Argo-EMR workshop Thursday-Friday May. Pauling Centre, 58a Banbury Road, University of Oxford

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1 Argo-EMR workshop 2014 Thursday-Friday May Pauling Centre, 58a Banbury Road, University of Oxford The Transmission of Tibetan Medicine: Spiritual Growth, Questions of Method and Contemporary Practice Sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, in the context of the project 'Sacred Transmission in Tibetan Medicine Organised by Mingji Cuomu and Elisabeth Hsu In Tibetan medicine there are three transmission methods: empowerment (dbang), textual reading transmission (lung) and didactic teaching (khrid), but nowadays there tends to be a dichotomy between the common mode of transmission (thun mong gi slob gso) involving the method of didactic teaching and the uncommon or sacred mode of transmission (thun min gyi slob gso) involving the methods of empowerment and textual reading transmission. Learning that combines the three methods ensures that the student not only learns the contents, but also inherits what in Tibetan is called a living transmission (gsung rgyun drod ma yal pa) stemming from the Medicine Buddha and the authors of the great medical texts (like Yuthog Yontan Gonpo or Demar Tenzin Phuntsok). This workshop will discuss knowledge transmission with a focus on its ritualized and sacred aspects (thun min gyi cha) which make possible the transformation of the intellectual aspects of learning (thos pa i yon tan) into wisdom (shes rab). This transformation involves not merely mechanical memorizing and mindless imitation but importantly also self-reflection (bsam pa) that eventually leads to enlightenment (nyams su rtogs pa). The learning becomes efficacious, finally, through a process that might be likened to a blessing (byin brlabs), an aspect of learning that remains understudied despite its pervasive occurrence worldwide in almost all spiritual traditions, regardless of culture and religious variation.

2 As leading professionals of Tibetan medicine have noted during conferences or in daily life encounters, despite the current growth in professional bodies, there are hardly any outstanding doctors who have mastered all five disciplines of Tibetan science (namely: the science of the mind, the science of healing, logic, literature and creation). This problem has emerged not only in Tibetan contexts but also in Chinese ones, as stated by the Director of the Educational Department of the Chinese Medical College in Beijing, who speaks of a lack of Great masters of a generation (Chin. que yi dai zong shi). This perceived failure raises questions about the current developments of traditional medical education and its future direction, in terms of how to create a bridge between the cultivation of a spiritually pervaded traditional knowledge while at the same time meeting the modern regulation requirements. The workshop invites the speakers to explore training in Tibetan medicine through various dimensions, in Tibet and elsewhere, since the middle of the twentieth century. This may involve examining the traditional transmission of Tibetan medicine in relation to the settings where it is hosted. For instance, based on the fieldwork funded by the Wellcome Trust between in three provinces of China (TAR, Qinghai and Gansu), Dr Cuomu found that receiving a sacred transmission involves incorporation into a living lineage (rgyud) and becoming part of its trajectory of medical transmission. This learning comprises acquisition of knowledge, ethics, practical skills and a sense of care and commitment not only to the patients but also to the lineage and its future. In a monastic setting, by contrast, the study of Tibetan medicine is typically much more infused with religious practice, but in the university setting there is more of an emphasis on didactic learning and standardized knowledge transmission. Other studies might focus on the wider social, cultural and political circumstances in which transmission is carried out, and the impact resulting from these factors. Finally, we will open a discussion on whether there might be hybrid transmission methods that, on the one hand, would ensure a modified sacred transmission and, on the other, respond to slightly altered regulation requirements. Existent scholarship on the topic of Tibetan medical education Traditional knowledge transmission is closely interconnected with the overall socio-cultural developments of the different time periods. The recent claims to modernity went hand in hand with a change in knowledge patterns, marked by a strong emphasis in the visibility and a relatively confined sense of evidence as part of empirical proof. This requirement for visible scientific evidence influences practice in almost all areas of traditional medicine, such as education, clinical practice, production and research, and they all are driven by the need to meet the required regulation standards set in contemporary society.

