History, Preservation and Flourish of Traditional Tibetan Medicine during the Era of Fragmentation:

842-1264

Dr. Nyima Tsering

(R&D) Men-Tsee-Khang

What is The Era of Fragmentation in Tibetan history?

The Era of Fragmentation is a period of TIbetan history between the 9th and 11th centuries. During this era, the political centralisation of the earlier Tibetan Empire collapsed following a civil war between Yumten and Woesung. The period was dominated by rebellions against the remnants of imperial Tibet and the rise of regional warloards.

HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN INDIA AND FEW RENOWN SCHOLARS

The contribution of the glorious Nagarjuna to the science of medicine

• Many texts prophesied the glorious guide and pioneer Nagarjuna, famed as the second teacher of the Conqueror’s precious doctrine.
• He is from wealthy Brahman family from southern district of Vedali.
• He would not live beyond seven days.
• Invited 100 Brahman and made offering, he lives seven month.
• Invited 100 monks and made offering, he lives seven years.
• Brahman Sahara said if he become ordained, he could avoid his fate and therefore he become monk.
• He was initiated into the Madala of Amitayus and told to recite mantras, as result he had been released from the hold of lord of death.

• His contribution to the sciences has been enormous. Specially in the field of medicine.
• Taking the very essence of the countless tantras from the renowned science of medicine, here is compiled a hundred preparations praised by the masters of medicine.
• Text composed by the Nagarjuna Ritual of Ava Medicine, Secret Ambrosia: preparation of Medicinal plants, Precious Medicine, Jewel Garland Preparation of Mercury, and Treatment of four kinds of Lhok and Infectious fevers.
• “I am going to the world of Sukhavati. Later I shall again return to this body.” With this words he died.

• གསང་ཏིག་སྒྲོན་མེ། 73 chapter
• རྩ་ཡིག་ཉི་ཟེར་སྒྲོན་མེ། 18 chapter
• སྨན་འཚོ་བའི་མདོ།
• སྦྱོར་བ་བརྒྱ་པ། (Hundred medicinal preparation) 11 chapter, Translated in Tibetan by Tharlo Nyima Gyaltsen 11th century
• ཏི་ཀ་རྣམ་དྲུག 21 chapter
• ཀླུ་རྒྱལ་ཞུས་ལེན། 66 chapter
• ལྕགས་སྦུབ་མ་རྒྱ་ནག་ལུགས། 7 chapter

• གསང་བའི་བདག་པོས་བདེ་བྱེད་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་ལ་གནང་བའི་མཛེ་བཅོས།
• མཛེ་རིགས་བཅོ་བརྒྱད་ཀྱི་རྟགས་བཅོས། 8 chapter
• ཞལ་སྔ་ནས་མཛད་པའི་མན་ངག་ཟབ་མོ།
• ནག་པོ་དགུའི་སྦྱོར་བ།
• སྨན་ཨ་བའི་ཆོ་ག Ritual of Ava Medicine
• སྤོས་ཀྱི་རེའུ་ཆར་པ།
• སྤོས་ཀྱི་སྦྱོར་བ་རེའུ་ཆར་བྱས་པའི་ཐབས།

སློབ་དཔོན་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་སྨན་ཡིག

The contribution of Pitrceta to the science of medicine

• The medical disciple of Nagarjuna
• He was born in the west of Kashmir, where his father was a great physician, mastered the eight branches of medicine in Brahman Vedic tradition
• Father Simha guhya(Senge Bepa) mother Rathnasiddhi(Dedenma)
• He is non-Buddhist philosophy scholar, who against the Buddhist scholar.
• Aryadeva is one who defeat the Pitrceta and become Great Buddhist scholar where he wrote
• He was locked inside a temple containing a collection of the Buddha’s teaching. There he became bored and began reading the sutras, tantras and commentaries. This made him realise that his views and behaviour were wrong. He felt great remorse for his wrong actions.

