Mysterious Tibetan medicines often used in the treatment of complicated illnesses have been collected, compiled and published in the local language, thanks to a science and research project completed at the beginning of this month.

 

This is the first time a methodical, thorough and authoritative publication on Tibetan esoteric recipes and prepared prescriptions has been published.

 

The China Tibet Research Center and the Sci-tech Research Institute of Traditional Tibetan Medicine under the Tibetan Traditional Medical College have collaborated on this project since 1997, said Sonam Chimed, director of the institute, who's in charge of the project.

 

Contained within the collection, there are nearly 100 esoteric recipes and prepared prescriptions for today's difficult and often complicated diseases. They have been saved and collected from veteran experts of Tibetan medicine.

 

Traditional Tibetan medicine is an important component of the Chinese medical treasure trove. With a history of more than 2,000 years, it's closely related to traditional Chinese medicine and strongly influenced by the ancient treatments of Tianzhu (India) and Persia (Iran).

 

The Tibetan medicine features unique diagnosis techniques and treatment for many diseases. Many esoteric recipes and prepared prescriptions are popular among people and are unique in healing many difficult diseases including hepatitis A and B, diabetes and cardiovascular problems, said Sonam Chimed.

 

There are over 10,000 Tibetan prescriptions existing today, according to Sonam Chimed. More than 400 of them have been put into clinical use and among them around 300 are specifically utilized in the treatment of complicated diseases. Yet these esoteric medicines are only in the hands of some doctors who, it seems, are keen to protect their own knowledge. It would be an irreparable loss were these recipes to be lost.

 

"We hope we can compile as comprehensively as possible the legacy left by our ancestors so that it can serve more people around the world," said Sonam Chimed. "We will have the collection translated into Chinese and English so as to promote the Tibetan medicine industry."

 

(China.org.cn by Guo Xiaohong, August 15, 2006)