It's scary to imagine, but in the remote 8th century, when wild tribes of ancestors wandered chaotically across the territory of our current country, life was already in full swing in ancient Tibet. On the "roof of the world," the fates of humanity were being decided - large-scale conferences of doctors from India, Persia, China, and even Greece were held, where healers shared professional secrets with each other. The system of treating people developed in those times in the inaccessible mountainous area has not changed at all since then. Tibetans, as in the old days, refuse electronic equipment and wrinkle their noses at the sight of modern painkillers and antibiotics. They make a diagnosis simply - by the patient's pulse.
Today, the world center of Tibetan medicine - the city of Dharamsala in northern India - is packed to the brim with foreigners, including our compatriots, who travel to faraway lands to get rid of diseases and find the secret of longevity.
A trip for magic herbs
"Give me your hand," - before I could recover, a monk in orange robes grabbed my wrist and began to feel it tenaciously, pressing on the pulse with the pads of three fingers. "Why aren't you getting enough sleep - you're shortening your life? Why don't you watch your diet?"
I was silent, unable to collect myself under the hail of questions, and the doctor continued: "You are a mixed type - you consist of mucus and bile. Their balance in the body is disturbed. Mucus grows from ignorance, bile from hatred."
Mercilessly scolding me for my unhealthy lifestyle, the monk released my hand only after about fifteen minutes, and red marks from his fingers remained on my wrist. After that, the doctor said that from now on I needed to eat more salty, sour, and spicy food. This is to "invigorate" the body and bring it out of emotional and energetic hibernation. It is also necessary to reconsider one's views on life. Every person must destroy all diseases in the bud. If you have committed a bad deed, replace it with a good one, otherwise conscience will cause "inflammation of the blood." You should not listen to compliments - flattery contributes to a rapid heartbeat. Self-complacency worsens the condition of the liver. And worst of all is envy, which causes a whole bunch of problems - headache, inflammation of the gallbladder, and even stomach upset.
When you look inside a Tibetan clinic, your head starts to spin. The mixture of incense and various herbs knocks you off your feet. The doctor sees patients in a tiny room, and nearby other "medical workers" sort herbal balls, distributing them among dozens of jars. Some are for alcohol addiction, others for colds, others for impotence. Separately stands a huge glass vessel filled with a dried flower of strange appearance that grows near lakes - women often buy it as a sedative.
In the courtyard, another monk commands a group of people with jars and umbrellas, armed with alpine equipment like sleeping bags and hooks. Every spring and autumn, Tibetan clinics form search parties that "comb" the mountains, collecting medicinal herbs and roots. The day shift collects herbs during the day. The night brigade - at night during the full moon. It is believed that herbs collected during the full moon absorb the cold energy of the Moon, and they are intended for those who need to extinguish their inner fire. And flowers and inflorescences collected at noon, on the contrary, are for those who need to "turn up the heat."
There is no getting away from it, but in Tibetan medicine the fundamental principle is the search for harmony and unity of the two opposites Yin and Yang, the elements of cold and fire. And man is an accumulator of these two energies, which, due to an innate "factory" defect, constantly works with malfunctions. Instead of accumulating these energies harmoniously, he keeps trying to tilt to one side or the other. And instead of sitting and meditating, a person constantly thinks tensely about something. And all diseases, as is known, come from the head.
The cause of ailments - poisons of the mind
The kidneys hurt from fear, the liver from irritation, the lungs from melancholy. The basic principles of Tibetan medicine lie in Buddhist philosophy, in the understanding that all phenomena, including diseases, are connected with the mind. The causes of all diseases, or poisons of the mind, are ignorance, attachment, and hatred. Ignorance accumulates mucus and fluid in the body, and thus shakes the endocrine system, contributes to obesity and the development of diabetes. Passions and attachments destabilize the nervous system, and a person who experiences anger and hatred is filled with bile, and his digestive organs suffer. That's why Tibetan doctors first talk to the patient heart-to-heart. They find out why the wind is blowing in his head or why he is all yellow with anger. Then any means at hand come into play.
Tibetans never take modern medicines and do not use them in medicine. "These medicines, like most products of chemical pharmaceuticals, do not cure," says Professor Dawa, director of the Tibetan Institute of Medicine and Astrology. "They only alleviate the patient's condition for a certain period. We treat the cause of the disease, not the symptoms."
The foundation of Tibetan medicine is herbs from the mountains of the Himalayan range. Previously, Tibetans used animal components in treatment, such as dried frogs or bear bile. But since Tibetans began to believe in the transmigration of souls, the government forbade doctors to kill any living creatures for the sake of medicine. Then medicine became strictly "herbal," and also began to use minerals and even metals - for example, gold. Herbs help avoid operations. So, instead of cutting out the appendix, here they simply "dissolve" its contents with the help of special herbs, and it no longer poses a danger. There are special mountain herbs that help crush stones in the kidneys and gallbladder, turning them into sand. With the help of herbal compresses, any tumor is treated here. They do not cut it out, but try to make it resolve. This is exactly how they help women with early stages of breast cancer here.
