Tibetan and Himalayan Healing: An Anthology for Anthony Aris

Contens: 1. Why a book? 2. Une dharani Bon po de Longue Vie Associee au Cycle du Tshe dbang bya ri ma, selon la tradition de Khod spungs Blo gros thogs med (1280-1337)/Jean-Luc Achard. 3. A sense of well-being: Thulung Rai and Kinnaur/Nick Allen. 4. The Lineage holders and protectors of the Tibetan Medical Tradition/Robert Beer. 5. “Four times hundred offerings which rescue us from the Bdud” (Brgya bzhi cho ga bdud las rnam rgyal)/Geza Bethlenfalvy. 6. ‘Dus pa’i nad, Bad kan smug po and Melancholia in the teaching on the six lamps (sGron ma drug gig dams pa), the Fourfold collection (Bum-bzhi), and the Fourfold Tantra (rGyud bzhi)/Henk Blezer. 7. The  Gret nDos rite which redeems from the crosses of malicious gossip/Martin Boord. 8. Dr. Henry Cayley in Ladakh: Medicine, trade and diplomacy of India’s Northern frontier/John Bray. 9. Lakes, Springs and Good Health/Katia Bufftrille. 10. Longevity rituals in the Bon Phur pa tradition: Chapter 25 of the Black Pillar/Cathy Cantwell and Robert Mayer. 11. Healing elements/Sienna Craig. 12. The eye-healing avalokitesvara: a national icon of Mongolia and its origin in Tibetan Medine/Olaf Czaja….

We all know the cause of ill-health: germs and viruses; and, of course, genetic propensity. To these we should add: the ripening of recent or ancient karma; predatory demons and witches; adverse astrological configurations; the retaliation of earth-gods angered by humans' callous treatment of the environment; spilling milk on the stove. The afflictions resulting from these various pathogens manifest in physical, mental and social disorders of commensurate diversity and complexity. The treatment is also well known: allopathic care, whether Western, Tibetan or Ayurvedic; or the accumulation of merit to dissipate the burden of karma; or the shamanic hunt for lost souls; or violent exorcism; or any number of remedial techniques that have their home in the expanse of the Himalayan and Tibetan region. These techniques, and the world-views that underpin them, have in turn spawned a vast wealth of art, literature and performance, and no single disciplinary approach can possibly hope to do justice to such an extraordinary range of forms. Accepting that this state of affairs is best addressed not by an attempt at synthesis but a celebration of diversity, sixty specialists of Tibet and the Himalaya were given free rein to write about any aspect of healing in the region, and this book is the result. In addition to offering detailed studies of some of the therapeutic traditions of the region, the collection as a whole opens a window onto the heart of the civilisation that generated or inherited these beliefs and practices, and continues to cherish them.