So

wa
Ri
gp
aI
INTRODUCTION

ns
tit
ut
e
Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

Introduction

THE SCIENCE OF HEALTH AND HAPPINESS:

INTRODUCING SOWA RIGPA OR TIBETAN MEDICINE

So
This book is about Sowa Rigpa or Tibetan medicine. The word sowa means ‘to heal’, ‘restore’,
‘nurture’, ‘nourish’, ‘repair’, or ‘to take care of ’ and the word rigpa means ‘knowing’, ‘knowledge’,

wa
or ‘science’. Together then, Sowa Rigpa is ‘The Science of Healing’. Rigpa can also mean pure
awareness, the direct knowing or seeing of our true nature. For this reason, I sometimes
translate Sowa Rigpa as ‘The Nurturing of Awareness’ as well. These two translations are

Ri
connected: a deep understanding of healing requires an equally deep understanding of our
own nature and the ways we are connected to the world around us. In the Tibetan medical

gp
tradition, good health and longevity are the basis for accomplishing both worldly and
spiritual goals and achieving lasting happiness. Given this, I like to translate Sowa Rigpa in

aI
a more extended way as the ‘Science of Health and Happiness’, as you can see in the subtitle
of this book.

ns What does this ‘Science of Health and Happiness’ entail? Sowa Rigpa is a holistic form of

tit
medicine. Sowa Rigpa doctors – known as amchi or menpa in Tibetan – aim to treat patients
in their entirety, on the level of body, energy, and mind. Amchi acknowledge the connections

ut
between bodily, energetic, and mental processes without reducing one level to another. Sowa

e
Rigpa therapies offer patients symptomatic relief while situating patients’ symptoms in their
broader, systemic contexts. Symptoms reflect fluctuations in patients’ bodies and lives as well
as changes in their overall environment and society. When a patient visits a Sowa Rigpa doctor
for a consultation, the amchi will assess the patient in various ways. They will take a detailed
medical history and make an assessment about the patient’s general physical, energetic, and
mental constitution. They will ask the patient about their diet, behavior, physical activities,
family life, relationships, mental-emotional state, dreams, sleeping patters, bowel movements,
urination, and menstrual cycle. They will ask about the conditions under which the patient’s
symptoms worsen and improve. They will feel the patient’s pulse, will examine the patient’s
urine, tongue, eyes, and other sensory organs for signs of imbalance. Having made an initial
diagnosis, they will then suggest dietary and lifestyle changes, prescribe herbal medications,
and recommend or apply various external therapies like massage, hot and cold compresses,
sauna treatments, body scrubs, acupuncture, and surgery. In select cases, when the
circumstances warrant it, doctors may also prescribe spiritual treatments like meditation,
mantras, yogic practices, and rituals as either stand-alone or complementary therapies. All
4 5
 Introduction Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

these different therapies will be combined in various ways to suit the specific needs and volume to the Tsa Gyü. Its six chapters match the six chapters of the Tibetan Tsa Gyü and are
circumstances of patients. When used skillfully, Sowa Rigpa therapies can not only cure meant to serve as supplementary study-guides for students and interested readers working
disease but prevent disease and enhance longevity as well. their way through the contents and concepts of the Tsa Gyü. At the heart of this book are
several diagrams in the shape of trees, which encapsulate the teachings of the Tsa Gyü. In
At its core, Sowa Rigpa is about balance and interconnectivity. Tibetan medicine teaches keeping with the Root Tantra’s name, the three main tree diagrams outlined in Chapters
that our natural, underlying state is a state of health. Staying healthy in Sowa Rigpa means Three to Six are called ‘Roots’ in Tibetan. These visual aids are part of an ancient approach
keeping our body, energy, and mind in dynamic yet stable equilibrium. This healthy baseline to learning based on metaphors from nature. Beautiful and practical, they remind us of our
is known as the ‘unchanged’ or ‘untransformed’ state in Tibetan. By contrast, disease is what fundamental interdependence with the natural world. Before we begin our journey into
happens when we become imbalanced, when our healthy equilibrium is compromised or this educational garden, though, it will help to say a few words about the history of Tibetan
disrupted. Deficiency, excess, or dysfunction in our psycho-physiological processes affects medicine and the place of the Gyü Zhi within it. Knowing even a little bit about Sowa Rigpa’s
our baseline homeostasis and leads to the ‘changed’ or ‘transformed’ state of disorder and past will help deepen our understanding of and gratitude for this unique tradition and will
disease. Whatever therapies are used to treat a patient, healing in the Tibetan medical view is prepare us for our study of the Medical Trees.

So
always about restoring a patient to health, is about rebalancing what was imbalanced. In Sowa
Rigpa, the three levels of body, speech-energy, and mind are all fundamentally connected.
PATHS TO HEALING: FOUR GENERAL SOURCES

wa
The most important framework in Sowa Rigpa for understanding balance and imbalance
both inside and outside patients’ bodies is the concept of the three humors or nyepa sum. FOR SOWA RIGPA KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES
The origins of Tibetan medicine likely date back tens of thousands of years. Formal written

Ri
The three humoral energies of loong, tripa, and beken are fundamental, dynamic histories of Tibetan medicine are much more recent, however, going back about eight
principles through which health, pathology, diagnosis, treatment, and various environmental, centuries. The history of medicine in Tibet can be approached from two perspectives. On one

gp
seasonal, and cosmic processes are understood. They are at the heart of Sowa Rigpa’s distinctive hand, we can think about general sources of healing knowledge in Tibet, reaching back into
understanding of the world and inform almost every aspect of its approach to health and pre-history and still operating into the present. On the other, we can reflect on key moments in

aI
wellness. They also serve as a bridge between Tibetan medical and Buddhist teachings. The the systematization and institutionalization of Tibetan medicine and look at specific figures,
three nyepa come from the five elements of space, wind, fire, water, and earth, which are texts, and teachings which have had an impact on Sowa Rigpa’s development. For the first

ns
seen in Sowa Rigpa and Buddhism as the fundamental building-blocks that make up all approach, we can identify four very broad sources for medical knowledge in Tibet: medical
phenomena in the universe. Our health, the food we eat, the functioning and dysfunction of knowledge from non-human beings; medical knowledge obtained through the power of

tit
our bodies, and the medicines and treatments we use to cure disease are all linked together meditation or altered states of consciousness; medical knowledge stemming from everyday
by the thread of the elements. In this book, we will journey into the world of Sowa Rigppa life experience; and medical knowledge revealed by the natural environment. Let’s examine

