Post Series: Global Traditional Medicine Systems
In order to spread awareness about the rich living herbal traditions from around the world, this post series is intended to introduce some of the characteristics of the herbal or traditional medicine systems to which plants belong.
Another one of the world’s oldest known medical systems, Traditional Tibetan Medicine (aka. Sowa Rigpa, or “the science of healing”) has a history dating back to than 2000 years. Its origins are pre-Buddhist and pre-Bon, a local tradition, as well as Bon (from about 300 B.C.) which evolved over time, while also having influences from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Ayurveda and Arabian traditional medicine. It is one of the dominant health care systems for many regions, including Tibet, the Himalayan communities, Bhutan, Mongolia, Ladakh, Buryatia, and some areas/settlements of China and India.
A key early text which canonized its medical philosophy is the Gyuzhi, or “Four Medical Tantras”. In TTM, The mind and body are integrated at a subtle level through five elements (earth, water, fire, wind, and space). There is also a fundamental theory of three elements which govern the body’s physiology, “rLung”, “mKris-pa” and “Badkan”. There are seven essential body constituents in TTM, nutritional essence, blood, muscle tissue, fat tissue, bone, bone marrow and regenerative fluids.
Among the treatment modalities employed in TTM are pulse analysis, urinalysis, Tibetan acupuncture, herbal medicine, and moxibustion. TTM uses herbs, animals, and sometimes minerals to treat disease. Among the 3,105 natural medicines recently recorded in use, this includes 2,644 plants distributed among 54 families.
Today TTM is reemerging and reaching out globally across the world, inlcding in North America, Europe, southease Asia, eastern Europe, Latin America, Russia and Africa. TTM and Buddhist philosophy are also deeply intertwined.
One of my favorite concepts of all traditional medicine concepts: TTM considers ignorance to be the root cause of all disease.
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