Tibetan Medicine Thangkha Painting
The ancient texts were printed by employing the highly developed age-old Tibetan method of printing that involved the use of wooden blocks, natural ink and hand-made paper. On display is the Gyud-zhi the fundamental text on Tibetan medicine written by the legendary physician scholar Yuthog Nyingma Yontan Gonpo around eighth century C.E. This text has a total of one hundred and fifty-six chapters dealing with
conception of life, anatomy and characteristics of the human body, types of individual constitution and the classification of one thousand six hundred disorders,
their causes, types, symptoms and treatment. Within the domain of treatment includes the identification of nature, taste, potency and qualities of more than three thousand types of medicinal ingredients and their clinical application corresponding to the individual constitution and development of disease. It also elaborates the aspect of diet and behaviour in prevention of disease. Tibetan medicine is a unique body of knowledge that has a holistic approach in keeping the mind and body in harmony. There are also some texts written in the following centuries by learned physicians from all the three provinces of Tibet. They wrote texts about their experience in treating diseases influenced by the variation in geographical locations and climatic conditions, formulation of medicines, medicinal plant paintings and astronomy which were primarily based on Gyud-zhi. Texts on treatment of disease affecting horses were also written.
For the first time in history, the famous Blue Beryl-a set of 80 medical paintings completed 300 years ago in Tibet-has been exactly recreated and brought to the West.
Only one completed sets of the Blue Beryle exist in Lhas, Tibet. Using only traditional pigments, such as finely ground lapis lazuli and other semiprecious stones, a team of Tibetan artists and physicians recently collaborated in Tibet to recreate the paintings with absolute accuracy and precision.
According to Columbia University professor Robert Thurman, PhD., One of the world’s leading experts on Tibetan Buddhism, the recreations are” stunningly flawless” in their execution, design, and painstaking calligraphy.
The original paintings, or thangkas, were commissioned by Tibet’s regent Sangye Ghamtso (1654-1705), who founded Tibet’s first medical college and codified the country’s practice of medicine. The extensively annotated paintings served as medical textbooks, illustrating physical symptoms, diseased, medical treatment, and medicinal herbs and plants. For centuries, copies of these painting trained Tibet’s physicians.