Tibetan Medicine

Ven. Rinpoche Rechung

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780520316935
• eBook ISBN: 9780520316942
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Tibetan Medicine: Illustrated in Original Texts, presented and translated by the Ven. Rechung Rinpoche Jampal Kunzang, introduces Western readers to the earliest complete translation of a Tibetan medical text: the biography of the physician-saint gYu-thog Yon-tan mGon-po. Unlike partial translations of Sanskrit-based works such as the *rGyud-bzhi* or Vagbhata’s treatises, this text represents an original Tibetan contribution, distinguished by the poetic and imaginative features characteristic of the literature. The volume also offers a history of Tibetan medicine, blending myth and legend with precise chronologies tied to the reigns of documented kings. This continuity, preserved by Tibet’s geographic isolation, sets it apart from Indian medical history, where dating often varies by centuries. Rechung Rinpoche, recognized as an incarnation within a physician lineage, conveys a tradition deeply entwined with the development of Buddhism in Tibet.

The book situates medicine within the broader religious and cultural framework of Tibetan society. From its roots in shamanic Bon practice to the transformative influence of Mahayana Buddhism, healing was inseparable from ritual, compassion, and karma. Medical knowledge was transmitted through teacher–disciple lineages, family inheritances, and, uniquely, rebirth traditions. Biographical accounts of gYu-thog employ techniques of prophecy and dream-vision, reflecting both Buddhist cosmology and parallels with Greco-Roman traditions such as Galen’s reliance on dream guidance. Tibetan medical philosophy emphasizes interdependence and *śūnyatā* (emptiness), extending Aristotle’s notion of matter and form into a view where all phenomena depend on perception and context. Alongside passages on pharmacology, surgery, and ethics, readers encounter deities, Bodhisattvas, and mythic progenitors of medicinal knowledge. The translation thus illuminates not only practical healing but also the ritual, cosmological, and philosophical dimensions that make Tibetan medicine an inseparable part of Tibetan Buddhist culture.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1976.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents 1
• Preface
• Introduction
• History of Tibetan Medicine
• Tibetan Medicine
• Bibliography of European Works on Tibetan Medicine
• The Life of the Great Physician Saint gYu-thog Yon-tan mGon-po
• Glossary
• Index of Medical Topics