Tibetan Medicine in Europe? Let us look at it and follow Maxim Gorkiy!

Tibetan Medicine is very old, but for European people rather very new. There is not so much information for public, making this excellent, temporary and historical methods of treatment, known enough. Let us try change it with Dr. PHAGMO (ARURA Company).

Many people in Europe are very interested in Tibetan Medicine (TM). Could you please tell us generally what is the biggest benefit for all of them: Prevention, long life, health care?

许多欧洲人民对藏医学非常感兴趣，您能说一说藏医药学对他们而言最大的收益是什么？是预防，长寿或者医疗？

Tibetan Medicine is one of the four[1]world’s traditional medicine heritages existing today with its holistic theory and therapy system. It contains preventive practices, clinical surgery, longevity therapy as well as neuroscience and mental health care. In practices, it demonstrates more on mind and body balance at the same time, using four pathways such as diet, behavior, medicine and external therapy.

 

Are there any differences between Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM and Tibetan Medicine? Or we could talk about alternatives with the same source? (or can we consider that they have shared the same origin with different branches?)

藏医学和中医学之间有什么大的区别？或者我们是否可以理解为两者是同源不同支？

Well, we would like to say that the biggest difference between TCM and Tibetan Medicine is the cultural difference which is the background and roots for each medical system. Beyond this, of course they have different medical theory, practice, preventive methods and so on, but as a member of TCM, we believe that there are also some similarities between the two medical systems. 

 

As a doctor of TM, did you study at TCM University and some parts of Western Medicine (WM)?

作为一名藏医生，您是在中医药大学进行深造的吗？可否学习过西医学的一些课程？

 

Not really, we`ve been trained at Qinghai Tibetan Medical College. The school offers bachelor, master and Ph.D degrees of Tibetan Medicine for people who pursue to become a Tibetan medicine practitioner. Yes, we do have some parts of western medical skills during first or second year of medical study, and also with 6 months of internship during the last year.

 

What kind of patients do you have the most - senior people, children, or varieties of people?

您接诊的患者中是老人多一些，还是小孩，又或者全部都有？

 

There is no such thing as age limitation when it comes to cure patients, we give our hands to all kinds of ages, ethnic groups, population and diseases.

 

How many TM Hospitals you have in Qinghai province?

在青海省有多少家藏医医院？

According to the latest reports, there are 34 Tibetan Medical Hospitals in Qinghai Province.

 

Is Qinghai province the center of TM Medicine?

青海省是藏医药学的中心吗？

We would like to say that Qinghai is one of the major TM centers. There are five regions in China that are vastly populated with Tibetan people and they all practice Tibetan medicine at some extent. Among those places, Qinghai Province and Tibet Autonomous Region are the two major centers for Tibetan medicine practice.

 

Are there some promotion centers of TM Medicine in the world?

在全球，有相关于藏医药学的推广中心吗？

Well, we do have one institute in U.S that is promoting Tibetan Culture and Medicine. Dr. Konchok is the one who is managing that center. We’ ve been promoting Tibetan culture and Tibetan Medicine, especially on external therapies like Hor Me, also we have started offering some courses both at the University of Virginia and Columbia University. During the pandemic, we were temporally closed a while, and hope that we could re-open it in the future. Besides, we are pretty sure that there are some other centers but we do not have the connection with them.

 

Is it possible to teach TM somewhere out of Tibet, at universities in the world?

如果在中国以外的地区开展藏医药学的教育，是否可行？

Yes, we believe so. There are already few training projects that’s been launched in United States and Italy. We had close contact with the U.S. project, in a local institute called Shangshung Tibetan Medical Institute. They trained students there for junior and senior year, and during the last year of study, they did the internship in Qinghai Tibetan Medicine Hospital and Qinghai Tibetan Medical College in Qinghai Province. All the students in there have to learn Tibetan language first, especially speaking and writing.

 

Are TM doctors treating or teaching in Europe?

藏医药学的医生是否在欧洲开展治疗或者

We do think so, from a historical point of view, there are many Tibetan doctors who have been to Europe treating patients, teaching Tibetan Medicine and translating the Tibetan Medical text books, also people who opened personal clinic started business there, especially in Switzerland. There is a family called Padma Family. They established the first Tibetan Medical Pharmaceutical Company in 1969, nowadays it became the largest Tibetan Medical Pharmaceutical Company in the world. It also became the role model for people outside who are practicing Tibetan Medicine and firms in mainland China, like ARURA. What is more, Russia is another place where Tibetan Medicine is successfully disseminating, some of the good examples for this is to translate some parts of Tibetan Medical text books which called Four Tantras to Russians, and also treat patients among civilian, royal family and celebrities in Europe. Taking Maxim Gorkiy as an example, he was treated by a Tibetan doctor and had taken Tibetan Medicine, as a result, he’s getting better according to his autobiography.

By JAN HOVORKA, TCM WORLD