Mysterious Tibetan medicines often used in the treatment of
complicated illnesses have been collected, compiled and published
in the local language, thanks to a science and research project
completed at the beginning of this month.
This is the first time a methodical, thorough and authoritative
publication on Tibetan esoteric recipes and prepared prescriptions
has been published.
The China Tibet Research Center and the Sci-tech Research
Institute of Traditional Tibetan Medicine under the Tibetan
Traditional Medical College have collaborated on this project since
1997, said Sonam Chimed, director of the institute, who's in charge
of the project.
Contained within the collection, there are nearly 100 esoteric
recipes and prepared prescriptions for today's difficult and often
complicated diseases. They have been saved and collected from
veteran experts of Tibetan medicine.
Traditional Tibetan medicine is an important component of the
Chinese medical treasure trove. With a history of more than 2,000
years, it's closely related to traditional Chinese medicine and
strongly influenced by the ancient treatments of Tianzhu (India)
and Persia (Iran).
The Tibetan medicine features unique diagnosis techniques and
treatment for many diseases. Many esoteric recipes and prepared
prescriptions are popular among people and are unique in healing
many difficult diseases including hepatitis A and B, diabetes and
cardiovascular problems, said Sonam Chimed.
There are over 10,000 Tibetan prescriptions existing today,
according to Sonam Chimed. More than 400 of them have been put into
clinical use and among them around 300 are specifically utilized in
the treatment of complicated diseases. Yet these esoteric medicines
are only in the hands of some doctors who, it seems, are keen to
protect their own knowledge. It would be an irreparable loss were
these recipes to be lost.
"We hope we can compile as comprehensively as possible the
legacy left by our ancestors so that it can serve more people
around the world," said Sonam Chimed. "We will have the collection
translated into Chinese and English so as to promote the Tibetan
medicine industry."
(China.org.cn by Guo Xiaohong, August 15, 2006)