ut
and immerse ourselves in this view. In the chapters which follow, we will systematically study each of these sources a little more closely in turn.
Sowa Rigpa’s theory of health and pathology, of balance and imbalance. We will explore the

e
role that the humors and elements play in our individual lives and in the wider world. We 1. Medical Knowledge Learned from Non-human Beings:
will also learn about Sowa Rigpa’s unique approach to diagnosis and explore a range of Sowa Tibetan histories explain that before human beings emerged in Tibet, the land was populated
Rigpa treatment methods. by a host of non-human entities. These spirits which pre-dated human beings are known
by many names – tsen, theubrang, lü, nyen, mamo, menmo, and so on. As Earth’s original
The contents and structure of this book are based primarily on the contents and inhabitants, these spirits have a deep connection with the environment. They are the true
structure of the ‘Root Tantra’ or Tsa Gyü. The Tsa Gyü is the first and most foundational ‘owners’ and overseers of our natural resources – of the sky, mountains, meadows, forests,
volume of the four-volume medical textbook known as the Gyü Zhi or ‘Four Tantras’ in rivers, and lakes, the myriad natural treasures which are found both above and below
Tibetan. The Gyü Zhi is one of the most important Sowa Rigpa manuals in history. Compiled the ground. After human beings emerged in the world they came into contact with these
in its current form in the twelfth century, it still holds pride of place in Tibetan medical nonhuman entities. At times, our ancestors’ encounters with these beings resulted in sickness
curricula. In mentsikhang or Tibetan medical colleges around the world, students are still and misfortune, especially if they failed to interact with these beings respectfully and abused
expected to memorize all or most of the Four Tantras as part of their training. The Tsa Gyü the natural resources these beings controlled. When provoked, spirits can make humans
is known as the ‘Root’ or ‘Foundation’ (tsa, tsawa) Tantra or treatise because it lays out the unwell. On the other hand, their closeness to nature and disease means they possess knowledge
entire basis of the Gyü Zhi. It spells out the most essential points of Sowa Rigpa theory and about healing as well. Many powerful herbs used in Tibetan medicine are said to have been
practice, in a clear and condensed way. This current book is a commentary and companion planted in our world or revealed to humans by spirits or deities. Some healing substances are
6 7
 Introduction Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

also so closely associated with such beings that they are said to be the actual reincarnated form knowledge they obtained through meditation and altered states with existing knowledge of
of spirits themselves. For thousands of years and right up to the present day, spirits have both anatomy, pathology, and medical treatment, which expanded and deepened these areas of
caused and cured disease. They have appeared to shamans, spirit mediums, yogis, and other human study.
healers and have shared their special medical knowledge with them.
3. Medical Knowledge derived from Everyday Experience and Conventions:
This ancient, pre or non-human knowledge may not be the main basis for Sowa Rigpa theory A great deal of medical knowledge arises through ordinary people’s everyday lives, through
and practice but it remains an important aspect of Tibetan medicine to this day. As we will trial-and-error, and the passing on of tried-and-tested healing methods from one generation
see in the chapters to come, dön né or illnesses linked with the provocation of spirits and to the next. Over many centuries, both common people and professional healers in Tibet
other invisible forces like bacteria and viruses are an important category in Sowa Rigpa made careful observations about which diets and lifestyles had positive, negative, or neutral
theories of disease. Aside from spirits, another type of non-human being that humans have effects for different people, especially in light of Tibet’s geography and climate. They noted
learned medical knowledge from is animals. Animals of all kinds possess instinctive medical which foods and drinks were compatible and incompatible with different constitutions
knowledge. For centuries, Tibetan and Himalayan peoples have observed the ways that and different diseases. Much of the knowledge connected with Tibetan pharmacology and

So
different animals seek out and consume plants and other medicinal substances. Deers, wolves, external therapies came from people’s everyday experiences. People in previous generations
vultures, bears, yaks, monkeys, pigs, dogs, cats, and various kinds of insects, birds, and reptiles experimented with different herbs, minerals, and other substances, experimented with using

wa
all seek out substances for their healing or transformative effects. Some Tibetan medicinal hot and cold stones as compresses, and slowly but surely developed therapies like massage,
plants are even named after the animals which use them or which revealed their use to humans. acupuncture, and moxibustion through trial-and-error. Knowledge relating to pathology,
One example is yumo deuchin, the Himalayan spurless columbine (Paraquilegia microphylla diagnosis, and treatment all derive in some way from our own and our ancestors’ empirical

Ri
and other subspecies). The name of this bitter-tasting, cooling herb literally means the ‘doe observations, from practical, embodied knowledge and common-sense shared in either oral
or female deer’s arrow-remover’ and it is said to help draw out arrowheads, stones, and other or written form. With time, these types of observations may become more systematized and

gp
foreign objects lodged in the body. Tibetan doctors use it to stop bleeding, to relieve pain, to may be adjusted to fit with pre-existing theories of the body and healing.
treat inflamed and infected wounds, and to encourage the expulsion of retained placentas,

aI
stillborn fetuses, and miscarriages. As the name suggests, the herb’s properties became known 4. Medical Knowledge learned from the Natural Environment:
to hunters after they observed the behavior of deer who sought the plant out when they were Aspects of the natural environment can teach us about healing. Ancient Tibetans visited

ns
injured. There is also a Tibetan formula for healing wounds which is made entirely from herbs naturally-arising hot springs centuries ago. By submerging themselves in these springs and
which are sought out by different animals to heal their own wounds. Just like spirits then, non- observing the results, they slowly but surely developed the practice of medicinal baths and

tit
human animals have been and can be great medical teachers. steam therapy, which are still widely used in Sowa Rigpa today. Over time, ancient Tibetans
noticed the positive and negative effects that spending time in dry and wet, hot and cold, high

ut
2. Medical Knowledge obtained through the Power of Meditation and Clairvoyance: and low altitude locations had on their health and on different bodies. They observed how the
Throughout history, great physicians and drangsong or medical sages have withdrawn from changing of the seasons and the sun and the moon affected them on the level of body, energy,

e
worldly life and have sequestered their bodies and minds to meditate on the deep nature of and mind. With the passing of the centuries, they kept track of how the movement of the stars
reality. This has allowed them to master single-pointed meditative absorption or concentration and planets correlated with their lives and well-being on Earth. Through this, astrological
(tingngedzin in Tibetan, samadhi in Sanskrit) and to gain control over their mental faculties knowledge was gradually integrated into medical practice.
and subtle energies. It is said that by virtue of this meditative cultivation, sages have been able
to understand many things in a direct, intuitive way: the tastes and properties of medicinal
substances, the nature of the gross and subtle elements making up all beings and phenomena,
the nature of the various types of otherwise invisible, microscopic cells and organisms
that make up and live inside our bodies, the nature of human conception and embryology,
and how to treat illness using seemingly ‘magical’ methods. These sorts of ritual and yogic
healing methods rely on a deep understanding of interdependence and emptiness or tendrel
and tongnyi in Tibetan. All levels of being are interconnected, all phenomena are free from
any permanent, independent essence or identity. Reorganizing the physical body, material
substances, and material forms, recalibrating energy, speech, and breath, and reorienting the
mind can produce profound transformations. Medical sages compared and combined the

