Resources on Tibetan Medicine

I. Publications

Cameron, Miriam E., Carolyn Torkelson, Susan Haddow, Tenzin Namdul, Aimee Prasek, and Cynthia R. Gross. "Tibetan Medicine and Integrative Health: Validity Testing and Refinement of the Constitutional Self-Assessment Tool and Lifestyle Guidelines Tool." EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing 8.3 (2012): 158-71.

Handbook of Traditional Tibetan Drugs by T.J. Tsarong, 1986 Tibetan Medical Publications, Kalimpong, West Bengal, India.

A Handbook of Tibetan Medicine Plants (illustrated) by T.J. Tsarong, Tibetan Medical Publications, Kalimpong, West Bengal, India.

Fundamentals of Tibetan Medicine by T.J. Tsarong, 1981 Tibetan Medical Centre, Dharamsala, India.

Formulary Of Tibetan Medicine by Vaidya Bhagwan Dash, 1988 Classics India Publications, Delhi, India.

Materia Medica of Indo-Tibetan Medicine by Vaidya Bhagwan Dash, Classics India Publications, Delhi, India.

Tibetan Medicine with Special Reference to Yoga Sataka by Vaidya Bhagwan Dash, 1985 Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, India.

Health Through Balance by Yeshe Donden, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, NY.

Ambrosia Heart Tantra annotated by Yeshe Donden, translated by Jhampa Kelsang, 1977 Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, India.

Tibetan Medicine: A Holistic Approach to Better Health by Lobsang Rapgay, Dharamsala, India.

The Tibetan Book of Healing by Lobsang Rapgay, 1996 Passage Press, Salt Lake City, UT.

Tibetan Therapeutic Massage by Lobsang Rapgay, 1986 Dharamsala, India.

The Art of Tibetan Medical Urinalysis by Lobsang Rapgay, 1986 Dharamsala, India.

Tibetan Buddhist Medicine and Psychiatry by Terry Clifford, 1984 Samuel Weiser, Inc. York Beach, ME.

Tibetan Medicine by Rechung Rinpoche, 1976 University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

Studies in Tibetan Medicine by Elisabeth Finckh, 1988 Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, NY.

Lectures on Tibetan Medicine by Lobsang Dolma Khangkar, 1986 Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, India.

Introduction to Tibetan Medicine by Luigi Vitiello,1983 Wisdom Publications, London, England.

The Tibetan Art of Healing by Theodore Burang, 1997 Robinson and Watkins Books, London.

Asceticism and Healing in Ancient India: Medicine in the Buddhist Monastery by Kenneth Zysk, 2010 Oxford University Press, Oxford, England.

Healing Herbs, The Heart of Tibetan Medicine by Badmajew, et al., 1982 Red Lotus Press, Berkeley, CA.

Tibetan Medical Paintings by O. Parfionovich and F. Meyer, 1992 Wisdom Publications, London, England [other versions of this book, have been published in Lhasa and Russia; see also Buddha’s Art of Healing: Tibetan Paintings Rediscovered based on the 17th century Atlas of Tibetan Medicine with essays by several modern authorities].

Mind and Mental Health in Tibetan Medicine, collection of essays, 1988 Potala Publications, New York.

The Quintessence Tantras of Tibetan Medicine translated by Barry Clark, 1995 Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, NY.

Healing From The Source: The Science And Lore Of Tibetan Medicine, by Yeshi Dhonden, translated by B. Alan Wallace, 2000 Snow Lion Publications

Bodies in Balance: The Art of Tibetan Medicine by Theresia Hofer, 2014 University of Washington Press

II. Research on Tibetan Medicine

Cancer

• Tibetan Medicine for Cancer: An Overview and Review of Case Studies

  1. The Four Treatises and the Global Market: Changing Epistemologies of Drä (bras) versus Cancer

  2. Collapsing Cancer: An hermeneutical and praxis-based comparative analysis of cancer and Tibetan medical etiological categories

  3. Facilitating Collaborative Research Foundations: The Role of Blood and Chuser in How Biomedical Cancer Maps into Tibetan Medical Nosology

  4. Pro-apoptotic and anticancer properties of Thapring – A Tibetan herbal formulation

  5. Molecular insights into the anti-cancer properties of Traditional Tibetan medicine Yukyung Karne

  6. Anticancer and cytotoxic properties of the latex of Calotropis procera in a transgenic mouse model of hepatocellular carcinoma

  7. An Integrated Study on the Antitumor Effect and Mechanism of Triphala Against Gynecological Cancers Based on Network Pharmacological Prediction and In Vitro Experimental Validation

  8. Apoptosis induced by the Tibetan herbal remedy PADMA 28 in the T cell-derived lymphocytic leukaemia cell line CEM-C7H2

COVID-19

• Sowa Rigpa in Lockdown: On the Potency and Politics of Prevention

  1. Covid-19 and Tibetan Medicine: An Awakening Tradition in a New Era of Global Health Crisis

  2. Tibetan Medicine and Regeneration

  3. Experience of padma 28 in multiple sclerosis – Korwin‐Piotrowska – 1992 – Phytotherapy Research

Diabetes: Efficacy of Tibetan Medicine as an Adjunct in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

Hepatitis: Clinical Trial of Tibetan Medicine in the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B

Atherosclerosis: Treating intermittent claudication with Tibetan medicine Padma 28: Does it work?