• As per prophesiedby the Tara that if he were to write treatises that revealed the working of the law of cause and effect, he would be cleansed of his past misdeeds. Therefore He composed four medical texts in order to purify himself of past physical misdeeds.
• These are 1. Extensive Exposion of Eight Branches. 2. Engaging in Eight Branches. 3. Essence of Eight Branches. 4. His own commentary on Essences of Eight Branches. While he composing the Essences of Eight Branches, Various auspicious signs occurred.
• His treatise Essences of Eight branches consist of six sections.
• 1. The First section is general and has 30 chapters.
• 2. The Second section is on the body and has 6 chapters.
• 3. The third section is on pathology and has 16 chapters.
• 4. The fourth section is on treatment and has 22 chapters.
• 5. The fifth section is on medicinal procedures and their administration and has 6 chapters.
• 6. The sixth section is the concluding chapter and has 40 chapters.

The contribution of the Kashmiri Candrananda.

• Saubhagyananda (grand father ), Kamananda (father)
• Pitrceta (master)
• Samghaguhya—> Pitrceta —> Acarya Sura—> Kamananda—>Candrananda
• Candrananda devoted himself to countless works on Ayurveda, including the Extensive Exposition of Eight branches, Engaging in Eight branches, Essence of Eight branches, Caraka Collections.
• He himself using sophisticated reasoning and analysis, composed an extensive commentary on Essence of Eight Branches called Moonlight. And a Separate lexicon of the medical terms found in moonlight.
• He is also a master to elder Yuthok Yonden Gonpo, Vairocana

FLOURISH

OF

MEDICINE IN TIBET

Translation of Indian Traditional Medicine in Tibetan

• Translation of Essence of Eight Branches composed by Pitrceta/ Vagbhata and commentary of Essence of Eight Branches: moonlight by Candrananda into Tibetan from Sanskrit by Lochen Rinchen Sangpo.
• ཡན་ལག་བརྒྱད་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྡུས་པ། Essence of Eight Branches Astanga Hridaya Samhita.
• དེའི་རང་འགྲེལ། The autocommentary on Essence of Eight Branches. Translated in Tibetan by Pandita Dharmasri Varma, Nyewo lotsawa Yikgi Rinchen, Mar Lotsawa Rigpa Shonu and Yikgu Gelong Shaka Lodro.
• ཡན་ལག་བརྒྱད་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྡུས་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཟླ་ཟེར། Commentary of Essence of Eight Branches.
• Translation of Essence of Eight branches helped revitalise Tibetan Medicine and served as an important tool for its promotion and development. It was later curved into a wooden block and became an important part of Buddhist Canon Tengyur.

The contribution of Lotsawa Rinchen sangpo

• Father: Shonu Wangchuk and Mother: Chokro Kunsang Sherab, Become Monk at age 13 under Abbot Yeshi Sangpo.
• Great translator Rinchen Sangpo. Born on 958 at Guge called Chamyung Van Ratna and past away on 1055
• Lha Lama Yeshi Yoe gathered 25 intelligence Kids from Ngari region and sent them to India for studies, among them only Lochen Rinchen Sangpo and lochung lekpe Sherab returned to Tibet after completing full fledge studies.
• From the age of 17 he spent around 10 years in India, where he devoted himself to 75 pandits, including Naropa.
• Translated many Medical books and Bhuddhisy Philosophy.

PRESERVATION

and

DEVELOPMENT

of

MEDICINE

DURING

DARK AGE OF TIBETAN History.

Lochen Rinchen Sangpo

19

Ongmen Ane

Mangmo Mentsun

Shaka Tri Yeshe Jungne

Nyangde Senge Dra

Cheji Tipang

Drale Gyalpo

Ulang Tashi Khar

Jangchup Yoe

Yungdrung

Dawa

Jotra

Nyengpo

Jotsen

Drotsa

Taktok Gyal

Jophen

Jonak

He wrote down the oral transmission: one for his disciples called Essentials and one for his son called Quint-essential. གཙད་སྟོད་དར་མ་མགོན་པོའི་ཟིན་ཏིག་དང་ཡང་ཐིགIt has 146 chapters. All are clinical experienced by himself.