8 9
 Introduction Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

TEXTS AND TRANSMISSIONS: KEY MOMENTS IN THE SYSTEMIZATION

AND INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF SOWA RIGPA
Tibetan texts describe the presence of unique medical practices in Tibet long before the arrival
of writing and Buddhism in the country, which entered Tibet somewhat simultaneously in the
7th century CE. Chebu Trishé, the son of Shenrap Miwo (the legendary founder of the pre-
Buddhist Tibetan religion Bön) is said to have been entrusted with precious medical teachings
and to have shared these with the world by composing texts like the Bum Zhi, the principal
Bönpo medical textbook. Bönpo sources claim that the teachings in the Bum Zhi are tens of
thousands of years old. Looked at side-by-side, the Bum Zhi and Gyü Zhi are very similar in
content, at least in their current forms. Both texts show significant indebtedness to Indian
Ayurvedic sources which were only translated into Tibetan in the 11th century. Regardless of

So
the exact age of these two texts, however, there is little reason to doubt that Tibetan medicine
has an indigenous history going back thousands of years. Tibetan tradition recognizes that

wa
Tibetans were practicing their own forms of medicine as early as the time of the first Tibetan
King Nyentri Tsenpo in the 2nd century BCE. While we have little concrete information about
these practices, later historians have characterized them as being relatively un-systematized.

Ri
They have also suggested that Tibetan doctors during this time had little contact with foreign
medical traditions and experts.

The earliest extant histories written in the Tibetan language date to about the 9th century
gp
aI
CE and histories of Tibetan medicine are more recent still. Accordingly, descriptions of
doctors, medical lineages, and medical schools operating in Tibet before the 9th century CE

ns
necessarily come from much later sources. These texts describe medical experts coming into Yuthok Yönten Gönpo the Elder.
Tibet from neighbouring countries like India from around the 5th century CE, during the reign

tit
of the 28th King of Tibet, Lhothothori Nyentsen. A physician named Dung ki Thorchokchen, In the 8th century CE, during the reign of King Trisong Deutsen, transnational medical sharing
who is said to have been the son of a visiting Indian doctor and King Lhothothori Nyentsen’s and cooperation flourished even further. Tibetan doctors continued to train with foreign

ut
daughter, became an important court physician, for example. He studied Indian and other medical experts and busied themselves with the study and translation of foreign texts. They
foreign medical systems and combined these with preexisting Tibetan medical practices and also began to write more and more treatises in Tibetan language which combined foreign

e
his descendants continued to serve as royal physicians in Tibet for many generations. In the and Tibetan knowledge in a way that suited Tibet’s unique climate and the needs of Tibetan
6th century CE, a figure known as Wazha Menpa, (‘The doctor from Wazha’, the area identified patients. King Trisong Deutsen is said to have invited doctors from India, China, Nepal, and
today as Amdo, Northeastern Tibet), is said to have performed sophisticated cataract surgeries other countries and to have hosted elaborate conferences on Buddhism and medicine. The 8th
on the Tibetan king and to have integrated these and other surgical procedures into Tibetan century is often described as a golden age of Buddhism in Tibet but it was a golden age for
medicine (elaborate cataract-removal methods can be found in the Gyü Zhi as well, and are the development and systemization of Sowa Rigpa as well. An important medical school was
still taught today). In the 7th century CE, a doctor called ‘Galenö’ is said to have come to Tibet established at Samyé in Central Tibet during this period. Samyé is often described as Tibet’s
from Persia and mentored local students. Rather than a personal name, his title suggests he first Buddhist monastery, but this fails to capture the scope of the activities conducted there.
was an upholder or representative of the teachings of the Greek physician Galenus. Through In Tibetan, the institution of Samyé is referred to as a tsuklakkhang, a center of cultural and
interactions with figures like this, Galenic medical theory and practice was incorporated religious education. In addition to being a monastery, Samyé had its own state-sponsored,
into Sowa Rigpa. During this period, doctors from India, China, Mongolia, Turkey, Greece, state-regulated translation house and its own center for the training of ngakpa (non-monastic,
and other parts of Tibet were invited to Central Tibet as well, where they collaborated with non-celibate tantric yogis) as well. One Tibetan scholar who trained at Samyé was the great
resident physicians and produced medical manuals that encapsulated their diverse expertise. translator Berotsana (Vairochana in Sanskrit). Vairochana spent many years travelling through
India and studied a variety of medical systems. One of his most important medical mentors
was the Kashmiri scholar Chandrananda. After his return to Tibet, Vairochana is said to have

10 11
 Introduction Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

combined the key instructions he had received directly from Chandrananda with generations-
worth of Tibetan medical knowledge to produce a number of important medical texts. A highly
realized scholar-practitioner, Vairochana was a disciple of Padmasambhava, the so-called
‘second Buddha’ of Tibet who tamed the indigenous spirits of the land and enabled Buddhism
to truly flourish in the country. Padmasambhava and his partner the Tibetan princess and
yogini Yeshé Tshogyel are important figures for Tibetan healing in their own right. Both are
said to have healed patients with mantras and tantric rituals. Both also dedicated themselves
to preserving powerful instructions on spiritual healing for the benefit of future generations as
well, in the form of hidden terma texts.

