Sowa Rigpa: Tibetan medicine

Sowa Rigpa, the “science of healing”, is the traditional medicine of Tibet, the Himalaya and Mongolia. It took shape in the eighth century, when King Trisong Detsen invited physicians from India, China, Persia and other lands to Tibet.

According to tradition its founder is Yuthok Yonten Gonpo the Elder, an eighth-century physician. His descendant Yuthok the Younger revised the Gyushi, the “Four Tantras”, the principal work of Tibetan medicine, in the twelfth century.

In 1696 the medical college of Chakpori was founded in Lhasa. In the seventeenth century the regent Desi Sangye Gyatso had a series of medical paintings made that explain the teaching in images. After 1959 Chakpori was destroyed. In 1961 the Men-Tsee-Khang was founded in exile in Dharamsala, and it continues the tradition.

Sowa Rigpa is deeply connected with Buddhism. The three “mental poisons”, desire, hatred and ignorance, underlie three bodily forces, the nyepa: lung (wind), tripa (bile) and beken (phlegm). Health is their balance.

Everything is built from five elements: earth, water, fire, wind and space. Diet, behaviour, season and remedies can restore or disturb the balance.

An important figure is the Medicine Buddha, Sangye Menla, who is depicted with blue skin and holds a fruit of the myrobalan in his hand, the “king of medicines”.

A Tibetan physician is called an amchi or menpa. The training is long: students learn the Four Tantras by heart, learn to recognise and process plants, and accompany an experienced physician for years.

In diagnosis the physician looks at the tongue and eyes, feels the pulse in a special way and examines the urine: its colour, smell, froth and how it changes as it cools.

In 2010 India officially recognised Sowa Rigpa as a medical system, alongside Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha.

The Gyushi, the Four Tantras, is the principal work. It consists of 156 chapters and deals with the body, illnesses, diagnosis, treatment and the ethics of the physician.

The medical paintings of Desi Sangye Gyatso, made for his 1688 commentary the Blue Beryl, are a unique teaching tool. They show the body, plants and the teaching in hundreds of small images.

In 2018 UNESCO recognised the lum bath, a healing bath of Sowa Rigpa, as intangible heritage.

Sowa Rigpa is practised in Tibet and other parts of China, in Ladakh and other Himalayan regions of India, in Nepal, Bhutan and Mongolia, and in the Tibetan diaspora.

The Men-Tsee-Khang in Dharamsala trains physicians and has clinics throughout India. In Bhutan traditional medicine is part of national healthcare.

There is growing international interest, and scientific research into some remedies.

Tibetan remedies are almost always mixtures, sometimes of dozens of ingredients, made into pills. Plants from the high mountains and from India play a large role.

Myrobalan (arura) is regarded as the most important remedy. Saffron, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon also occur often.

A special category are the “precious pills”, rinchen rilbu, which also contain processed metals and gemstones.

Sowa Rigpa is inseparable from Tibetan Buddhism and from Tibetan identity, which is under pressure.

Some precious pills contain processed mercury (tsotel). According to the tradition, processing makes it harmless, but that is scientifically disputed. Be careful and consult a doctor.