Medical Advice from the Dalai Lama's Doctor

By Jen Christensen, CNN
December 5, 2012

Atlanta (CNN) -- A young girl bravely stood to ask the Dalai Lama's doctor a question, and he gave her an unusual answer.

Dr. Tsewang Tamdin, a world-renowned expert in Tibetan medicine, visited Emory University in Atlanta on Monday as part of his effort to reach more American medical practitioners. He wants to develop collaborative projects between the Tibetan medicine system, which is more than 2,500 years old, and Western medicine.

The little girl told Tamdin she suffered from asthma. She wanted to know if there was anything in Tibetan medicine that could help her get better.

Tamdin, who spoke through a translator for the hour long lecture, immediately switched to English. In a gentle, almost too-soft tone, he explained what might help.

Inhalers doctors prescribe for asthmatics works well, he said, and told her to continue using one if she does already. The inhaler, though, treats the symptoms only. Tibetan medical practice, he explained, ultimately aims to get to the root cause of the problem.

"While others might consider the holistic practice of Tibetan medicine 'alternative medicine' or a kind of side practice, I would like for others outside of our system to consider the Tibetan healing system full-fledged healing," Tamdin said. "Tibetan medical knowledge has tremendous potential to add to modern medicine."

Dr. Tsewang Tamdin
Tibetan practice teaches that people get sick when a person's physical, psychological and spiritual well-being are out of balance.

To restore balance, Tamdin recommended diet and exercise changes for the girl. He encouraged her to get proper rest and to get exercise that encouraged deep breathing, such as skipping or cycling.

He also suggested eating three or four white raisins a day. There is a property in the fruit that helps breathing, he said. But perhaps the biggest sacrifice for a child was his advice to avoid cold foods -- particularly, he said, ice cream.

Another patient who came to him with asthma symptoms would get a completely different diagnosis, Tamdin said. Each patient's disease is treated differently from the next. That's in large part because traditional Tibetan medicine is grounded in Buddhist philosophy. In his training to become a physician, Tamdin also studied Buddhist tradition and astrology.

American and Tibetan doctors have some practices in common. If Tamdin were to have a longer consultation with the girl, he said he would perform familiar diagnostic tests. He would examine her urine sample and take her pulse, but he also would ask questions that would be the more familiar terrain of a psychologist. He tries to find out if a person is angry or anxious or if someone is becoming too self-centered.

The Dalai Lama
"Tibetans believe in our interconnectedness," said Geshe Lobsang Negi, a former monk who is now director of the Emory-Tibet partnership. "When we lose that perspective -- that we are a kind of little speck that is infinitely connected with the rest of the world -- when we see ourselves as the solid, fixed, all-important center of the universe, we call that ignorance, and that means we are vulnerable to illness."

This whole person approach to Tibetan medicine is being analyzed by a number of research studies in the United States. An NIH-funded study is examining the impact that compassion meditation can have on alleviating depression.

Compassion meditation is a Tibetan Buddhist mind training that asks a person to examine why they feel a certain way about someone and then to develop feelings of love and empathy for a number of people that will grow with more practice to include even people they normally dislike.

Studies have shown the medical effectiveness of meditation overall. A 2003 study of mindfulness-based meditation showed enhanced antibody production after someone receives a flu vaccine. Another study from that same year found cancer patients who were trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction showed a boost in their immune system.

And a study this year from Carnegie Mellon University showed mindfulness-based meditation has a far-reaching influence on both psychological and physical health. Mindfulness means being present and in the moment, and observing in a nonjudgmental way.

Negi's 2008 study of compassion meditation showed a reduction in stress-induced immune and behavioral responses. Several other studies under way are looking at the impact of Tibetan treatments on certain viral illnesses and on hepatitis.

Tamdin believes ignorance is at the root cause of all illness.

"If you think about this, it makes sense," Negi said. "For instance, if you believe you are the center of the universe and someone has something you want, you may become jealous and believe you deserve what that person has."

