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27 pages, 404 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Arguing over the Buddhist Pedigree of Tibetan Medicine: A Case Study of Empirical Observation and Traditional Learning in 16th- and 17th-Century Tibet

by James Duncan Gentry

Religions 2019, 10(9), 530; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10090530 - 16 Sep 2019

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3341

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the practice and theory of medicine and Buddhism in premodern Tibet. It considers a polemical text composed by the 16th–17th-century Tibetan physician and tantric Buddhist expert Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen, intending to prove the Buddhist canonical status of [...] Read more.

This article examines the relationship between the practice and theory of medicine and Buddhism in premodern Tibet. It considers a polemical text composed by the 16th–17th-century Tibetan physician and tantric Buddhist expert Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen, intending to prove the Buddhist canonical status of the Four Medical Tantras, the foundational text of the Tibetan medical tradition. While presenting and analyzing Sokdokpa’s polemical writing in the context of the broader debate over the Buddhist pedigree of the Four Tantras that took place during his time, this discussion situates Sokdokpa’s reflections on the topic in terms of his broader career as both a practicing physician and a tantric Buddhist ritual and contemplative specialist. It suggests that by virtue of Sokdokpa’s tightly interwoven activities in the spheres of medicine and Buddhism, his contribution to this debate gives voice to a sensibility in which empiricist, historicist, and Buddhist ritual and contemplative inflections intermingle in ways that resist easy disentanglement and classification. In this it argues that Sokdokpa’s reflections form an important counterpoint to the perspectives considered thus far in the scholarly study of this debate. It also questions if Sokdokpa’s style of argumentation might call for a recalibration of how scholars currently construe the roles of tantric Buddhist practice in the appeal by premodern Tibetan physicians to critical and probative criteria. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buddhist Medicine in India, Tibet, and Mongolia)

18 pages, 295 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Medical Aesthetics in the Twilight of Empire: Lungrik Tendar and The Stainless Vaiḍūrya Mirror

by Matthew W. King

Religions 2019, 10(6), 380; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10060380 - 12 Jun 2019

Viewed by 3111

Abstract

This article introduces the life and medical histories of the luminary Khalkha Mongolian monk, Lungrik Tendar (Tib. Lung rigs bstan dar; Mon. Lungrigdandar, c. 1842–1915). Well known for his exegesis of received medical works from Central Tibet, Lungrik Tendar was also a historian [...] Read more.

This article introduces the life and medical histories of the luminary Khalkha Mongolian monk, Lungrik Tendar (Tib. Lung rigs bstan dar; Mon. Lungrigdandar, c. 1842–1915). Well known for his exegesis of received medical works from Central Tibet, Lungrik Tendar was also a historian of the Four Tantras (Tib. Rgyud bzhi; Mon. Dörben ündüsü). In 1911, just as Khalkha Mongolia began separating from a flailing Qing Empire, Lungrik Tendar set out to append the story of Mongolia and of Mongolian medicine, political formation, and religious life to the Four Tantra’s well-known global histories. In addition, he provided an illuminating summary of how to present the Four Tantras to a popular audience in the twilight of the imperial period. This article introduces the life of Lungrik Tendar and analyzes his previously unstudied medical history from 1911, The Stainless Vaiḍūrya Mirror. On the basis of this understudied text, this article explores ways that monastic medicine in the frontier scholastic worlds of the late-Qing Empire were dependent upon aesthetic representations of space and time and of knowledge acquisition and practice, and how such medical aesthetics helped connect the religious, political, legal, economic, and social worlds of Asia’s heartland on the eve of nationalist and socialist revolution and state-directed erasure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buddhist Medicine in India, Tibet, and Mongolia)

11 pages, 1063 KiB

Open AccessArticle

From “Lama Doctors” to “Mongolian Doctors”: Regulations of Inner Mongolian Buddhist Medicine under Changing Regimes and the Crises of Modernity (1911–1976)

by Daigengna Duoer

Religions 2019, 10(6), 373; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10060373 - 7 Jun 2019

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4267

Abstract

This paper focuses on how Buddhist medicine in twentieth-century Inner Mongolia was defined, restricted, regulated, and transformed under different ruling political regimes since the fall of the Qing empire in 1911 to the 1980s. The paper argues that the fate of Mongolian medicine [...] Read more.

