Tara Rokpa's links with TTM

Tibetan Medicine home page


Foreword

Traditional Tibetan Medicine (TTM) has absorbed two great Asian systems of medicine, namely those of India and China (see history section), as well as elements of Mongolian, Persian and other medical systems. It is a vast and highly evolved medical science which can no more be summed up in a few web pages than can modern Western medicine. Its depth, vastness, subtlety and maturiy as a medical system strike nearly all who come to study it. In Tibet, these theoretical medical studies took at least five years (with a very intense curriculum), followed by years of internship or apprenticeship for practical experience.

TTM is, then, no simple folk medicine based only upon the hazards of indigenous experience.

The information in these pages is a sketch of some key points and fundamental notions found in TTM.

These will be presented in particular reference to our work at Tara where, for some seven years, we have enjoyed a privileged contact with some of the finest physicians and hospitals on the Tibetan plateau.


Most of Tibet lies over 4,000 metres altitude with a rare flora and fauna
and a tough indigenous people    [photo: Ken Holmes]
 


Sample materia medica and medical paintings in a Tibetan clinic
[photo: Ken Holmes]

We hope that you enjoy exploring this site. As you can see from the navigation bar, we present the history of TTM. This is done in some detail, so that those interested can appreciate the wealth of knowledge that has been accumulated and refined over more than a thousand years.

There is also an outline of some of the basic principles underlying TTM, a brief elaboration of its diagnostic and therapeutic treatments, information about its materia medica and a review of our current work at Tara.

We hope you enjoy learning about this ancient and largely unknown medical science, still practised and highly pertinent today and of tremendous potential interest to the world at large.

 

 

Please visit the various pages of this site using the navigation bar
at the top left or the floating navigation bar or by clicking on hyperlinks.

Thank you for your interest.