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COMMENTARY Tibetan medicine is beginning to be promoted as a new commodity within the growing American alternative medicine industry, within some sectors of the Tibetan community and among some in the Tibet support community. But market forces alone cannot present the true Tibetan medical tradition to the West. The Western medical tradition has already shown us the dangers of developing medicine as a commodity. In fact, the alternative medicine movement grew as a direct response by the American people to the negative impact such a development had on the quality of allopathic medical care. From the perspective of the Tibetan community there are dangers as well. The Tibetan medical community in India and Tibet has not yet developed a sophisticated understanding of the protocols and actual uses of Western medical research, the workings of Western medicine, or the American medical industry. If our goal is to preserve Tibetan medicine we must be conscious of the powerful hegemony of our culture and avoid to the greatest extent possible negatively affecting Tibetan culture as we attempt to encourage its preservation and perpetuation. The economy of time and commerce and the influence of Western medical approaches places the more classical, holistic approach to Tibetan medicine at risk of being lost. Another issue of great significance is ecological sustainability. The growing demand for medicinal herbs in the West creates the potential for an ecological crisis in the countries in which these herbs grow and/or are cultivated. The burgeoning nutriceutical industry is always looking for potential new herbal supplements to put on the U.S. market. "Biopiracy" is already a term commonly used in India to describe the plunder of the herbal knowledge of traditional people by pharmaceutical companies. Deforestation and over-exploitation of land in the Himalayan region is a very real crisis. In India there is a shortage of herbs required for the manufacturing of Tibetan medicines which serve the needs of existing doctors and clinics. For these reasons, it is ill-advised to promote a sudden increase in demand for Tibetan medicine in the West without providing for its sustainable supply and educating people to distinguish between what is authentic and what is not. If people in North America want to encourage the survival of the full tradition of Tibetan medicine and see it spread to the West, there are certain steps to take. First, we must support those institutions teaching Tibetan medicine in Asia. There are very few senior Tibetan physicians working and practicing in India, Nepal and Bhutan, and we need to insure that they can fully transfer their knowledge to a new generation. Tibetan medical education is restricted in Tibet, it is restricted, so we must appeal to the Chinese government to allow a maintenance of the complete tradition in its land of origin. To allow a true flowering of Tibetan medical practice here the small group of clinicians in North America who are serious long-term students of Tibetan medicine need assistance from our Tibetan colleagues and from those Westerners who are supporters and/or consumers of this system of natural healthcare. As we succeed in our attempts to study and faithfully practice this tradition, we can begin to work with our Tibetan colleagues to build the practical and pedagogic infrastructure required for the proper practice of Tibetan medicine here. The key to Tibetan medicine's success in the U.S. will be native practitioners working in concert with American practitioners to consistently help individual patients suffering from illness. For a person to practice Tibetan medicine effectively he or she must draw upon all aspects of human cognition as well as spiritual understanding and a sense of compassion. In practice our responsibility is not only to provide for our patients. We must also serve as an example teaching our fellow citizens that living with a sense of compassion derived from ecological and spiritual awareness is the most practical way to reduce suffering in our bodies, minds, and in the world in which we live. For those who would like to see such an approach to health and medical care survive and proliferate in the West, now is the time to make it possible through thoughtful action. PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Eliot Tokar practices Tibetan medicine in New York City. He has studied Tibetan medicine since 1983, and he is one of very few Westerners internationally to have received extensive textual and clinical training in this field. He has additionally trained in aspects of traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine. During a period from 1983-1986 Eliot studied with and received private instruction from Dr. Yeshi Dhonden, former personal physician to H. H. the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. Since 1986 Eliot has been an apprentice of the lama/physician Dr. Trogawa Rinpoche, president of the Chagpori Tibetan Medical Institute in Darjeeling, India. He has additionally received clinical and/or textual instruction from Dr. Shakya Dorje, Dr. Thubten Phuntsog, Dr. Kuzang Nyima and Dr. Tenzin Choedrak.
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For a Biography of the Author:
Eliot Tokar
Correspondence:
etokar@aol.com
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