"You may become so jealous," he added, "you don't sleep at night and you will be stressed. Medical tests have shown there is a biochemical change in your body created by a release of a stress hormone. In Tibetan medicine, it is important to recognize the role the mind can play on our own physical well-being."

Tamdin said that modern medicine treats symptoms, but said a patient will never get better if they fail to attend to psychological issues.

"If one does not gain this understanding of selflessness, they won't be able to overcome their ignorance," he said. "One way to look at it is to watch the bird and its shadow. It may fly and fly high into the sky, but it continues to leave a shadow on the surface of Earth. As long as you have ignorance within you -- even though you are enjoying good health -- there is always a shadow of sickness falling upon you. From this ignorance arises three mental poisons: attachment, hatred and delusion." All those will affect energy, he said.

In addition to actual medicine and dietary changes, a Tibetan doctor may also prescribe the patient practice more kindness and compassion toward others -- or that they practice more compassion meditation.

Western medicine is reluctant to accept the Tibetan medical idea that some unexplained illnesses may ultimately be caused by someone's karma or even by evil spirits. The language Tibetan doctors use to suggest that good health is based on the balance of bile, phlegm and wind may seem a little too foreign to modern medicine practitioners.

But the holistic approach to a patient's health -- treatments that involve diet, behavior, prescription of medicine and contemplative practices -- may continue to appeal to physicians after they see demonstrated proof that these kind of therapies work.

"The Tibetan tradition has evolved over 2,500 years," Negi said. "It has a rich tradition that has helped the health of people for many many years.

"His holiness the Dalai Lama was the first to say that these things we believe in should be subjected to scientific tools so we could better understand the human condition overall and help us to better deal with the situation of our own well-being."

Dalai Lama: Helping Others is 'Wise-Selfish' Since all are Connected

DECATUR, Georgia – The Dalai Lama, appearing in his role as presidential distinguished professor of Emory University, where he helped to found the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, anchored a day of discussion about ethics, science and creating a more peaceful world today, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013.

Some of the Dalai Lama's teachings Tuesday were surprising: Meditation can double the body’s ability to fight infections. With more education, religion might disappear in the next 1,000 years. Selfishness is good – if it is wise selfishness. Looking to the secular ethics that undergird all of the major religions is one path of uniting humanity. Compassion can be taught – and women have a special responsibility to promote affection.

The Dalai Lama, considered the reincarnation of the founding teacher-saint of Tibet, Gedun Drub, and also an emanation of the compassion of the Buddha, has dedicated his life to promoting the way of compassion and peace. His rambling talks Tuesday, in a public event at the Gwinnett Center attended by more than 8,000 people, were frequently interrupted by his laughter. He pointed to the possibility of teaching compassion and promoting peace by untangling ethics from religion and emphasizing the common sense of secular ethics.

“Destruction of neighbor is destruction of yourself – everything is interdependent,” The Dalai Lama said.

The Dalai Lama’s secular ethics, outlined in his 2011 book, “Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World,” points to the basis of ethical behavior as stemming from three factors: common experiences of human beings; common sense that good relationships are based on friendship, trust, respect and honesty; and scientific findings.

In the last 20 years, the Dalai Lama has also led discussions about the intersection of science and religion. At his initiative the Drepung Loseling Monastery schools have modernized the teaching of science. With the help of Emory professors, new science textbooks have been produced, replacing ancient texts that taught that the world was flat.

Healthy mind, healthy body

The Dalai Lama has also reminded the scientists that building a healthy body is dependent upon building a healthy mind.

“It is a scientific finding that fear, anger, hatred is actually eating the human begin,” the Dalai Lama said.

“In order to build a healthy body, we must pay more attention to a healthy mind. An education system oriented around material value is inadequate.”

Human beings may naturally be selfish, but they are also naturally compassionate, science shows. Helping someone else does make a person feel good – but that is a wise kind of selfish, the Dalai Lama said.

“By nature, every human being loves oneself,” the Dalai Lama said. “But by helping another, you are building your own happy future. We should be wise-selfish rather than foolish-selfish (like someone who takes drugs).”