Taktok Gyal: become very famous

Jophen: Become most familiar with the teaching

Jonak: scripture and instruction into practical

Choeje Shangton Shikpo

Dewa Pal

TsangTon Dharma Gonpo

Yonden Gyatso

Lineage of Drapa Ngonshe wangchuk bhar

21

Nyane

Yang

Lhaje

Dorje Drechung

Shangten

Shangtak Karwa

Shangton Choebar

Palek

Shang Setsa

Nyachung

Lekten

Tseno

Joga

Taktsap

Shenpa

Takchung

Two Daughter

Eldest son Shangton Choebar great geshe in Sutra and Tantra.

Minister of Dharma King Trisong Detsen, was not wealthy but was very intelligent and good speaker. Due to this he was made supervisor of the construction of the blue reliquary and other projects at Samye.

Dorje Drechung had three son and middle son is Lhaje

Descendant of Nayne

Joga is Son of Lekten

Joga had three son

Taktsap is Terton Drapa Ngonshe Wangchuk Bar

Drapa Ngonshe/ Taktsap

22

Yuthok Yonden Gonpo

Oepa Dhardak

Toeton Kunchok Kyap

Sumten Yeshi zung

Main disciple of Drapa Ngonshe

Visited India with Shang Ziji Bhar and received the complete instructions on Sojey Yenlak gyepa from the eminent master Shintapa.

Rewrite gyueshi

Main disciple of Yuthok Yonden Gonpo

The contribution of Drapa Ngonshe

• An incarnation of Vairocana.
• Taktsap was born in the male water rat year 1012
• Goatherd for five year in early life.
• He became ordained by Geshe Yapshoe Gyalwa. Sherab Gyalwa
• For five year studied Vinaya.
• From his uncle he learned Sutra and Tantra. From Su he learned Medicine
• His Lama Su died due to adverse effect while removing of fluid in heart by spoon therapy by him.
• He also died due to his student same as he did to his lama Su.

• The treasure finder Terton Drapa Ngonshe rediscovered the Gyueshi/ four Tantra from the pillar of Samye Monastery following a vision from the Medicine deity as during the eighth century, first international conference on Tibetan Medicine was hosted at Samye Monastery and after conference Elder Yuthok Yonden Gonpa wrote book called Gyueshi. Which was primarily based on the indigenous Tibetan medical knowledge with synthesis of various Asian medical system added.
• That text was concealed inside pillar of Samye Monastery by Dharma King Trisong Detsen and Vairocana and to be rediscovered later when the time would be ripe for this text to be used and understood.
• After it was rediscovered from Samye Monastery by Terton Drapa Ngonshe in year 1038, 15th day of 7th month of Tibetan calendar. Was rewritten into present form of The Gyueshi by Younger Yuthok Yonden Gonpo a famous 13th descendant of the previous Yuthok

Terton Drapa Ngonshe

Oepa Dhardak

Shang Ziji Bhar

Toeton Kunchok Kyap

Tharlo Nyima Gyaltsen

Bharo Chakdum

Nyamey Dhakpo Lhajey

Phakmo Drupa

Ngadak Nyang Relpachen

Yuthok Yonden Gonpo

Galo Shonu Palwa

Chomden Rigpe Reldri

Sumton Yeshi Zung

Yuthok Tashi Gon

Terton Ramoshel

Dhakpa Gyaltsen

Pelchen Olpo

Jangrong Ae

Shenton Yeshi Lodoe

The contribution of Younger Yuthok Yonden Gonpo

• Younger Yuthok Yonden Gonpo (1126-1202 AD) was born at Tsang Nyangtoe. As a child, he was interested in feeling the pulss of his playmates and in identifying various medicinal substances around him.
• He become knowledgeable in all fields of medicine and started treating patients at a very young age.
• At the age Of 14, he met Rokton Kunchok Kyap, who was travelling to central Tibet and was suffering from Bam. He treated him successfully and journey was able to continue. After 2 year again Rokton was suffering from a serious disease and he consulted to renowned physician Oepa Dhardak. He was successfully treated and received complete instructions of Gyueshi from Oepa Dhardak. While he return. He met Yuthok and gave him complete instructions on Gyueshi.

