Ancient Tibetan Medicine - Exhibition Of Priceless Two Millennia Old Healing Manuals And Surgical Tools

[Debby ♥Many Nations♥]

Ancient Tibetan natural medicine - indigenous to the Tibetan people - has a long tradition.

However, much of the evidence of Tibet's ancient procedures and healing methods has been lost or become unreachable at the hands of foreign invaders and Chinese rule.

The handful of surviving archives and libraries in Tibet are largely off limits to outsiders hoping to study and preserve the material. However, according to the curator and anthropologist Theresia Hofer, "many items are in dire need of conservation, recording, and publication."

Now, instruction manuals and surgical tools from the last two millennia have been gathered for "Bodies in Balance: The Art of Tibetan Medicine" - a fascinating exhibition opens on Saturday at the Rubin Museum of Art in Chelsea.

 

Click on image to enlarge

Instructions on setting bones, in an exhibition on Tibetan medicine at the Rubin Museum of Art. Credits: Arnold Lieberman Collection

 

The exhibition invites visitors to relate what they discover to their own lives through interactive experiences within the galleries and throughout the Museum including Café Serai and the shop.

The relationship of Tibetan medicine, Buddhism, and the visual arts has been integral to the development and transmission of this medical tradition.

 

Approximately 140 objects dating from the 9th century to the present day demonstrate the advancement of Tibetan medical knowledge as it was codified in medical texts, illustrated in art, demonstrated by medical tools, and made evident by examples of medicines compounded from natural ingredients and applied in practice. Generously illustrated with more than 200 images, "Bodies in Balance" includes essays on contemporary practice of Tibetan medicine, pharmacology, astrology, history, foundational treatises, and the Medicine Buddha.

According to ancient Tibetan medicine recipes could require salves of warmed moss and soil found in mouse holes facing east.

Soaking in hot springs near coal veins was also recommended, as were gold needles pricked into the scalp.

Ancient Tibetan prescriptions represent a unique and complex system of understanding body and mind, treating illness, and fostering health and well-being.

 

Rooted in classical Indian medicine, Sowa Rigpa commonly knows as ‘Amchi’ ancient system of Tibetan medicine has been influenced by Chinese, Greco-Arab, and indigenous medical knowledge and practices and further developed within the context of Buddhism in Tibet.

Sowa Rigpa is still practiced today throughout Tibet, the Himalayan regions, India, Mongolia, Siberia and in the Western world where ever Tibetans live in exile.

Considered among the most essential of the ten Tibetan subjects of study, this a living medical tradition has benefited the people of Tibet and its surrounding regions for centuries.

 

Now, its principles are at the heart of many complementary therapies now widely used in the West.

The Tibetan science of healing is based on an analytical system in which three forces - wind, bile, and phlegm - govern physical and mental aspects of being. Using a brief questionnaire, visitors can determine which of the three forces is dominant in their constitutions and follow a color-coded pathway that highlights the exhibition components most relevant to them.

 

Tree of Diagnosis, Copy of Plate 3 of the Lhasa Tibetan Medical Paintings, Lhasa, central Tibet. Date unknown; pigments on cloth and brocade; private collection, Chicago

The exhibition includes videos and a touchscreen that provide additional information and interactive experiences of select elements of these practices.

The volume brings to life the theory and practice of this constantly evolving, ancient healing art, which is becoming increasingly sought after world-wide.

"Bodies in Balance" provides audiences an opportunity to have a personalized exhibition experience.

The exhibition includes videos and a touchscreen that provide additional information and interactive experiences of select elements of these practices. A multi-media installation shows how Tibetan medicine is used today. 

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