The Dalai Lama himself attributes his earliest lessons about love and compassion to his mother. He remembers riding on her back and tugging at her ears like she was a horse to get her to go the way he wanted.

“No one ever saw my mother’s angry face; they saw my mother’s gentleness,” the Dalai Lama said. “My mother was so kind.”

While he said one can’t always generalize, he himself generalized to say that women have a special role in promoting human affection.

The afternoon’s presentations were made by researchers at the Mind and Life Institute, the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory, and the Department of Religion at Emory University.

Research is showing that the incidence of cooperation, compassion, helping and empathy among animals, particularly mammals, offers a corrective to the simplistic generalization that evolution progresses through the survival of the fittest.

Animals are demonstrating a sense of fairness and empathy, the Mind and Life Institute is developing a curriculum to teach secular ethics, and mindfulness meditation can significantly affect the ability of the brain to recover from trauma and of the body to fight diseases.

Presence of peace

But perhaps the most enduring impression of the day is just the power of the lovingness of the Dalai’s personality.

“Is there a better ambassador of peace?” asked Augusta Kantra of Mobile, Ala., as she and some friends waited in the line that wrapped around the immense Gwinnett Center, inching through security. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, to be able to see someone who has had that influence over so many people. We want to be in the presence of a man who’s spreading peace.”

Bhavani Kakani, the founder and director of AshaKiran, a non-profit in Huntsville, Ala., that seeks to strengthen families and to fight domestic violence, particularly in the Southeast Asian immigrant community, traveled with friends for the event. She admired how the Dalai Lama was interested in science and would ask questions, not taking results at face value just because they supported his teachings.

Kakani said coming now was particularly appropriate since Huntsville has just become, by resolution of the City Council, the first city in Alabama to begin the process of becoming certified as a Compassionate City with the International Campaign for Compassionate Cities, and Birmingham is fifth on a list of compassionate U.S. cities released by Forbes last week.

For Kakani, the Dalai Lama’s message that changing the world begins with one’s self, not with government systems or large organizations, resonated.

“If we have empathy and compassion in our heart, we become that,” said Kakani, who is Hindu. “The Buddha teaches: What we think, we become – and what we become, the world becomes.”

Original link to story with photos: http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2013/10/dalai_lama_helping_others_is_w.html

Medical Advice from the Dalai Lama's Doctor

By Jen Christensen, CNN
updated 11:06 AM EST, Wed December 5, 2012

Atlanta (CNN) -- A young girl bravely stood to ask the Dalai Lama's doctor a question, and he gave her an unusual answer.

Dr. Tsewang Tamdin, a world-renowned expert in Tibetan medicine, visited Emory University in Atlanta on Monday as part of his effort to reach more American medical practitioners. He wants to develop collaborative projects between the Tibetan medicine system, which is more than 2,500 years old, and Western medicine.

The little girl told Tamdin she suffered from asthma. She wanted to know if there was anything in Tibetan medicine that could help her get better.

Tamdin, who spoke through a translator for the hour long lecture, immediately switched to English. In a gentle, almost too-soft tone, he explained what might help.

Inhalers doctors prescribe for asthmatics works well, he said, and told her to continue using one if she does already. The inhaler, though, treats the symptoms only. Tibetan medical practice, he explained, ultimately aims to get to the root cause of the problem.

"While others might consider the holistic practice of Tibetan medicine 'alternative medicine' or a kind of side practice, I would like for others outside of our system to consider the Tibetan healing system full-fledged healing," Tamdin said. "Tibetan medical knowledge has tremendous potential to add to modern medicine."

Dr. Tsewang Tamdin
Tibetan practice teaches that people get sick when a person's physical, psychological and spiritual well-being are out of balance.

To restore balance, Tamdin recommended diet and exercise changes for the girl. He encouraged her to get proper rest and to get exercise that encouraged deep breathing, such as skipping or cycling.

