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XXIX. The Tibetan Anatomical System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

E. H. C. Walsh
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Extract

In the present article I give a translation and description of the anatomical chart kept in the Temple Medicine on the lChags-po-ri (“Iron Hill”) at Lhasa which, together with its connected monastery, forms the medical college of Tibet. The chart demonstrates the Tibetan science of anatomy, and every Tibetan doctor taught his anatomy from it.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , October 1910 , pp. 1215 - 1245
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1910

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References

page 1215 note 1 Csoma de Körös was informed that there are two other medical colleges in Middle Tibet of some repute, called Byang-zur , “Analysis of a Tibetan Medical Work, ” by de Körös, M. Alexander Csoma, JASB., vol. iv, Calcutta, 1838, p. 2Google Scholar. I have not heard of the Byang-zur school.

page 1215 note 2 A description of the “Temple of Medicine” and of Waddell's, Colonel visit here referred to is given on pp. 376–9Google Scholar of Lhasa and its Mysteries, by L. Austin Waddell.

page 1217 note 1 The Am-chhi explained the use of this chart as follows. In the perfect tree there should be 500 branches. In the diseased tree certain parts are inactive, such as dead leaves and branches; so in the body, disease is shown by certain veins (rtsa) being inactive, but, as the withered tree under care and cultivation can recover and put out fresh leaves, so a patient can recover and the diseased parts be restored under treatment. This chart is referred to in the Tibetan medioal work, the rGyud-bṣi, which is the source of the Tibetan science of medicine. A translation of an analysis of the contents of this work has been given by Csoma de Körös, in which the above chart is referred to as follows: “The theory of the human constitution is illustrated by a similitude taken from the Indian fig-tree ( śiṅ mya ṅan meṅ). Thus there are three roots, or trunks; thence arise nine stems; thence spread forty-seven boughs or branches; thence 224 leaves; two blossomsand three fruits. The single root, or basis of diseases; the stems, branches, and leaves arising thence, taken or considered in a healthy or in a diseased state. Distinctions with respect to wind; ditto with respect to bile; as also to phlegm; their respective offices, operations, or influences.” {JASB., vol. iv, Calcutta, 1838, p. 2.)

page 1218 note 1 There are two block-print copies of the rGyud-bṣi in the Library of the India Office, marked D. 1 and D. 2. The title is (bdud rtsi sniṅ-po yan-lag brgyad-pa gsaṅ-ba man-ṅag gi rgyud), “The treatise of the nectar-essence of the: eight branches (lit. ‘limbs’) of hidden instruction,” which is also given in Sanskrit as Amṛta-hṛdaya-aṣṭa-aṅgaguhya-upadesa. The four parts,. , of the copy D. 1 consist of 8, 43, 210, and 62 foliosrespectively, and of the copy D. 2 consist of 11, 43, 226, and 62 folio respectively. There is also a copy in the British Museum in which the second part () is wanting. The other parts, , and , consist. of 5, 226, and 62 folios respectively. The printing of the British. Museum copy is the more distinct.

page 1218 note 2 JASB., vol. iv, Calcutta, 1838, pp. 1–20.

page 1219 note 1 There is a block-print copy of the Baidurya sṄon-po in t h e Library of the India Office. The title is (gSo-bai rig-oau bstan-bcos sMan-bLai dgoṅs-rgyan rGyud-bsii (gsal byed-Baidūra sṄon-poi mallika), “The Jasmine-flower [a complimentary title given to books], the Baidurya sṄon -po, a treatise on the science of healing by sMan-bLa, being an explanation of the ornament of thought, the rGyud-bṣi.” The work is in four volumes (), which consist of 40, 283, 563, and 250 folios respectively. The copy is a clearly printed one.

page 1221 note 1 JASB., vol. iv, Calcutta, 1838, p. 3.

page 1224 note 1 JASB., vol. iv, Calcutta, 1838, pp. 5–10.

page 1224 note 2 Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Tibetischen Medicin, by Laufer, Heinrich, Berlin, 1900Google Scholar.

page 1244 note 1 Journal of the Buddhist Text Society, vol. ii, pt. iii, Calcutta, 1894, p. iii.

page 1245 note 1 Journal of the Buddhist Text Society, vol. ii, pt. iii, Calcutta, 1894, pp. ix, x.