What is Tibetan Medicine? (Sowa-Rigpa)
Traditional Tibetan medicine, known as Sowa-Rigpa, is a centuries-old medical system that offers a holistic approach to health and healing. It is based on a systematic, logical framework that reflects a comprehensive understanding of the human body and its relationship to the natural environment. Within this tradition, illness is understood through an integrated perspective that considers physical, mental, and environmental factors.
Tibetan medicine is often described as a science, an art, and a philosophy. It is regarded as a science because its principles are organized systematically and are grounded in observations of the body and its interaction with the environment. It is considered an art because diagnosis and treatment rely on the practitioner’s experience, intuition, and compassion. At the same time, it is a philosophy that incorporates key principles of Buddhist thought, including altruism, karma, and ethical conduct.
Buddhist philosophy emphasizes that all phenomena are in a constant state of change and are characterized by impermanence. As taught by Gautama Buddha, all conditioned things are transitory. This principle implies that suffering is an inevitable aspect of life. In Buddhist thought, suffering does not arise randomly but results from specific causes and conditions, whether in the present life or in previous existences
Five elements and the relationship between mental and physical health.
The theory of the five Cosmo elements in Sowa-Rigpa states that an excess, deficiency, or disturbance occurs in three energies that may lead to imbalance.
1. Sa (earth) exerts a more significant influence on forming muscle cells, bones, the nose, and the sense of smell.
2. Chu (water) is responsible for forming blood, body fluids, the tongue, and the sense of taste.
3. Mei (fire) is responsible for body temperature, complexion, the eyes, and the sense of sight.
4. Loong (wind) is responsible for respiration, the nervous system, and the sense of touch.
5. Nam-Kha (space) is responsible for body cavities, the ears, and the sense of hearing.
The three Principal Energies
1. Loong (wind) is one of the three principal energies of the body and mind, manifesting the air element’s nature. It is characterized by rough, light, cold, subtle, hard, and mobile. It is responsible for physical and mental activities such as respiration, excretion of urine and faeces, fetal development, menstruation, spitting, burping, speech, the immune system, blood circulation, hormonal systems, and the functions of the five senses. It is particularly associated with the five solid organs and the six hollow organs.
There are five types of loong energies: life-supporting, ascending, pervasive, fire-accompanying, and downward-cleansing wind. Once these become unbalanced, 42 kinds of loong (wind) disorders can occur.
2. Tri-pa (Bile) has the nature of fire. It is characterized by oily, sharp, hot, light, fetid, purgative, and fluidity. Tri-pa is responsible for hunger, thirst, digestion, and assimilation, promotes bodily heat, gives luster to body complexion, and provides courage and determination, especially with our metabolism and vascular system. It is particularly associated with organs such as the liver, gall bladder, stomach, and spleen, and 26 different types of Tri-Pa (bile) disorders can occur in an unbalanced state.
3. Bae-kan (Phlegm) is cold and is oily, excellent, heavy, blunt, smooth, firm, and sticky. It is responsible for the firmness of the body and stability of the mind, induces sleep, connects bodily joints, generates tolerance, and lubricates the body. is cold and is oily, excellent, heavy, blunt, smooth, firm, and sticky. It is responsible for the firmness of the body and stability of the mind, induces sleep, connects bodily joints, generates tolerance, and lubricates the body. Our lymphatic and central nervous systems are particularly associated with organs such as the kidneys, urinary bladder, pancreas, and male/female reproductive organs. Thirty-three different types of Bae-kan (phlegm) disorders can occur when unbalanced.
Disturbances / Imbalance
The three principal energies Loong (wind), Tri-Pa (Bile), and Bae-kan (Phlegm) can be disrupted due to unhealthy diets and lifestyles. In addition, negative thinking and unconscious processes in your head can also disturb the energy balance. In Tibetan medicine, these mental emotions are called three toxins: attachment, hatred, and delusion.
Relationships between Duksum and the three Principle Energies
| Ma-rig-pa | Nye-Pa | Energies | Element | |
| 1 | Doechak/attachment | Loong | Wind | Air |
| 2 | Zhedang/hatred | Tri-Pa | Bile | Fire |
| 3 | Timug/delusion | Bea-kan | Phlegm | Water + Earth |
Healthy Body
The three energies (Nye-Pa), seven bodily constituents, and three excretions are balanced; it is said to be healthy body and mind.
disequilibrium in any of these energies constitutes a state of unhealthy body and mind.
།དགེ་བ་འདི་ཡིས་མྱུར་དུ་བདག་། སངས་རྒྱས་སྨན་བླ་འགྲུབ་གྱུར་ནས་།
།འགྲོ་བ་གཅིག་རྐྱང་མ་ལུས་པ་། འདི་ཡི་ས་ལ་འགོད་པར་ཤོག་།
These virtues soon became the nature of the Medicine Buddha.
Not a single being. All beings were freed from suffering.
།ཇི་སྲིད་ནམ་མཁའ་གནས་པ་དང་། འགྲོ་བ་ཇི་སྲིད་གནས་གྱུར་བ་།
།དེ་སྲིད་བདག་ནི་གནས་གྱུར་ནས་། འགྲོ་བའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་སེལ་པར་ཤོག་།།
For as long as the universe abides, as long as the world remains.
Just so long may I be there, resolving all beings’ sufferings.