In the 8th century, a number of sharp-minded Tibetan children were selected, without
bias regarding their class or family background, to study Sowa Rigpa under the guidance of

So
the lineage-masters at Samyé college. The most outstanding of these students was Yuthok
Yönten Gönpo the Elder, a descendant of Dung ki Thorchokchen. A semi-mythical figure,

wa
Yuthok the Elder is said to have lived for 120 or 125 years. He is regarded as an emanation
of the Medicine Buddha and is said to be the ancestor and previous incarnation of Yuthok
the Younger, who many believe authored the Gyü Zhi. It is said that King Trisong Deutsen

Ri
gave the Elder Yuthok, who served as his royal physician, the honorific title lhajé or ‘Lord of
the Gods’. The King explained that while he himself was a lord or god among humans, truly

gp
exceptional court physicians like Yuthok were lords even among the gods. This title shows the
great reverence with which highly-qualified doctors were treated and ties in with Yuthok’s

aI
renown as a healer of both human and spirit patients (the family title Yuthok, which means
‘man with the turquoise roof ’, comes from when one of Yuthok’s ancestors cured an ailing

ns
Naga or water spirit King and the King’s daughter sent Yuthok’s ancestor turquoise and gold
from the depths of the river to repay him. He dried the stones by placing them on his roof and Yuthok Yönten Gönpo the Younger.

tit
a passing shepherd saw them glinting in the sun and the name ‘Turquoise Roof Doctor’ was
born). This recognition continues - the term lhajé is used even today as a polite form of address

ut
for doctors. Yuthok the Elder’s hagiography written in the 17th century explains that Yuthok Tibetan medicine continued to develop in multiple directions from the 9th century onwards.
went to India and studied with Vairochana’s old mentor Chandrananda. Arriving back in The tertön (tantric visionary prophet or ‘treasure revealer’) Dorbum Chödrak was one

e
Tibet, he combined what he had learned from the Kashmiri sage, with Vairochana’s teachings of the first Tibetan healers to systematize knowledge regarding the classification, etiology,
to produce a unique textbook of medicine known as Düdtsi Nyingpo Sangwa Mengngak symptology, and treatment of nyen né, severe, infectious disorders often involving spirit
ki Gyü, The Essence of Nectar Tantra of Secret Pith, Oral Instructions’. The manuscript of provocation. After the collapse of the Tibetan empire in the mid-9th century, medical lineages
this text was considered so valuable by King Trisong Deutsen that he ordered that it be and education continued for the most part through less institutionalized, less centralized
temporarily hidden in a vase-shaped pillar at Samyé monastic college for safekeeping. After family lineages and were preserved by ngakpa yogi – doctors in particular. Towards the end
he turned fifthy, Yuthok the Elder established his own medical school in Kongpo, Southern of the 9th century and beginning of the 10th, the Tibetan monk-translator Rinchen Zangpo
Tibet. At the request of students, he composed another textbook, which contained similar translated several highly influential foreign medical texts into Tibetan. One of these was the
information to his earlier, now off-limits manual. The Elder Yuthok is said to have mentored Ashtangahridaya, one of the most important Sanskrit-language Ayurvedic texts from India.
many students at his new school, to whom he gave novel titles or classifications in accordance Tibetan translations of this text and its various commentaries had a significant impact on
with their level of education and expertise. These labels are much like the titles still used in the composition of the Gyü Zhi in its current form. In the 11th century, the monk-physician
medical colleges today. Gampopa – also known as Nyammé Dakpo Lhajé, ‘the incomparable doctor from Dakpo’ –
performed careful autopsies on corpses and devised new medicinal formulas to treat a variety
of disorders. He recorded his unique clinical insights, recipes, and diagnostic and treatment
methods in texts which are still highly valued today.

12 13
 Introduction Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

In the 12th century, Yuthok the Younger (1126 – 1202) further systematized Tibetan medicine. his life to studying, practicing, and teaching Sowa Rigpa. Zurkharwa gathered, edited, and
According to one version of events, one and a half centuries after the time of the Elder Yuthok supplemented the teachings of several other physicians and wrote many commentaries. He
the medical protector-deity Shanglön Dorje Düddul appeared to the treasure revealer Drapa was a devoted practitioner of the Yuthok Nyingthig and added a number of commentaries and
Ngönshé and declared that the time was ripe for the reemergence of the Elder Yuthok’s text. new practices to the textual cycle based on his own visions and experiences. He died young
With Shanglön’s assistance, Drapa Ngönshé extracted the textbook from the pillar in Samyé but is said to have achieved the Rainbow Body like Yuthok before him. Together, the Jang and
and passed it on discretely to a single student. After some time, the text reached Yuthok the Zur lineages became two of the most important medical lineages. While these lineages share
Younger, who supplemented it with other lineage-based teachings he had received to produce core texts and teachings, they have their own commentarial traditions and spiritual emphases,
the Gyü Zhi as we know it today. Yuthok’s heart-disciple Sumtön Yeshé Zung, who lived and and identify and make use of materia medica in distinct ways.
studied intensively with Yuthok for twelve years, received the Gyü Zhi as well as Yuthok’s
other major teaching, the Yuthok Nyingthig, directly from the master physician. The Yuthok In the 16th century, disciples of Zurkharwa like Zurkhar Lodrö Gyalpo furthered the
Nyingthig or ‘Heart-essence Teachings of Yuthok’ are special tantric Buddhist practices teachings of the Zur lineage by penning commentaries on the Gyü Zhi and other texts,
connected with the Medicine Buddha which are especially suited for professional healers. The while figures like Drigung Chöki Drakpa devised new medical formulas and composed new

So
Gyü Zhi and Yuthok Nyingthig are regarded as Yuthok the Younger’s two ‘jewels’ or ‘treasures’. commentaries which became the basis of the Drigung medical lineage. In the 17th century,
The Gyü Zhi deals with mostly gross, physical anatomy and is an exoteric teaching meant Darmo Menrampa Lopzang Chödrak expanded on and completed Zurkharwa’s commentaries

wa
for more general audiences. Its teachings are primarily concerned with everyday physiology and composed extensive biographies of the two Yuthoks. He served as a personal physician to
and psychology and with the pursuit of health and happiness in this life. The teachings of the the Fifth Dalai Lama, who he cured of cataracts using techniques he had learned from Indian
Yuthok Nyingthig, by contrast, are esoteric. Aimed at tantric initiates pursuing the ultimate doctors that the Dalai Lama had invited to Tibet. Darmo Menrampa also conducted direct

