Traditional Tibetan Medicine (TTM) has absorbed two great Asian systems of medicine, namely those of India and China (see history section), as well as elements of Mongolian, Persian and other medical systems. It is a vast and highly evolved medical science which can no more be summed up in a few web pages than can modern Western medicine. Its depth, vastness, subtlety and maturiy as a medical system strike nearly all who come to study it. In Tibet, these theoretical medical studies took at least five years (with a very intense curriculum), followed by years of internship or apprenticeship for practical experience.

TTM is, then, no simple folk medicine based only upon the hazards of indigenous experience. The information in these pages is a sketch of some key points and fundamental notions found in TTM. These will be presented in particular reference to our work at Tara where, for some seven years, we have enjoyed a privileged contact with some of the finest physicians and hospitals on the Tibetan plateau.

Most of Tibet lies over 4,000 metres altitude with a rare flora and fauna and a tough indigenous people    [photo: Ken Holmes]