This paper focuses on how Buddhist medicine in twentieth-century Inner Mongolia was defined, restricted, regulated, and transformed under different ruling political regimes since the fall of the Qing empire in 1911 to the 1980s. The paper argues that the fate of Mongolian medicine was closely linked with the fate of Mongolian Buddhism in twentieth-century Inner Mongolia. As Inner Mongolian Buddhism came to be re-defined, regulated, and coerced by various systems of governance that came to rule the region, Mongolian Buddhist medicine faced crises of modernity in which processes of secularization, exercises of biopower, practices of colonial medicine, and discourses of ethnicity and hygiene challenged the tradition to either reform and adapt to new standardizations imposed by Western biomedicine or lose relevancy in rapidly evolving eras of change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buddhist Medicine in India, Tibet, and Mongolia)

21 pages, 400 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metaphors in the Tibetan Explanatory Tantra

by Katharina Sabernig

Religions 2019, 10(6), 346; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10060346 - 28 May 2019

Viewed by 4622

Abstract

The development of medical theories and concepts is not isolated from the societal “Zeitgeist” of any medical culture. Depending on the purpose and the audience addressed, different metaphors are used to explain different medical content. Doubtlessly, Tibetan medicine is associated with Tibetan Buddhism [...] Read more.

The development of medical theories and concepts is not isolated from the societal “Zeitgeist” of any medical culture. Depending on the purpose and the audience addressed, different metaphors are used to explain different medical content. Doubtlessly, Tibetan medicine is associated with Tibetan Buddhism and various medical topics are linked to Buddhist knowledge. In addition to the religious link, medical texts and terms also make use of nomadic or even military metaphor. In anatomical language, metaphor and metonym are usually based on visual or morphological similarities. In the case of physiological, pathological, or therapeutic processes, metaphor often deals with dynamic and strategic elements drawn from comparisons with everyday life and other spheres of activity. These models commonly relate to specific historical and cultural backgrounds. Let us think of the European “body republic” in Renaissance medical theory or the theory of the “cell state” devised by Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902), which explains the concept of cellular pathology. Asian examples that use state functions as metaphors for the hierarchy of internal organs in Chinese and Tibetan medicine are well-known. In addition to these prominent state models, Tibetan medical language and its visual representation is rich in metaphor. In this preliminary paper not all occurring metaphors can be discussed in depth, however different types of Tibetan medical metaphor will be compared and contextualized with non-Tibetan metaphors from other contemporary and historical medical cultures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buddhist Medicine in India, Tibet, and Mongolia)

31 pages, 14643 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Buddhist–Medical Interface in Tibet: Black Pill Traditions in Transformation

by Barbara Gerke

Religions 2019, 10(4), 282; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10040282 - 20 Apr 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 23051

Abstract

This paper introduces Tibetan pill traditions and examines two exceptional pill formulas that emerged from an early Buddhist–medical interface in Tibet, but followed different trajectories due to the increased specialization of religious and medical knowledge. “Black pills” are the most revered consecrated healing [...] Read more.

This paper introduces Tibetan pill traditions and examines two exceptional pill formulas that emerged from an early Buddhist–medical interface in Tibet, but followed different trajectories due to the increased specialization of religious and medical knowledge. “Black pills” are the most revered consecrated healing compound of the Karmapas (the incarnate heads of the Karma Kagyü School of Tibetan Buddhism), while the “Cold Compound Black Pill”—a precious pill known as Rinchen Drangjor—is one of Tibetan medicine’s most complex formulas still produced today. Based on both textual research and ethnographic fieldwork in India, I critically explore the principal factors that link these black pill traditions. I argue that parallels in the use of potent substances and their processing offer examples of how strongly entangled medical and religious approaches are with respect to healing practices that include blessings, protection, spiritual support, and medical treatment. My findings reveal that although there are distinct areas of medical and religious specialized practices in the black pill traditions, consecrated multi-compounds are added to both types of black pills to enhance potency and ensure the continuation of lineage affiliations to certain Buddhist schools. I also show how political and sectarian conflicts within certain Buddhist schools may affect some of these rare pill practices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buddhist Medicine in India, Tibet, and Mongolia)

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21 pages, 297 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Buddhist Medical Demonology in The Sūtra of the Seven Buddhas

by Adam C. Krug

Religions 2019, 10(4), 255; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10040255 - 9 Apr 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5017

Abstract

This essay begins with a brief discussion of the marginalization of demonology in the study of both Indian Buddhist traditions and Āyurvedic medicine. Unlike the study of Buddhist traditions in other geographic regions, there has been relatively little scholarship on the dialogue between [...] Read more.