Ri
goal of complete liberation or Buddhahood, they emphasize meditation, ritual, and the investigations into human anatomy through corpse dissection to resolve contradictions and
cultivation of the subtle anatomy or ‘energy body’. More specifically, the Yuthok Nyingthig confusions in medical texts. The Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lopzang Gyatsho (1617 – 1682)

gp
teaches methods for accomplishing the jalü or ‘Rainbow Body’, a phenomenon where the was one of the greatest patrons of Sowa Rigpa in Tibetan history. He had a significant personal
bodies of highly-realized meditators shrink dramatically or dissolve entirely into rainbow- interest in medicine – he had always wanted to study Sowa Rigpa fulltime but did not have the

aI
colored light at the time of their death or shortly after. Both Yuthok the Younger and Yuthok opportunity to do so due to his spiritual and political responsibilities. He memorized three
the Elder – as well as Yuthok the Elder’s wife and dog! – are said to have displayed the Rainbow out of the four Tantras of the Gyü Zhi – all but the third Mengngak Gyü or Oral Instructions

ns
Body publicly. This phenomenon and its associated practices thus have a strong connection Tantra, which as we shall see is primarily focused on clinical practice. In keeping with his love
with the Tibetan medical tradition. for Sowa Rigpa and his recognition of its important role in matters of state, he supported the

tit
development of medical colleges and hospitals in various parts of Tibet. The Dalai Lama was
In the 13th century, treasure-revealers like Guru Chöwang and Ramo Shelmen helped also a great enthusiast and editor of the Yuthok Nyingthig and many key texts and prayers

ut
develop Sowa Rigpa practices with their revelations. Many of these focused on healing, found in the textual cycle today were penned by his hand.
disease-prevention, rejuvenation, and longevity-enhancement practices in particular. Guru

e
Chöwang also revealed and developed various beautification procedures which became part
of the medical tradition as well. During the same period, Drangti Jampel Zangpo inaugurated
the Drangti lineage of medical practice, based on unique teachings he gave through the
mendrong or medical school connected with Sakya monastery. In the 14th and 15th centuries,
Namgyel Drakzang from Jang (1395 – 1475) founded another important medical lineage,
the Jang lineage (i.e. ‘the lineage of the master from Jang’). Besides being a skilled physician,
Jangpa Namgyel Drakzang was also an expert astrologer and an adept of the Kalachakra Tantra
tradition, and his teachings developed and deepened the preexisting connection between
medical and astrological practices. The slightly younger Zurkharwa Nyamnyi Dorje (1439
– 1475) established his own new medical lineage (the 'Zur lineage’) around the same time. A
child prodigy who displayed deep medical knowledge even as a toddler, Zurkharwa is regarded
as a reincarnation of Yuthok the Younger. Yuthok appeared to Zurkharwa at the age of ten in
a series of visions and dreams and informed him that it was his destiny to correct mistakes
and adulterations that had crept into the Gyü Zhi over time and stressed that he should devote

14 15
 Introduction Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

of making these more accessible to healers and patients. He is thus an important figure in the
history of Tibetan Mantra Healing.

The twentieth century had its share of medical luminaries as well. The Thirteenth Dalai
Lama, Thubten Gyatsho continued the Fifth Dalai Lama’s vision for state-sponsored medicine
in Tibet. Khyenrap Norbu (1883 – 1962) was a great doctor and astrologer who served for a
time as the Dalai Lama’s personal physician. He oversaw administrative and academic affairs
at the Lhasa Mentsikhang and at Chakpori college and helped develop Tibetan public health
institutions focused on pediatric care and care for the poor, homeless, and marginalized.
Figures like Khenpo Troru Tsenam and Tshultrim Gyeltshen, my own teachers at the Lhasa
Mentsikhang in the post-Maoist period, continued to support the flourishing of Sowa Rigpa
in Tibet and beyond. Through their tireless and compassionate teaching and mentoring, their

So
administrative and clinical activities, and their invaluable texts and commentaries they
helped to ensure that lineage-based medical knowledge survived and remained vital after the

wa
upheavals of the preceding decades. Like veritable reincarnations of Yuthok, they are role
models for me in my own teaching and practice.

Ngawang Lopzang Gyatsho, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama (left)

Ri
gp
and his Regent, Desi Sanggyé Gyatsho (right).

The Dalai Lama tasked his regent and heart-disciple, the yogi-doctor Sanggyé Gyatsho, with
aI
ns
the task of building Chakpori medical college on the hill beside the Potala Palace. Chakpori
became one of the most important state-sponsored institutions of Sowa Rigpa practice and

tit
learning in Tibet. As part of his promotion of public health and medical education in Tibet,
the Regent also wrote various histories and commentaries on Tibetan medicine, including his

ut
famous Bedurya Ngönpo or ‘Blue Sapphire’ commentary on the Gyü Zhi. He also commissioned
artists to paint hundreds of thangka or traditional paintings illustrating key points from the

e
Four Tantras and his own commentaries, as visual aids for Sowa Rigpa students.

In the 18th century, Deumar Tenzin Phuntshok composed some of the most extensive and
thorough Tibetan materia medica to date. Aggregating information from authoritative texts
and preexisting materia medicas, he described the appearance and properties of hundreds of
herbal, mineral, and animal medicines commonly used in Sowa Rigpa. In the 19th century,
the non-sectarian polyglot Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé, also known as Yönten Gyatso (1813
– 1899), preserved and synthesized knowledge from a vast array of Buddhist and medical
sources in various edited volumes and commentaries. A respected medical lineage-holder
and promoter of the Yuthok Nyingthik, his Zintik or manual of essential points on medical
practice for beginners continues to be consulted today. Kongtrul’s contemporary and equally
non-sectarian collaborator Ju Mipham Gyatsho (1846 – 1912) was another practitioner of the
Yuthok Nyingthig and preserver of Tibetan healing traditions. He gathered together hundreds
of healing mantras and ritual healing instructions into various compendia, with the intention

16 17
 Introduction Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

Ordinary Mind’s requests and its omniscient answers make up most of the content of the Four
Tantras. In short, two Buddha-emanations engage in an educational dialogue, for which we
the readers are the audience.

The Gyü Zhi resembles a Buddhist scripture in many ways and many doctors have
suggested that it be classified as a kama text, or a teaching uttered by a Buddha. The Gyü Zhi
lists an original Sanskrit title for itself, opens with an idealized setting, and is presented in the
form of a dialogue between an enlightened master and a confused disciple, all typical features
of recognized Buddhist scriptures. The opening chapter of the Root Tantra or Tsa Gyü, which
we will explore shortly in Chapter One of this book, is titled lengzhi in Tibetan. Meaning
‘introduction’ or ‘setting of the scene’, this is a technical term which refers to a special kind of
opening narrative or description which contextualizes a scripture and confirms that it is in fact

So
the teaching of an enlightened being. These features give the Gyü Zhi an aura of sacredness
and authority. Yet despite these features and despite the great esteem with which the Gyü Zhi is

wa
regarded, the text is not included in the official Tibetan canon of translated Buddhist scriptures
known as the Kangyur or in the medical section of the Tengyur, the canonical collection of
translated Buddhist treatises. No Sanskrit original has ever been found for the Gyü Zhi either.

Ri
For this reason, some scholars have suggested that the Gyü Zhi’s Sanskrit title was simply back-
translated from the Tibetan to make the text seem more like an authentic scripture from India.

gp
Despite the Gyü Zhi’s clear indebtedness to Indian source materials, it also mentions various
types of weather, food, animals, plants, and clothing which are only found in Tibet.

