Sowa Rigpa (གསོ་བ་རིག་པ།) is the Tibetan language word for the traditional medical system of Tibet, with roots dating back more than 2000 years. One of the oldest healing traditions in the world, it remains fully alive and intact today, having preserved its authenticity through the pure lineage of transmission.” —Sowa Rigpa Institute (Dr. Nida Chenagtsang)

Sections
Sowa Rigpa   |   Treatise – The Four Tantras   |   Contemporary Titles   |   Media

Sowa-Rigpa

བོད་ཀྱི་གསོ་བ་རིག་པ
bod kyi gso ba rig pa
traditional Tibetan medicine

Treatise – The Four Tantras

རྒྱུད་བཞི་ (rgyud zhi), Gyuzhi
by Yuthok Yönten Gönpo the Elder (729-854 ), rev. by Yuthok Yönten Gönpo the Younger (1126-1202)

  • The Root Tantra
  • The Explanatory Tantra
  • The Oral Instruction Tantra
  • The Last/Subsequent Tantra

About (Men Tsee Khang)

Translations

  • Gʹyu-thog Yon-tan-mgon-po. 2011. The Subsequent Tantra from the Secret Quintessential Instructions on the Eight Branches of the Ambrosia Essence Tantra. Men-Tsee-Khang Publications. JABL
  • Gʹyu-thog Yon-tan-mgon-po. 2017.The Oral Instruction Tantra from the Secret Quintessential Instructions on the Eight Branches of the Ambrosia Essence Tantra. Men-Tsee-Khang Publications. JABL

Contemporary Titles

Bod Gzhung Dbus Sman-rtsis-khang (Dharamsala, India). 2008. The Basic Tantra and the Explanatory Tantra from the Secret Quintessential Instructions on the Eight Branches of the Ambrosia Essence Tantra. Men-Tsee-Khang. WorldCat

Bstan-ʼdzin-grags-pa. 2007. Science of Healing: A Comprehensive Commentary on the Root Tantra and Diagnostic Techniques of Tibetan Medicine. Dorrance Publishing. JABL

Cameron, Miriam E. and Tenzin Namdul. 2020. Tibetan Medicine and You: A Path to Wellbeing, Better Health and Joy. Rowman & Littlefield. JABL

Clark, Barry. 2014. The Quintessence Tantras of Tibetan Medicine. Shambhala. JABL

Craig, Sienna R. 2012. Healing Elements: Efficacy and the Social Ecologies of Tibetan Medicine. University Of California Press.

Dash Bhagwan. 1994. Encyclopaedia of Tibetan Medicine: Being the Tibetan Text of Rgyud Bźi and Sanskrit Restoration of Amr̥ta Hr̥daya Aṣtāṅga Guhyopadeśa Tantra and Expository Translation in English. Sri Satguru Publications. WorldCat

Ga Yang. 2010. “The Sources for the Writing of the ‘Rgyud Bzhi’ Tibetan Medical Classic.” Dissertation. Harvard University. WorldCat

Gyatso, Janet. 2015. Being Human in a Buddhist World: An Intellectual History of Medicine in Early Modern Tibet. Columbia University Press. JABL

Nyi-zla He-ru-ka, Lce-nag-tshang and Jacqueline Yu. 2018. The Tibetan Book of Health: Sowa Rigpa, the Science of Healing. Tibet House; Sky Press. JABL

Salguero, C Pierce. 2017. Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources. Columbia University Press. JABL

Tenzin Dakpa and Bhuchung D Sonam. 2007. Tibetan Medicinal Plants: An Illustrated Guide to Identification and Practical Use. Paljor. JABL

Vincanne Adams, Mona Schrempf, and Sienna R Craig. 2011. Medicine between Science and Religion: Explorations on Tibetan Grounds. Berghahn Books .JABL

Yeshi Donden and Jeffrey Hopkins. 1986. Health through Balance : An Introduction to Tibetan Medicine.  Snow Lion. JABL

Media

The knowledge of healing =གསོ་བ་རིག་པ་=gso ba rig pa. A film by Franz Reichle ; featuring Tenzin Gyatso, Dalai Lama XIV, Tenzin Choedrak, Tschimit-Dorschi Dugarow, and Karl Lutz. Amazon – Icarus Films – JABL (dvd)

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