Arthritis: Efficacy of the Tibetan treatment for arthritis

Menjor/Tibetan Pharmacology:

• Conceptions of Potency, Purity, and Synergy-by-Design: Toward Developing a Sowa Rigpa Medical Theory-based Approach to Pharmaceutical Research

• Dataset of materia medica in Sowa Rigpa: Tibetan medicine botanicals and Gawé Dorjé’s classification system

• Geopharmaceuticals of Himalayan Sowa Rigpa medicine: Ethnopharmacological uses, mineral diversity, chemical identification and current utilization in Bhutan

• The Buddhist–Medical Interface in Tibet: Black Pill Traditions in Transformation

• The Social Life of Tsotel

• The Alchemy of Accomplishing Medicine (sman sgrub): Situating the “Yuthok Heart Essence” (G.yu thog snying thig) in Literature and History

• The Administration of Tibetan Precious Pills: Efficacy in Historical and Ritual Contexts

Tsotel (Purified Mercury):

• Mercury in traditional Tibetan medicine-panacea or problem?

• Is mercury in Tibetan Medicine toxic? Clinical, neurocognitive and biochemical results of an initial cross-sectional study

• Taming the Poisonous: Mercury, Toxicity and Safety in Tibetan Medical Practice

• Chemical Species, Micromorphology, and XRD Fingerprint Analysis of Tibetan Medicine Zuotai Containing Mercury

• Mercury in Traditional Medicines: Is Cinnabar Toxicologically Similar to Common Mercurials?

• Characterization of Tibetan Medicine Zuota by Multiple Techniques

• An Integrated Study on the Antitumor Effect and Mechanism of Triphala Against Gynecological Cancers Based on Network Pharmacological Prediction and In Vitro Experimental Validation

• Cinnabar is not converted into methylmercury by human intestinal bacteria

Pharmacological Research:

• Dental benefits:

  • Padma 28 in the treatment of chronic dental pulpitis: an observational case study in 49 patients

  1. Respiratory conditions:

     • Influence of Padma 28 on the spontaneous bactericidal activity of blood serum in children suffering from recurrent infections of the respiratory tract

  2. Immune Function:

     • The effect of Padma-28, a traditional Tibetan herbal preparation, on human neutrophil function

     • Defined Small Molecules Produced by Himalayan Medicinal Plants Display Immunomodulatory Properties

  3. Efficacy/Safety:

     • Clinical Studies on the Efficacy and Safety of Padma 28, a Complex Herbal Formulation from Tibetan Medicine: An Overview

  4. Circulatory System:

     • The Tibetan herbal medicines Padma 28 and Padma Circosan inhibit the formation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGE) and advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) in vitro

  5. Anti-inflammatory/Antimicrobial:

     • The Effect of Anti-Inflammatory and Antimicrobial Herbal Remedy PADMA 28 on Immunological Angiogenesis and Granulocytes Activity in Mice

     • Anti-Inflammatory Mechanisms of the Tibetan Herbal Preparation Padma 28 in the Vessel Wall

  6. Antimalaria:

     • Antimalarial Alkaloids from a Bhutanese Traditional Medicinal Plant Corydalis Dubia

     • A new protoberberine alkaloid from Meconopsis simplicifolia (D. Don) Walpers with potent antimalarial activity against a multidrug resistant Plasmodium falciparum strain

Introduction to Tibetan Medicine

• Tibetan medicine: a complementary science of optimal health.

  1. Medicine and Memory in Tibet: Amchi Physicians in an Age of Reform

  2. Bodies in Balance: The Art of Tibetan Medicine

  3. Women and Gender in Tibetan Medicine

  4. Nyes pa: A brief review of its English translation

  5. Mind/Body Theory and Practice in Tibetan Medicine and Buddhism

  6. Tibetan medicine: a unique heritage of person-centered medicine

Miscellaneous

• Tibetan Medicine: A Systematic Review of the Clinical Research Available in the West

  1. Traditional Tibetan medicine in China: A systematic overview of randomized clinical trials

  2. Tibetan Medical Informatics: An Emerging Field in Sowa Rigpa Pharmacological & Clinical Research