Tibetan medicine is both a system of treatment and a vision of reality, a heritage of humanity, as well as a form of spiritual teaching that has its roots in popular beliefs and traditions that refer to pre-Buddhist shamanism. Learn to believe.

The origins of Tibetan medicine

There are many theories on the origins of Tibetan medicine: some scholars place them within the Indian medical tradition, particularly in Ayurvedic medicine . According to other sources, Tibetan medicine is linked to traditional Chinese medicine and originates from the complex system based on the two Yin / Yang forces and interaction between 5 elements. According to Namkhai Norbu, glottologist, world-renowned researcher, physician recognized as the reincarnation of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (first Dharmaraja of Bhutan), there is some truth in both positions.

According to the seventy-two-year-old great sage and teacher, both traditions converge in Tibetan medicine , but to understand their profound characteristics one must delve into Tibetan culture. We are not talking about the culture modified by the introduction of Buddhism, but of that traditional system that in Tibet was prior to the entry of religion. In particular, the origin can be traced back to Shan Shung , a kingdom formerly located in the region that corresponds to ancient western Tibet.

What a Tibetan doctor does

A fundamental pillar of Tibetan medicine is the vision of man, understood as a microcosm inserted in the macrocosm that is the world, in its global and metaphysical meaning. The diagnosis of a Tibetan doctor is equivalent to the search for those symptoms which trigger the imbalance and, therefore, the disease. The Tibetan doctor starts from the affections of the breath , from the state of the tongue and the skin .

He then checks the sense organs, secretions and excretions. The medicines that are administered have a natural herbal composition ; there is no trace of chemicals, which is understandable, from the point of view of which disease is, first of all, the alteration of the spiritual process of an individual.