The great Buddhist scholar-practitioner and doctor,

aI
ns
Troru Tsenam (1926 – 2004).

PILLARS, PROPHECIES, AND PREDECESSORS:

tit
ut
WHO ‘SPOKE’ OR AUTHORED THE GYÜ ZHI?
The importance of the Gyü Zhi in Tibetan medical history is undeniable. Where the Gyü Zhi

e
came from and how it became a prized textbook of medicine is a more contentious issue,
however, one which Tibetan doctors have debated for centuries. The Gyü Zhi represents itself
as the teachings of a Buddha. As we will see, the opening narrative of the Root Tantra imparts
an undeniably spiritual quality to the medical information contained in the text. The Gyü Zhi
is a technical medical manual connected with the everyday, mundane realities of sickness and
health and of patients’ ordinary bodies. Even so, it situates healing within a more timeless,
transcendent perspective and integrates Buddhist principles with medical science. At the
beginning of each of the Four Tantras, the Buddha of healing known as Medicine Buddha
emanates his enlightened awareness from a different chakra or energy-center in his subtle
body. This omniscient consciousness then answers all the requests, questions, and doubts of
another of Medicine Buddha’s emanations, a projection of ordinary or conceptual mind which
emerges from the Medicine Buddha’s throat. This Ordinary Mind is represented in the frame-
story of the Gyü Zhi by a sage known as Yilé Kyé. Yilé Kyé requests that Enlightened Mind, in
the form of the Sage Rigpé Yeshé, educate it on Sowa Rigpa. Enlightened Mind responds to Monk-turned-ngakpa and treasure-revealer Drapa Ngönshé.

18 19
 Introduction Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

saw the complete teachings of the Gyü Zhi in a pure vision. According to this view, Yuthok
experienced the Pure Land of Medicine Buddha and the questions- and-answers of the two
emanated Sages directly in his expanded consciousness. While Yuthok may have compiled
the Four Tantras then, he did so in a visionary or inspired way, which made his teaching no
different to that of an actual kama teaching, the direct utterance of a Buddha. In this book,
I follow Khenpo Troru Tsenam’s example and acknowledge the many different histories and
theories surrounding the Gyü Zhi. I recognize the Gyü Zhi as the unique contribution of
Yuthok and his circle of 12th century Tibetan students, while appreciating the ways that it
points us towards more timeless, transcendent truths at the same time.

A TRANSNATIONAL TRADITION:

So
THE MULTIPLE NAMES AND LOCATIONS OF SOWA RIGPA
As we have seen, Sowa Rigpa has a long, rich, and cosmopolitan history. Its healing practices

wa
have been refined for centuries, passed down in unbroken lineages up until the present
day. Sowa Rigpa is often referred to as Traditional Tibetan Medicine or TTM but it is also a
modern tradition. Sowa Rigpa practitioners today study and apply Sowa Rigpa theories and

Ri
treatments at the same time that they study and apply mainstream ‘Western’ medical theories

gp
and practices and ideas and practices from a range of other traditional or alternative healing
Shanglön Dorjé Düdul, the chief protector-deity of Sowa Rigpa.
systems. Sowa Rigpa practices were developed inside Tibet and were shaped by uniquely
Tibetan circumstances and priorities. At the same time, they were strongly influenced by

aI
In the historical overview above, I mentioned that some Tibetan doctors categorize the Gyü knowledge from outside Tibet. Tibetan doctors met with and learned from medical experts
Zhi as a terma text – a ‘treasure’ teaching which was hidden and only revealed and shared from India, Nepal, Persia, China, and Mongolia and incorporated what they learned into

ns
more fully at a later time. As we have seen, some histories of the Gyü Zhi state that Medicine Tibetan medical systems and traditions. Sowa Rigpa is also studied and practiced in places
Buddha’s teachings were transmitted to various Indian masters until they reached the ‘second like Mongolia, Buryatia, Nepal, Ladakh, Sikkim, and Bhutan. It should come as no surprise

tit
Buddha’ Padamasambhava, the great Tibetan translator Vairochana, and Yuthok the Elder in then that Sowa Rigpa has different names in different parts of the world.
the 8th century CE. These teachings were then entrusted to King Trisong Deutsen who hid

ut
them inside a pillar at Samyé, from where they were retrieved by Drapa Ngönshé, in the 11th The ways that Sowa Rigpa is labeled and recognized in different parts of the world

e
century, and eventually found their way to Yuthok the Younger. Recent research by Tibetan has to do with both language and national politics. In Nepal and various Himalayan border
scholars has failed to find any mention of an Elder Yuthok until the 16th century, when Darmo regions, it is sometimes referred to as ‘amchi medicine’. The word amchi means ‘doctor’ and
Menrampa wrote his biographies of Yuthok the Elder and Younger. Perhaps the Elder Yuthok is a Mongolian word that was incorporated into Tibetan centuries ago. Today, this once
is a reflection of the Younger Yuthok and his lineage projected into the past. Perhaps the story foreign term for a Tibetan physician has become synonymous with Sowa Rigpa as a whole
of the prototype of the Gyü Zhi being written by an ancestor or earlier incarnation of Yuthok (Sowa Rigpa doctors are also called menpa in Tibetan, which literally means ‘someone who
was a way of linking Yuthok’s 12th century synthesis with lineage teachings from the past. uses or practices medicine’). Another name used for Sowa Rigpa in Bhutan is nangpé men,
Perhaps Yuthok the Elder did exist but we lack records to prove it. The scholarly way of looking which means ‘Buddhist medicine’. Sowa Rigpa is also regulated and institutionalized in
at Yuthok the Elder is just one viewpoint. From a spiritual point of view we can see him as a quite different ways around the globe. In Tibet today, the Chinese government recognizes
real presence, a real power and source of blessings in Sowa Rigpa regardless of his status as a mainstream ‘Western’ or biomedicine, Sowa Rigpa, and TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine
historical person. Whether we chose to think of Yuthok the Elder as a historical or as a more as valid medical systems. Patients in state hospitals can receive care from doctors trained in
transcendent, mythic figure has little bearing on the value of the Gyü Zhi’s teachings, nor any of these three systems. In India, Sowa Rigpa is currently recognized and regulated by the
does it change the fact that they clearly draw from many sources. My teacher Khenpo Troru Ministry of Ayush, the ministry tasked with developing alternative and traditional healthcare
Tsenam’s view was that Yuthok the Younger composed the Gyü Zhi in its current form, based systems. Sowa Rigpa is seen as one traditional healing system among a number of others
on pre-existing Tibetan oral and textual teachings and key Indian source texts. At the same found in India, such as Ayurveda and Unani medicine, which, as we have seen, have had a big
time, Khenpo Troru Tsenam believed that Yuthok the Younger was a realized master, who influence on Sowa Rigpa’s own development. Recently, aspects of Sowa Rigpa have also been
20 21
 Introduction Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

acknowledged as important ‘intangible cultural heritage of humanity’ by organizations like the early 7th to late 9th centuries, family-lineage doctors were strongly in demand and still
UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). had close ties with the state, despite the existence of centralized institutions like Samyé.

