Abstract
‘Every physical substance on earth is a medicine’. This core Tibetan medical principle promises enormous potential as much as it raises profound questions: To what extent is food medicine? What about poisons – do Tibetan doctors use these in their medicines? How do they come up with a placebo when testing Tibetan drugs today? As in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, Tibetan medicine holds that the entire universe is made up of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space. Within the body Tibetan doctors (amchi) recognise three nyepas – the ‘forces’ of wind, bile and phlegm – that are specific combinations of the five elements.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Type | Featured Article |
| Media of output | IIAS Newsletter |
| Publisher | International Institute of Asian Studies |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Place of Publication | Leiden |
| Volume | 68 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2014 |