Combining Stories: Reading Tibetan Medicine As A Western Narrative Of Healing
Devin Gonier
Professor Ivette Vargas-O’Bryan
Department of Religious Studies
Final Report
Mellon Project 2008-09
Combining stories: Reading Tibetan Medicine as a Western Narrative of Healing
This project was funded by the Carnegie Mellon Grant from Austin College in 2008-09 under the supervision of faculty-advisor Ivette Vargas-O’Bryan from the Department of Religious Studies. My faculty advisor was of critical help throughout the entire process, and took great care in mentoring me in the project’s research and writing. The research for this paper took place over the course of a year in India (Dharmasala, Darjeeling, Ladakh), Kathmandu, Nepal and Boulder, Colorado. It involved interviewing ten Tibetan medicine doctors throughout …show more content…
Interviews are usually very crucial in assigning the proper treatment. Tibetan medicine usually involves non-synthesized combinations of herbs (sometimes up to sixty) that are to be taken at low dosages frequently throughout a period of time. Since the dosage is low and non-synthesized it can typically be used with other Western drugs. Alfred Hassig, an M.D. in Immunology, explains
Such a plant mixture can be extremely beneficial, because the individual plants react reciprocally to greater effect. Since the single components are only present in small quantities any side effects they may have are diminished in such a way that these plant compounds are very effective and well tolerated. That’s the problem with pharmaceutical substances: being chemically determined uniform substances, they exert a specific influence in the body and, in so doing, often effects and side effects …show more content…
This is something that the XIVth Dalai Lama has emphasized should be the case, and he recommends in certain situations amending old religious beliefs on the basis of modern development in a cautious manner. Based on some traditional views, replacing these religious aspects with science alone would be a violation of the very integrity and coherence that makes Tibetan medicine function. Tibetan medicine as an effective religious healing system has great potential for success in the U.S., but in order to understand how Tibetan medicine can fill an important demand in the U.S., it is important to explain how demand for healing has changed in contemporary healthcare for the
Professor Ivette Vargas-O’Bryan
Department of Religious Studies
Final Report
Mellon Project 2008-09
Combining stories: Reading Tibetan Medicine as a Western Narrative of Healing
This project was funded by the Carnegie Mellon Grant from Austin College in 2008-09 under the supervision of faculty-advisor Ivette Vargas-O’Bryan from the Department of Religious Studies. My faculty advisor was of critical help throughout the entire process, and took great care in mentoring me in the project’s research and writing. The research for this paper took place over the course of a year in India (Dharmasala, Darjeeling, Ladakh), Kathmandu, Nepal and Boulder, Colorado. It involved interviewing ten Tibetan medicine doctors throughout …show more content…
Interviews are usually very crucial in assigning the proper treatment. Tibetan medicine usually involves non-synthesized combinations of herbs (sometimes up to sixty) that are to be taken at low dosages frequently throughout a period of time. Since the dosage is low and non-synthesized it can typically be used with other Western drugs. Alfred Hassig, an M.D. in Immunology, explains
Such a plant mixture can be extremely beneficial, because the individual plants react reciprocally to greater effect. Since the single components are only present in small quantities any side effects they may have are diminished in such a way that these plant compounds are very effective and well tolerated. That’s the problem with pharmaceutical substances: being chemically determined uniform substances, they exert a specific influence in the body and, in so doing, often effects and side effects …show more content…
This is something that the XIVth Dalai Lama has emphasized should be the case, and he recommends in certain situations amending old religious beliefs on the basis of modern development in a cautious manner. Based on some traditional views, replacing these religious aspects with science alone would be a violation of the very integrity and coherence that makes Tibetan medicine function. Tibetan medicine as an effective religious healing system has great potential for success in the U.S., but in order to understand how Tibetan medicine can fill an important demand in the U.S., it is important to explain how demand for healing has changed in contemporary healthcare for the