Alternative names used for Sowa Rigpa highlight some of its key features even as they Historically, many hereditary amchi have also been ngakpa or non-celibate, non-
obscure others. Regardless of labels though, Sowa Rigpa is both a uniquely Tibetan and a monastic tantric yogis and ritual specialists. Not all ngakpa become fully trained amchi but
uniquely cosmopolitan system of knowledge. Sowa Rigpa has been shaped by Tibetan all ngakpa know at least something about materia medica and medicine given their roles as
histories, environments, culture, and values yet it incorporates knowledge and practices from village-level ritual healers and propitiators of spirits. Many hereditary-lineage doctors have
all over the world. It has been developed and practiced in Buddhist-majority societies for studied Sowa Rigpa concurrently with Tantric Yoga, Mantra Healing, Dzogchen, alchemy,
most of its history and is deeply connected with Buddhist teachings. Even so, as the Gyü Zhi divination, and shamanic practices. Both Yuthok the Elder and Yuthok the Younger were
itself explains, Sowa Rigpa is more than just ‘medicine for Buddhists’ and spiritual and ritual married householder ngakpa with children. Yuthok is said to have had some monk disciples
remedies only one small (albeit significant) part of its approach to healing. In this book, I use but many of the earliest and most important doctors in his lineage were householders
the terms ‘Tibetan medicine’ and ‘Sowa Rigpa’ interchangeably, with this both/and, inclusive rather than monastics. The spiritual teachings of the Yuthok Nyingthig are also quite geared

So
understanding firmly in mind and with the understanding that Sowa Rigpa can and should towards ngakpa, and the figure of the ngakmen or ‘yogi-doctor’ equally trained in medicine
benefit all people. and Tantra is an ancient ideal. As I mentioned above, ngakpa kept healing traditions alive

wa
after the fall of the Tibetan empire, at a time when centralized institutions and authority had
collapsed and fragmented.
SOWA RIGPA FOR EVERYONE:

Ri
DEVELOPMENTS IN TIBETAN MEDICAL EDUCATION Attentive readers will notice that very few non-monks and very few women are
mentioned in the historical outline of Tibetan medicine given in the previous section. At a

gp
Doctors from many different schools and lineages have studied and cherished the Gyü Zhi
certain point in history, Sowa Rigpa became strongly associated with Tibetan monasteries
over the centuries. This has had a unifying effect on the development of Sowa Rigpa. The
and monastic authority. In the post-imperial period, large monastic estates became some of
common foundation and reference points provided by the Gyü Zhi have created a sense of

aI
the main funders of medical education. As a result, for quite some time, the only way to get
continuity, community, and identity among amchi across the wider Tibetan cultural world.
an in-depth, formal education in Sowa Rigpa was to become a monk, to learn to read in a
Notwithstanding the importance of the Gyü Zhi, however, approaches to studying and

ns
monastery, and to join a medical school attached to a particular monastic university. In my
transmitting Sowa Rigpa have varied a lot in different times and places. While the core
home region of Rebkong in Amdo, Northeastern Tibet, for many centuries the largest medical
teachings of Sowa Rigpa have remained fairly consistent over the centuries, Tibetan medical

tit
school was located at Labrang, the biggest Gelukpa monastery in the region. Only monks
education has changed a great deal in the past few decades. New types of students and new
enrolled in this medical college, which was referred to as the menpa dratshang or ‘monastic
mediums of instruction have become commonplace in Sowa Rigpa contexts where they were

ut
college for doctors’. After a while, Mongolians living near the Amdo border adopted this
once exceedingly rare or completely unheard of. Before we begin our own educational journey
model and began to build their own medical colleges at big Mongolian monasteries as well.

e
through the Root Tantra, l’d like to take a moment to reflect on some of these developments
The progressive monasticization of Sowa Rigpa education meant that school-based medical
and my own philosophy regarding Sowa Rigpa education.
education was not really accessible to lay people for quite some time. This is a little ironic
considering that lay ngakpa doctors have played such an important part in the history and
Two big approaches to Sowa Rigpa education which one oftens reads or hears about
development of Sowa Rigpa.
are khyim gyü –hereditary or familial lineage transmission – and lop gyü – student or school
lineage transmission. Many brilliant Tibetan doctors never studied Sowa Rigpa in a school
In the 17th century, the Fifth Dalai Lama established or redeveloped a number of medical
or via a standardized curriculum. Instead, they learned one-on-one from various mentors
schools as part of his patronage of Sowa Rigpa and centralizing of state power. There was a
who they sought out or who were members of their own families. For centuries, hereditary
medical college in Zhigatsé, a small one inside the Dalai Lama’s own Potala palace, one at
transmission has been a major aspect of Tibetan medical history. While hereditary-lineage
Drepung, the giant Gelukpa monastic university in Lhasa, and so on. While these schools
doctors may study or memorize similar texts to ‘study-lineage’ doctors, many have their own
were for the most part affiliated with or located at monasteries and attended by monks, with
private methods of treatment as well, techniques which are unique to their family or to them
time, interest among lay men grew and more options were provided for them. Despite being a
as individuals. Doctors may have their own special recipes for formulas or may use techniques
monk from the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Fifth Dalai Lama had a great interest
they learned from terma texts or other visionary, revelatory sources. As we saw in the historical
in Buddhist teachings from the older Nyingma school and studied with several ngakpa
outline above, physicians in ancient Tibet travelled around widely, visiting different countries,
teachers. He saw the support of medicine as an important aspect of statecraft and had a more
and learning medicine directly from various foreign teachers. During the imperial period in
22 23
 Introduction Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

the patrilineal conventions of transmission from father-to-son meant she wouldn’t have the
opportunity. She thus wondered if Yuthok would consider teaching her instead. Fortunately,
Yuthok told her not to worry and assured her she could be his student. More recently, at
the beginning of the 20th century, a female doctor named Yangchen Lhamo (1907 – 1973)
became famous for using mik thur – special ophthalmic scalpels – to remove cataracts from
the eyes of hundreds of patients. Yangchen Lhamo’s father was a respected physician and she
learned Sowa Rigpa from him and his visiting students when she was young. She went on
to train with Khyenrap Norbu at the Lhasa Mentsikhang, where she was eventually given a
permanent position and where she helped revive education on and treatment of pediatric and
gynecological disorders. Gynecology in particular had declined at the Mentsikhang, in no
small part due to monks at the institution who refused to treat women’s disorders.

