When human beings first came into existence, they remained absorbed in deep states of mediation. There was no sun or moon, for they emitted light from their own bodies. They had miraculous powers and beautiful bodies which required no material food. Then one day, an individual motivated by past karma picked up a bit of bitumen from the ground, ate it, and became violently ill. Thus the golden age of innocence was lost. The patient wailed and lamented until the pity of Brahma was aroused. Wondering how to cure disease, Brahma remembered the medical teachings of the Buddha Kashyapa from a previous age. Applying this knowledge, Brahma immediately prescribed boiled water, and the ailment was cured.
After more than a thousand years of continuous practice, this myth of the origin of disease is still reflected in the Tibetan medical system. Tibetan lama-doctors believe that indigestion is the source of almost all chronic and internal diseases. However unusual this assertion may seem, there is startling modern testimony to the efficacy of these age-old techniques. Western tourists who contract hepatitis on their travels in India are often directed to a Tibetan physician rather than his Western counterpart because of the rapid improvements brought about through herbal compounds.
These herbal medications, at the heart of Tibetan treatment procedures, are confounding modern scientists. In experiments at the University of Virginia's Medical School in 1979, laboratory mice with transplanted cancer tumors (murine sarcoma) survived up to fifty-three days when treated with Tibetan herbal compounds; non-medicated animals have always succumbed within thirty-five days. However, Dr. Donald Baker, associate professor of radiology, could not readily pinpoint the active ingredient in the medications.
In Switzerland, several herbal medications are now registered with the IKS, the Swiss counterpart of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Experiments indicate that one of these compounds, Padma 28, significantly reduces severe chest pains caused by angina pectoris. Apparently Padma 28 reduces blood clotting in already blocked arteries and may actually promote the formation of new blood vessels. Furthermore, this herbal compound seems to stimulate T-suppressor lymphocytes, which regulate the activity of the immune system. The medication may be useful in treating such unrelated complaints as bronchial asthma.
Patients suffering from peripheral arterial occlusion, a condition that blocks blood circulation in the legs, gain relief that modern medicine could only offer through surgical intervention. One intriguing testimony is quoted in Lynn Park's book Healing Herbs: "I was sitting with other patients in my physician's waiting room. A man whom I had never seen before came in and recognized me as the publisher of Bliib Gsund. Immediately he began to tell the others, all the while pointing toward me with his hand: 'Look, because of this man I didn't have to have my leg amputated. After I read the article about Padma 28 in his journal, I took the remedy and was able to prevent an already scheduled amputation.'"
Although Tibetan medicine, a storehouse of medical miracles, remained virtually unknown to the modern world until the Chinese invasion of Tibet and the concurrent diaspora of Tibetan culture, it was not unknown in Asia. India, China, and Mongolia all recognized the herbal remedies of pre-Buddhist Tibet long before the European Dark
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