Tibetan Medicine
01 · Historical Records
Its classic work, the Four Medical Tantras (rGyud bzhi), was completed in the second half of the 8th century during the Tubo (Tibetan Empire) period, and was written by the renowned Tibetan physician Yutok Yonten Gonpo.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Tibetan medicine is an important component of China's traditional medicine and an important representative of China's ethnic medicines. Tibetan medicine has a long history; it is the medical experience accumulated by the Tibetan people under the special environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Tibetan medicine is combined with Tibetan astronomy and calendrical calculation, forming a vast and complex medical system. Tibetan medicine takes the theory of the five proto-elements — water, fire, earth, wind, and space — and the theory of the three humors — rlung (Wind), mkhris pa (Bile), and bad kan (Phlegm) — as its theoretical foundations. It uses the plants, animals, and minerals of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, together with some 'southern medicinals,' as its basic drugs, and adopts modes of medical practice adapted to the plateau environment and nomadic life. It has unique therapeutic effects on the common, frequently occurring, and endemic diseases of the hypoxic plateau environment, and its health-preservation culture is receiving increasing attention from the medical world. The Seventy-Flavor Pearl Pill, whose Tibetan name is rendered in Chinese transcription as 'Ranna Sangpei,' is the highest-grade and most representative of the precious treasure-type ready-made Tibetan medicines. The Seventy-Flavor Pearl Pill, which is prepared with 'saita' — gold processed by the 'gold refining method' — has distinct inclusiveness, pronounced regional character, and strong ethnic identity. When gold is processed for more than forty days through more than three hundred process steps, so that it comes to contain eight metals — gold, silver, and others — together with eight minerals, the result is 'saita': an indispensable key ingredient of the Seventy-Flavor Pearl Pill. This compound cannot form a medicine on its own, but once it is added to other formulas it can work the miracle of turning the ordinary into the miraculous. As an important processing method for Tibetan medicinal materials and the sole essence of Tibetan pharmaceutical practice, this technique has been highly valued in its practice and transmission by Tibetan medical scholars throughout the ages for a thousand years, enabling it to be carried forward and developed. However, under the impact of modern medicine, people's understanding of Tibetan medicine is not sufficiently scientific, which has constrained the development of Tibetan medicine.
Archival record of the process steps
Gold is processed for more than forty days through more than three hundred process steps, so that it comes to contain eight metals — gold, silver, and others — together with eight minerals; the result is 'saita,' an indispensable key ingredient of the Seventy-Flavor Pearl Pill. This compound cannot form a medicine on its own, but once it is added to other formulas it can work the miracle of turning the ordinary into the miraculous.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Because the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is vast, with high mountains and rushing waters, Tibetan medical culture shows pronounced ethnic and regional characteristics, and the diagnosis, medical techniques, and drugs of Tibetan medicine often vary by region and school. In recent decades, with the development of Tibetan medicine and the wide conduct of academic exchange, the inheritance and promotion of Tibetan medicine have achieved world-renowned results.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine · Tibetan Medicine.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
It is one of the most important ingredients of the Seventy-Flavor Pearl Pill; if the pill did not contain 'saita,' it would lose its medicinal value. Eri (recorded in the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Tibetan ethnicity, born in June 1963, from Gangcha County, Qinghai Province. Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project 'Tibetan Medicine (Arura Processing Technique of Tibetan Drugs).' At the age of 19 he graduated from the Tibetan medicine class of the Huangnan Prefecture Health School and remained there to teach. He subsequently worked at the Haixi Prefecture Mongolian-Tibetan Hospital, the Qinghai Provincial Tibetan Hospital, and Qinghai Jinhe Tibetan Medicine Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; every year he goes deep into the producing areas of Tibetan medicinal materials to process Tibetan medicine, and he is chief expert of the gastroenterology department, a national-level specialty of the Qinghai Provincial Tibetan Hospital. His main papers include 'A Brief Account of the Tibetan Medical Understanding of Diet and Health,' 'An Overview of the Tibetan Medical Treatment of mkhris pa Disorders,' and 'The Tibetan Medical Understanding of Chronic Atrophic Gastritis.' He has consistently carried out field identification training for medicinal materials and instruction in medicinal processing techniques, so that his students' ability to identify and process Tibetan medicinal materials has been further improved. Sangye (recorded in the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Tibetan ethnicity, born in July 1943, from Wulan County, Qinghai Province. Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project 'Tibetan Medicine (Saita Processing Technique of the Seventy-Flavor Pearl Pill).' Chief physician; an expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council. He has inherited the production techniques of more than one hundred Tibetan medicines and has trained more than fifty inheritors of the saitai processing technique of Tibetan medicine. He has been named an instructor for the inheritance of academic experience of senior traditional Chinese medicine experts in the third through fifth national batches by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and has received such titles as 'National Famous Traditional Chinese Medicine Physician' and 'Advanced Worker of the National Health System.' He has completed a number of national-level research projects, including 'The Identification of Confused Varieties in Tibetan Medicine,' participated in compiling works such as 'A Compilation of Chinese Medicinal Herbs of Qinghai Province' and 'Medicinal Animals of the Qinghai-Tibet Region,' and his 'Tibetan Moxibustion Therapy and Its Clinical Application' won a provincial science and technology achievement award.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Qiangbachilie 01-0220
- Nimaciren 01-0221
- Suolangqimei 01-0222
- Gawu 01-0223
- Duoji 01-0224
- Tangka Angwengjiangcuo 01-0225
- Gesangnima 01-0226
- Mima 03-1450
- Gesangciren 03-1451
- Lixianjia 03-1452
- Danzengpengcuo 03-1453
- Suolangdunzhu 03-1454
- Luosangduoji 03-1455
- Baimajiacuo 03-1456
- Eri 03-1457
- Gamacuoni 03-1458
- Sangjie 03-1459
- Nima 03-1460
- Zhandui 04-1947
- Mingzhu 05-2957
- Suonanwangjie 05-2958
- Nimacairang 05-2959
- Dansongzhaba
- Yujue
- Duojierenqing
- Cirenluobu
- Kanzhaojia
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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