So
In recent decades, things have become a lot more progressive when it comes to female
doctors. In Sowa Rigpa colleges both in Tibet and in the Tibetan diaspora, female enrollees

wa
now consistently outnumber male ones. This is a wonderful development. Although one still
encounters a few conservative Tibetan doctors who believe medical education should only
be for men, women are beginning to take their rightful place at the center of Sowa Rigpa

Ri
education, teaching, and practice. Personally, I have always tried to ensure that enrollment
in the classes and organizations that I am affiliated with is at least fifty-fifty male-to-female.

gp
It is important to me that older, more patriarchal patterns are not reproduced unnecessarily
and that female students have just as many opportunities as male ones do. The good news is

aI
The great dakini and treasure revealer Jomo Menmo. that I have never really had to enforce this policy – as soon as classes and opportunities were
made available, female students showed interest and have become the main enrollees of their

ns
open, inclusive view. His goal was to develop Sowa Rigpa and make sure it benefitted as many own accord!
people as possible. With the help of the Regent Sanggyé Gyatso (who was himself a ngakpa)

tit
he promoted the full-time enrolment of lay men in medical colleges and developed codes of While the gender demographics of Sowa Rigpa education have changed rapidly years in
conduct for their attendance at these schools alongside monks. recent years, foreigners accessing Sowa Rigpa education is still quite new. Until quite recently,

ut
many Tibetan doctors felt that studying Sowa Rigpa without first being fluent in Tibetan was
If supporting non-monastic male students was the first frontier of inclusion in Sowa impossible. One can understand this position. Most texts about Sowa Rigpa have not been

e
Rigpa medical schools, the inclusion of female students was the second. Until recently, very translated into any other languages. By learning Tibetan, students can access the vast ocean of
few women had the opportunity to study Sowa Rigpa in a formal way. The few notable women textual and oral Sowa Rigpa teachings. They can deepen their understanding of Sowa Rigpa
in recorded history who studied and practiced medicine before the twentieth century rarely and Tibetan culture and become more empowered in their studies. They can learn from,
if ever studied as official enrollees in medical colleges. One example is the female treasure connect and share with Tibetans to a degree not otherwise possible. Reciting and memorizing
revealer and tantric adept Jomo Menmo (1248 – 1283), who served as the sexual-spiritual the words of the Gyü Zhi is also a major component of traditional Sowa Rigpa schooling.
consort of the treasure-revealer Guru Chöwang who was mentioned above. Jomo Menmo Without knowing Tibetan, this form of learning (which is also a big part of examination
appears to have studied medicine with Guru Chöwang and was an accomplished ritual healer procedures in Tibetan mentsikhang) will not be possible for students. At the same time,
as well. She is said to have achieved the Rainbow Body in her late thirties. In his hagiography institutions like the Dharamsala Men-Tsee-Khang have produced English translations of
of Jomo Menmo, Jamgön Kongtrul explains that the yogini was in the middle of making important Sowa Rigpa texts like the Gyü Zhi and many high-ranking Tibetan doctors and
offerings to the dakinis or tantric goddesses on a mountaintop with two of her close female lamas believe that Sowa Rigpa knowledge, practices, and medicines should spread and benefit
disciples when the three practitioners were seen to fly up into the sky and to dissolve into light as many people as possible. Translating and teaching Sowa Rigpa in other language makes is
together. Yuthok the Elder is said to have had a close female student as well. This woman came not just about making it more accessible to non-Tibetans – it can benefit Tibetan students,
to Yuthok and explained that her father was a hereditary doctor who lacked any sons to which teachers, and practitioners as well. Translating Tibetan texts into other languages and foreign
he could transmit his learning. This female student really wanted to learn Sowa Rigpa but texts into Tibetan can enrich Sowa Rigpa now just as it did in the past. It can enable Tibetan

24 25
 Introduction Foundations of Sowa Rigpa

and Himalayan practitioners to participate more fully in new developments and research
concerning Asian medical traditions, taking place in many different parts of the world.

Both Buddhism and Sowa Rigpa aim to benefit beings as widely as possible. Learning
Tibetan can deepen students of Tibetan Buddhism’s relationship with the teachings and is
highly recommended. At the same time, fluency in Tibetan should not be a prerequisite for
accessing Buddhist teachings. If this was so, then every Tibetan who wanted to access Buddhist
teachings would have had to learn Sanskrit and other languages individually for themselves!
The same goes for Sowa Rigpa. Slowly but surely, new opportunities for non-Tibetans to study
Tibetan medicine are emerging. In spreading Sowa Rigpa knowledge internationally, my aim
is not just to expose students to a foreign culture or merely to preserve traditional wisdom like
in a museum. Instead, my aim is to fulfil Yuthok’s dying wish, his prayer that the teachings of

So
Sowa Rigpa would spread as widely as possible and would bring as much benefit to as many
beings as possible after he passed away. I have devoted my life to fulfilling this aspiration and

wa
it is what inspires my own international activities. Just as Yuthok pitched his medical and
spiritual teachings at different levels for different types of students, I believe there is value in
sharing Sowa Rigpa teachings in variety of ways, in accordance with different students’ needs

Ri
and capacities. Some non- Tibetan students want to study Tibetan language intensively - they
want to memorize the Gyü Zhi, study at Tibetan-language mentsikhang for five or six years,

gp
and volunteer in Tibetan clinics and communities and eventually become fully qualified amchi.
Other students want to incorporate Sowa Rigpa theories and practices into their everyday

aI
lives in a more basic way, and are interested in using Sowa Rigpa principles to take better care
of themselves and their families. Both these goals are valid, even if they involve different levels

ns
of commitment and education. There are so many Buddhist and Sowa Rigpa teachings which
can help our world in significant ways. This book is one small part of my mission to share the

tit
Science of Health and Happiness with those who are interested, to share Medicine Buddha
and Yuthok’s most essential teachings with students of all backgrounds and levels.

With this in mind, let us now begin our journey into Sowa Rigpa and Chapter One of the Tsa
ut
e
Gyü or Root Tantra of the Gyü Zhi.

26 27