• He traveled to India, China, Persia, Nepal and Srilanka, and met with many renowned masters and physicians from whom he received important teaching and medical knowledge.
• Most important works by him was Gyadpa Chechung Gyi Nyingpo Duspa, Pawoi Nyingpo despair Do Nyekyi Delphi Thongwa Melong, Tsapyad Rigpa Rangsel Detsen Ngapa, Laglen podchung, Manngag Shokdril Korsum, Nyamyig Budonma, Chalag Chogyad
• He re organised and rewrote the Gyeshi, making it more complete, compatible and comprehensive, and entitled it Dutse Nyigpo Yenlag Gyedpa Sangwa Manngag Gyi Gyue. To this date, the Gyueshi remains the main foundation for Tibetan Medical education, Research, Pharmacology, and clinical practice.
• He dedicated his entire life to the development and promotion of Tibetan Medicine and is revered as the Second Medicine Buddha for his exceptional efforts in eliminating the suffering of all beings.

Gyueshi: Four Tantra

• The Gyueshi contains four Tantras, namely Tsa Gyue( the Root Tantra), Shed Gyue(the Explanatory Tantra), Manngag Gyue( the Oral Instructions Tantra and Chima Gyue( The Subsequent Tantra).
• The Root Tantra presents an overview of the essence of Tibetan Medicine. In Six chapters, it clearly outlines the basic principles of health and disease, methods of diagnosis as well as therapeutic approaches.
• The Explanatory Tantra addresses the theoretical foundation of Tibetan Medical science in a detailed and systematic manner.
• The Oral Instruction Tantra deals with practical applications of theoretical principles with regard to the treatment of general and specific disorders.
• The Subsequent Tantra presents the theoretical principles behind the major practical techniques, including the compounding of medicine, the application of evaluative therapies, and the use of mild and drastic external therapies.

བདུད་རྩི་སྙིང་པོ་ཡན་ལག་བརྒྱད་པ་གསཙ་བ་མན་ངག་གི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་སྤྱི་ཁོག

ཐོག་མར་དགེ་བ་ཀླད་ཀྱི་དོན།

ཐ་མ་དགེ་བ་མཇུག་གི་དོན།

བར་དུ་དགེ་བ་གཞུང་གི་དོན།

ཇི་ལྟར་བཏགས་པ་མཚན་གྱི་དོན།

གུས་པས་འདུད་པ་ཕྱག་གི་དོན།

ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པའི་གླེང་གཞི།

རྣམ་གྲངས་མདོར་བསྟན་གླེང་གློང་བཀོད་པ།

རྒྱུད་དོན་དངོས་བཤད་པ།

མཇུག་དོན་བསྡུས་པ།

རྒྱུད་ཡོངས་སུ་གཏད་པ།

མཚན་ལེགས་སྦྱར་སྐད་དུ་བཤད་པ།

མཚན་བོད་སྐད་དུ་བཤད་པ།

སྐད་གཉིས་ཤན་སྦྱར་བཀོད་པ།

མཚན་་གྱི་དོན།

བཤད་པ་སྐུ་ཡི་རྒྱུད།

རྩ་བ་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་རྒྱུད།

མན་ངག་ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱུད།

ཕྱི་མ་འཕྲིན་ལས་རྒྱུད།

སྟོན་པའི་རང་དོན་སྤངས་པ་ཕུན་ཚོགས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བ།

སྟོན་པའི་གཞན་དོན་འཕྲིན་ལས་ཕུན་ཚོགས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བ།