Socio-Economic Dimensions of Tibetan Medicine in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China

Abstract

Th is article investigates some of the socio-economic dimensions of contemporary Tibetan medical practices in the rural areas of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), China. Th e article is divided into two parts. Part One, printed in the last issue of the journal, deals with traditional medical practitioners and their medical practices within the governmental health care system in the TAR. It sheds light on the workings and the eff ects that the commodification of the offi cial health care system have had on its Tibetan medical practitioners, most of whom now work as hybrid practitioners and incorporate Chinese-style biomedicine into their practice.

From medical tradition to traditional medicine: A Tibetan formula in the European framework

“…It is also prominent in the surrounding countries south of the Himalayas: Nepal, Bhutan and in India, especially in the northern states Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh (Craig and Adams, 2008;Hofer, 2008;Craig and Glover, 2009;Kloos, 2013). The northern expansion extends into the republic of Mongolia and into Buryatia, the region east of Lake Baikal in the Siberian part of modern Russia.…”

Currents of Tradition in Sowa Rigpa Pharmacy

“…Integration into the public health system brought intense and uneven articulation with the Chinese state, where the language of secular science was central to the modernization of the system and to the effacement of elements deemed religious, irrational, or scientifically unverifiable (Adams 2007). Formerly important pharmacological concepts and pharmaceutical practices pertaining to nonmaterial modes of efficacy, such as ritual empowerment and the blessing of medicines, were heavily suppressed (Craig and Adams 2008;Hofer 2008). Together with recent market reforms, this engagement has contributed to the profound reconfiguration of pharmaceutical production patterns and practices in the region (Adams et al 2010;Craig 2011;Janes 2001).…”

Pathways, intersections, and hotspots

“…The medical landscape is different in rural areas, with limited access to both biomedical and Tibetan medical health care (Hofer 2008; see also Adams et al 2005). …”

“…With the compilation of its foundational treatise the Gyüshi (rGyud bzhi, Four Tantras) in the twelfth century by Yuthok Yönten Gönpo (g.Yu thog yon tan mgon po, 1126-1202) and the numerous commentaries produced in the centuries that followed, Tibetan medicine became an important part of Tibetan cultural and intellectual history (Gyatso 2015). Although there have been reforms and centralization processes of Tibetan medical ideas and practices from the seventeenth century onwards (Hofer 2008), there has also been a relatively strong continuity in the transmission of knowledge from teacher to student over these centuries. At the same time, Tibetan medicine is characterized by heterogeneity across regions, classes, and countries (Craig 2012;Adams et al 2010;Soktsang and Millard 2013).…”