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Tibetan Healing
| Article
# : |
10855 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1986 |
4,877 Words |
| Author
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Merlinda Fournier
Merlinda Fournier is a free-lance author based in the
Washington, D.C., area. |
When human beings first came into existence, they remained absorbed in deep states of mediation. There was no sun or moon, for they emitted light from their own bodies. They had miraculous powers and beautiful bodies which required no material food. Then one day, an individual motivated by past karma picked up a bit of bitumen from the ground, ate it, and became violently ill. Thus the golden age of innocence was lost. The patient wailed and lamented until the pity of Brahma was aroused. Wondering how to cure disease, Brahma remembered the medical teachings of the Buddha Kashyapa from a previous age. Applying this knowledge, Brahma immediately prescribed boiled water, and the ailment was cured.
After more than a thousand years of continuous practice, this myth of the origin of disease is still reflected in the Tibetan medical system. Tibetan lama-doctors believe that indigestion is the source of almost all chronic and internal diseases. However unusual this assertion may seem, there is startling modern testimony to the efficacy of these age-old techniques. Western tourists who contract hepatitis on their travels in India are often directed to a Tibetan physician rather than his Western counterpart because of the rapid improvements brought about through herbal compounds.
These herbal medications, at the heart of Tibetan treatment procedures, are confounding modern scientists. In experiments at the University of Virginia's Medical School in 1979, laboratory mice with transplanted cancer tumors (murine sarcoma) survived up to fifty-three days when treated with Tibetan herbal compounds; non-medicated animals have always succumbed within thirty-five days. However, Dr. Donald Baker, associate professor of radiology, could not readily pinpoint the active ingredient in the medications.
In Switzerland, several herbal medications are now registered with the IKS, the Swiss counterpart of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Experiments indicate that one of these compounds, Padma 28, significantly reduces severe chest pains caused by angina pectoris. Apparently Padma 28 reduces blood clotting in already blocked arteries and may actually promote the formation of new blood vessels. Furthermore, this herbal compound seems to stimulate T-suppressor lymphocytes, which regulate the activity of the immune system. The medication may be useful in treating such unrelated complaints as bronchial asthma.
Patients suffering from peripheral arterial occlusion, a condition that blocks blood circulation in the legs, gain relief that modern medicine
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