This essay begins with a brief discussion of the marginalization of demonology in the study of both Indian Buddhist traditions and Āyurvedic medicine. Unlike the study of Buddhist traditions in other geographic regions, there has been relatively little scholarship on the dialogue between Indian Buddhist communities and the localized spirit deity cults with which they have interacted for more than two millennia. The modern study of Āyurverda, with few exceptions, demonstrates a similar trend in the marginalization of bhūtavidyā, or demonology, which has constituted a legitimate branch of Āyurvedic medicine from at least the time that the earliest Āyurvedic compendium, the Carakasaṃhitā, was composed. This essay argues that this lack of proper attention to Indian Buddhist and Āyurvedic medical demonology is symptomatic of a broader, persistent bias in the human sciences. The essay then examines a handful of stories from the Karmaśataka, a collection of Buddhist avadānas, to argue that certain Buddhist communities may have held their own biases against systems of medical demonology, albeit for entirely different reasons. The balance of this essay then concludes with an analysis of The Sūtra of the Seven Buddhas that presents this work as an example of Buddhist medical demonology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buddhist Medicine in India, Tibet, and Mongolia)

18 pages, 284 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Conceptualization of “Taking the Essence” (bcud len) as Tantric Rituals in the Writings of Sangye Gyatso: A Tradition or Interpretation?

by Tony Chui

Religions 2019, 10(4), 231; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10040231 - 28 Mar 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5263

Abstract

Chülen (bcud len), the practice of “taking the essence”, is an important practice within the Tibetan medical tradition. Through nourishing the body with the so-called depleted “essence”, not only can one extend their lifespan but the practitioner can also restore their [...] Read more.

Chülen (bcud len), the practice of “taking the essence”, is an important practice within the Tibetan medical tradition. Through nourishing the body with the so-called depleted “essence”, not only can one extend their lifespan but the practitioner can also restore their physical vitality. In recent years, this practice seems to be shifting away from the traditional religious mode of chülen involving tantric practices and rituals. Among the Tibetan medical literature, chülen is much emphasized in its religious aspects in the two important 17th century Tibetan medical commentaries on the Four Tantras (Rgyud bzhi) by the regent of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Desi Sangye Gyatso (Sde srid sangs rgyas rgya mtsho, 1653–1705): the Blue Beryl (Vaiḍūrya sngon po) and the Extended Commentary on the Instructional Tantra of the Four Tantras (Man ngag lhan thabs). Both texts are considered to be the most significant commentaries to the Four Tantras and have exerted a momentous impact on the interpretation of the Four Tantras even up to recent times. In their chapters on chülen, an assortment of chülen practices can be found. While there are some methods solely involving the extraction of essence in the material sense, there are also some in the spiritual-alchemical sense which are not observed in the Four Tantras. In this paper, I focus on the elaboration of the Four Tantras by Sangye Gyatso via his portrayal of ritualistic chülen in his two commentaries, where the tantric mode of promoting longevity and rekindling vitality is made efficacious by the operative socio-religious factors of his era, and which still exert their effect on our perception of chülen today. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buddhist Medicine in India, Tibet, and Mongolia)

13 pages, 539 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mongolian Buddhist Scholars’ Works on Infectious Diseases (Late 17th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century)

by Batsaikhan Norov

Religions 2019, 10(4), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10040229 - 27 Mar 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 7472

Abstract

The Qing period saw both the flowering of Buddhism in Mongolia as well as the arrival of new infectious diseases such as smallpox and syphilis which had reached epidemic levels by the 17th to early 20th centuries. During that critical period, a considerable [...] Read more.

The Qing period saw both the flowering of Buddhism in Mongolia as well as the arrival of new infectious diseases such as smallpox and syphilis which had reached epidemic levels by the 17th to early 20th centuries. During that critical period, a considerable number of Mongolian Buddhist scholars produced a substantial amount of works dedicated to the ways of fighting epidemics. This paper explores the efforts of Mongolian Buddhist scholars in countering this new threat, within the unique social and political milieu of the time. Smallpox spread severely reduced the Mongolian population and could have influenced the change of political control in the region, as several prominent Mongolian leaders who fought against Qing domination were themselves victims of smallpox epidemics. Similarly, at the beginning of the 20th century, around half the Mongolian population was infected by syphilis and, as a result, the population further declined in numbers. Tibetan Buddhist medicine, which was introduced to Mongolia from Tibet, was enriched by Mongolian traditional medical practices and fused with traditional Mongolian and Chinese medical knowledge during Mongolian scholars’ search for preventive methods against infectious diseases. This article examines the works of three renowned Mongolian Buddhist scholars who dealt with issues of infectious diseases: Ye shes dpal ‘byor, Chakhar Géshé Lobsang Tsültim, and Lobsang chos ‘phel. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buddhist Medicine in India, Tibet, and Mongolia)

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