetan Healing Initiative. Aimee Prasek, our THI RA, has been constructing a web site. The THI website is up and running! Take a look: https://www.csh.umn.edu/thi/
Tibetan-Medicine and You: A Path to Wellbeing, Better Health, and Joy
Miriam E. Cameron and Tenzin Namdul 2020.
I wrote at the beginning of this essay, that this is not about His Holiness Dalai Lama or the Tibetans who have made India their HOME. It is about the sensitivity between the two groups of people and how this sensitivity, has slowed down the progress that could have been made in half a century. I have no idea as to whether the Tibetans living in India consider that India is their adopted home for now and for a long time to come? From the Indian perspective, although they have included Tibetan Medicine in their AYUSH website and are trying to claim it at the national and international level, they have not made any efforts to improve the quality of this system. It is quite possible they too feel uncomfortable, without full support from the Tibetans living in India. I for one would like to see that India develops Institutions of higher learning and research not only for Tibetan Medicine but also for the other Traditional Indian Medical Systems.
AYUSH which represents Traditional Medicine, instead of promoting research, clinical validation, and transparency, is trying to ban research on AYUSH products by non-AYUSH individuals. We are trying to develop a bilateral research program on Tibetan Monks, in India with US scientists. Indian Government considers these people as protected minority and insists that we need to take the permission of His Holiness Dalai Lama to interact with them. The research is all about gathering information on lifestyle, which involves interviews and data collection. We have been told by the US researchers that these monks are ‘extremely sensitive’ and only designated Tibetan staff can interview them. What bothers me most is, that we have thousands of Tibetans with a very rich ancient culture, living in India as a protected minority. In my opinion, it will do great good, -if only they can accept the reality, even if it is temporary, that their immediate future is in India, and as such it would be great to do everything possible, to preserve and promote their culture, including the ancient medicine with full cooperation with the Indian Government and its people. On the other hand, India should treat this population as special guests and provide them every opportunity for growth and prosperity in India, and not continue to treat them forever as the “Protected Minority.”
Gundu H. R. Rao, Emeritus Professor, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota. July 8, 2020.
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