Book on English Translation of Tibetan Medicine Released!

Unlike past situation of using the benefit of Tibetan medicine only within its limited boundary, it should be made available to be utilized commonly by all English speaking medical practitioners, scientists and researchers who have great concern in providing health to the human beings. To serve this purpose and also to introduce new thoughts and methods to facilitate greater benefits to the people of the world, Men Tsee Khang (Tibetan Medical and Astrological ) has initiated a Translation project of translating the entire Gyud Shi (Four Tantra) of Tibetan Medicine. Recently, it has brought out an English translation of the first two Tantras of Gyud Shi titled “Basic Tantra and Explanatory Tantra from the Secret Quintessential Instructions on the Eight Branches of the Ambrosia Essence Tantra. The direct translation of the first two Tantras is the first book of its kind published by Men Tsee Khang.

The Basic Tantra presents an overview of the essence of the Tibetan Medicine and clearly outlines the basic principles of health and disease,followed by the methods of diagnosis and treatment approaches. At the end, an enumeration of all the knowledge has been provided in the form of metaphor.

The Explanatory Tantra deals with the theoretical foundation of Tibetan medicine in an in-depth, detailed and systematic way. The theory of Five Elements and its influence in the formation, existence and destruction of human body have clearly been revealed. The relevance of this philosophical background is explained in all the aspects associated with the formation of human body, the manner in which body is disordered and finally the manner in which the disorder is being treated. The second part of the book begins with the formation of human body followed by the description of the anatomical structure, physiological characteristics and the final disintegration of human body. The cause and condition of a disorder, location, characteristics, signs and symptoms and the classification of disorders have been explained thoroughly. The Tibetan medical knowledge on diet and behavior can be effectively utilized both in terms of treating the disorder and also in the prevention of disorders. Many chapters on diet and behavior have been dedicated towards fulfilling this purpose. This second part also deals with the knowledge on compounding of medicinal substances, the therapeutic effects of each medicinal substances, followed by distinctive means of diagnosis and finally the wide range of therapeutic approaches. The Explanatory Tantra involves the whole of Tibetan medical philosophy and its practice and is therefore regarded as the most valuable of the Four Tantras.

Dr. Thokmay Paljor, Dr. Passang Wangdu and Dr. Sonam Dolma, all graduates of Tibetan Medical and Astrological College took the responsibility of the entire translation and it took them 7 years to complete it.

The book is in a bi-lingual format and contains 6 chapters in the first part and 31 chapters in the second with 375 pages in all. Some useful appendixes have also been included in this edition.