Tibetan doctors like to emphasize that for centuries they tested their methods not on some laboratory mice, as their colleagues from Europe and America did. They conducted their experiments directly on people. That is why they know with one hundred percent certainty that their treatment method has no contraindications.
Don't take pills, you'll go bald!
Every self-respecting Tibetan begins to care for his health by drinking hot water. It is considered the primary remedy in Tibetan medicine, because it “dampens” the element of fire, which is the stomach, and kills microbes. A cup of hot water every morning, as Tibetan doctors believe, can extend life by 10-15 years.
In addition, local medicine greatly respects gold. This metal can not only heal wounds, but also increase male potency. Gold pendants prevent breast cancer, and silver prevents such a dangerous disease as blood inflammation. Often, in case of brain disease, Tibetan doctors implant a gold needle into the skull, because this metal stabilizes blood and nerves.
But gold is not the limit. For example, Tibetans treat poisoning with compresses made of pearls, which are also used in the treatment of brain injuries and nervous fever. Precious stones heal and also drive away evil spirits. Local doctors still believe in these very spirits, which supposedly bring diseases, and indeed Tibetan medicine is inextricably linked with mysticism. For example, each pharmaceutical factory has a sanctuary where, when preparing any medicine, strictly defined incantations are pronounced for a specific patient. Otherwise it will not work.
And absolutely bald dogs run near the clinics. It turns out that the animals accidentally ate blessed bread, which Tibetan doctors also use as medicine, and their fur fell out. These bald dogs are used here to constantly scare children. They say that tablets and pills, even if they are the tastiest in the world, should only be used as prescribed by a doctor, so as not to suffer the fate of “man's friends”.
The Tibetan secret of longevity
In Tibet, for a couple of thousand years, there has been a detailed system that describes in detail everything a person should do to live a hundred or more years.
The foundation of longevity is proper nutrition. For example, in winter, the skin has nothing to breathe due to the cold, and if you eat little at this time, your strength will begin to wane. Therefore, it is necessary to “consume” meat. In spring, when the treacherous sun steals strength, you must not forget about sweets and drink diluted wine.
According to statistics, people most often die in summer, because bile accumulates under sunlight. To get rid of it, one should again consume sweet and salty, and the same in autumn. In general, in short: in winter you need to eat warm food, in spring - rough food, in autumn and summer - something cool. And the most useful product that promotes a long life is ordinary chicken. But only necessarily fresh, not “blue-frozen” - otherwise its qualities will be lost.
A reasonable approach to sex is very important: in winter, Tibetan healers warn, you can do “it” every blessed day, but in summer - no more than once every two weeks, otherwise such an activity will “dry out the body”, just like sexual abstinence, which has even worse consequences.
In order to reach a hundred years, Tibetans also take a lifelong course of so-called precious pills, consisting of 130 different components - herbs and minerals. Judging by the name, it is easy to guess that such “pills” cost decent money. However, if a person wants to live long without splurging on his longevity, he should drink herbal decoctions. Best of all those collected in May: they have more benefits. Clover, aloe, even burdock - boil all these little herbs in a pot and drink regularly: for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
What was Rasputin treated for?
Tibetan medicine was actively used by aristocrats in Russia until 1917. Nicholas II himself sent special expeditions of doctors to India so that they could take lessons from local doctors. In St. Petersburg there was a Tibetan clinic of Doctor Badmaev. Here the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Empire Protopopov was treated for hysteria. And the legendary Grigory Rasputin improved his potency. Tsarist officials specially visited high-mountain monasteries in Tibet to get acquainted with the achievements of local medicine, and the then Dalai Lama personally sent special boxes with herbs to Emperor Nicholas II, necessary for the treatment of hemophilia, which the heir to the throne was ill with. Today in Russia, and in particular in Moscow, Tibetan medicine is represented mainly by Buryat doctors.
“I went into Tibetan medicine from traditional medicine, because in the general flow an ordinary doctor does not have enough time for each individual patient,” says Svetlana Choizhinimaeva, chief physician of the Moscow clinic of Tibetan medicine “Naran”. “In Tibetan medicine, the main thing is a correctly made diagnosis. And that takes time. But one should not delude oneself that Tibetan medicine is a panacea. According to ancient Tibetan postulates, a person should visit a doctor at least once every six months in order to prevent the disease at an early stage.”
An interesting question is whether the ancient medicine of a mountainous country suits us - accustomed to modernity and speed of treatment, wanting to get back on our feet after the most severe flu in three days, stuffing ourselves with strong antibiotics. Miracles do not happen, that is true. But I will still try drinking a cup of hot water in the mornings. I think it won't hurt me. But as for accepting compliments, not being angry with ill-wishers, and drinking burdock and clover decoction every day, I think few will agree. Perhaps that is why we live so little.