He also suggested eating three or four white raisins a day. There is a property in the fruit that helps breathing, he said. But perhaps the biggest sacrifice for a child was his advice to avoid cold foods -- particularly, he said, ice cream.

Another patient who came to him with asthma symptoms would get a completely different diagnosis, Tamdin said. Each patient's disease is treated differently from the next. That's in large part because traditional Tibetan medicine is grounded in Buddhist philosophy. In his training to become a physician, Tamdin also studied Buddhist tradition and astrology.

American and Tibetan doctors have some practices in common. If Tamdin were to have a longer consultation with the girl, he said he would perform familiar diagnostic tests. He would examine her urine sample and take her pulse, but he also would ask questions that would be the more familiar terrain of a psychologist. He tries to find out if a person is angry or anxious or if someone is becoming too self-centered.

The Dalai Lama
"Tibetans believe in our interconnectedness," said Geshe Lobsang Negi, a former monk who is now director of the Emory-Tibet partnership. "When we lose that perspective -- that we are a kind of little speck that is infinitely connected with the rest of the world -- when we see ourselves as the solid, fixed, all-important center of the universe, we call that ignorance, and that means we are vulnerable to illness."

This whole person approach to Tibetan medicine is being analyzed by a number of research studies in the United States. An NIH-funded study is examining the impact that compassion meditation can have on alleviating depression.

Compassion meditation is a Tibetan Buddhist mind training that asks a person to examine why they feel a certain way about someone and then to develop feelings of love and empathy for a number of people that will grow with more practice to include even people they normally dislike.

Studies have shown the medical effectiveness of meditation overall. A 2003 study of mindfulness-based meditation showed enhanced antibody production after someone receives a flu vaccine. Another study from that same year found cancer patients who were trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction showed a boost in their immune system.

And a study this year from Carnegie Mellon University showed mindfulness-based meditation has a far-reaching influence on both psychological and physical health. Mindfulness means being present and in the moment, and observing in a nonjudgmental way.

Negi's 2008 study of compassion meditation showed a reduction in stress-induced immune and behavioral responses. Several other studies under way are looking at the impact of Tibetan treatments on certain viral illnesses and on hepatitis.

Tamdin believes ignorance is at the root cause of all illness.

"If you think about this, it makes sense," Negi said. "For instance, if you believe you are the center of the universe and someone has something you want, you may become jealous and believe you deserve what that person has."

"You may become so jealous," he added, "you don't sleep at night and you will be stressed. Medical tests have shown there is a biochemical change in your body created by a release of a stress hormone. In Tibetan medicine, it is important to recognize the role the mind can play on our own physical well-being."

Tamdin said that modern medicine treats symptoms, but said a patient will never get better if they fail to attend to psychological issues.

"If one does not gain this understanding of selflessness, they won't be able to overcome their ignorance," he said. "One way to look at it is to watch the bird and its shadow. It may fly and fly high into the sky, but it continues to leave a shadow on the surface of Earth. As long as you have ignorance within you -- even though you are enjoying good health -- there is always a shadow of sickness falling upon you. From this ignorance arises three mental poisons: attachment, hatred and delusion." All those will affect energy, he said.

In addition to actual medicine and dietary changes, a Tibetan doctor may also prescribe the patient practice more kindness and compassion toward others -- or that they practice more compassion meditation.

Western medicine is reluctant to accept the Tibetan medical idea that some unexplained illnesses may ultimately be caused by someone's karma or even by evil spirits. The language Tibetan doctors use to suggest that good health is based on the balance of bile, phlegm and wind may seem a little too foreign to modern medicine practitioners.

But the holistic approach to a patient's health -- treatments that involve diet, behavior, prescription of medicine and contemplative practices -- may continue to appeal to physicians after they see demonstrated proof that these kind of therapies work.

"The Tibetan tradition has evolved over 2,500 years," Negi said. "It has a rich tradition that has helped the health of people for many many years.

"His holiness the Dalai Lama was the first to say that these things we believe in should be subjected to scientific tools so we could better understand the human condition overall and help us to better deal with the situation of our own well-being."