3 In the traditional medical landscape of Tibet the wave of modernity has brought challenges combined with new opportunities, but with mixed consequences (Janes 1995, Adams 2007; 2011, Pordie 2008). The great institutional developments due to modernization have led to a certain flourishing of traditional medicine (Adams et al, 2010; Craig 2011). However, the difference between western medicine and most traditional medicines is that with the latter, knowledge relies more on the individual person (Hsu 1999; 2000); hence it is difficult make generalizations about both the diagnosis of disorders and the level of knowledge development of the individual doctors. Due to this, the methods for demonstrating evidence vary largely between western medicine and Tibetan medicine. The western medicine-based research methods have become a standardized form of research promoted by government as part of the regulations applied to all medical traditions. These newly set standards move medical education away from notions of therapeutic care cultivated in the living traditions, and aim to meet regulation requirements in order to gain proper recognition within contemporary society. Given that education largely revolves around the types of knowledge patterns prevalent in any society, it functions as a vehicle by which cultural change endures (Craig 2007). The changes in the design of curriculums with consideration of current social needs are well documented. Ethnographic evidence has been provided for comparison between doctors whose knowledge transmission has been received through lineage training, and doctors who have undergone university education, to understand the differences in their knowledge patterns and their professional roles, as well as the perspective from patients from selected regions (Craig 2011; Schrempf 2010). Further ethnographic study is available from selected regions on how knowledge is being transmitted and the distinctive features involved in the training programs (Millard 2002, Soktsang L. D.; Millard 2013; Smanla T. and Millard 2013). Traditionally, empowerment and textual reading transmission has been fundamental for the overall Tibetan medical education. It shares much the same ideology and methods as employed in the 'inner science' (nang rig pa). Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim s (2004) research on the spiritually-based oral teachings of Kalacakra provides in this respect a detailed exploration of the meaning, significance and contemporary practice of initiation in relation to the particular case of Kalacakra. However, while the effects of ritual in the healing process have been studied extensively (Samuel 2005), the process of cultivating power in the healer or the ritual provider through the practice of what comes close to a blessing is rarely explored. References

4 Adams, V Integrating Abstraction: Modernizing Medicine at Lhasa s Sman rtsis khang. In: Schrempf M. (ed.), Sounding in Tibetan Medicine: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, pp Adams V. et al A Tibetan Way of Science: Revisioning Biomedicine as Tibetan Practice. In: Adams, V. Schrempf, M. and Craig, S. (eds), Medicine between Science and Religion: Explorations on Tibetan Grounds. London: Berghahn Books, pp Craig S Good Manufacturing by Whose Standards? Remaking Concepts of Quality, Safety, and Value in the Production of Tibetan Medicines. Anthoropological Quarterly84 (2): Hsu E The Transmission of Chinese Medicine. Cambridge University Press. Hsu E The Spiritual (Shen), Styles of Knowing, and Authority in Chinese Medicine. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 24: Janes, C The Transformations of Tibetan Medicine, Medical Anthropology Quarterly 9 (1): Millard, C Learning Processes in a Tibetan Medical School, unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Edinburgh. Millard C Bon Medical Practitioners in Contemporary Tibet: The Continuity of a Tradition. East Asian Science, Technology and Society 7(3): Pordie, L Tibetan Medicine Today: Neo-Traditionalism as an Analytical Lens and Political Tool. In: L. Pordie (ed.), Tibetan Medicine in Contemporary World. London: Routledge, pp Samuel, G The Effectiveness of Goddesses or, How Ritual Works. In: Samuel, G.Tantric Revisionings: New Understandings of Tibetan Buddhism and Indian Religion. Delhi:Motilal Banarsidass pp Schrempf M Bon Lineage Doctors and the Local Transmission of Knowing Medical Practice in Nagchu. In: Schrempf M. (ed.), Sounding in Tibetan Medicine: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, pp

5 Smanla T. and Millard C The Preservation and Development of Amchi Medicine in Ladakh. East Asian Science, Technology and Society 7 (3): Soktsang L. D. and Millard C Diversity in Unity: The Changing Forms of Tibetan Medicine East Asian Science, Technology and Society 7(3): Yoeli-Tlalim, R Contemporary Oral Teachings of Kalacakra in Exile: a Dialogue Between Tradition and Change, unpublished PhD Thesis, University of London.