Tibetan Precious Pills as Therapeutics and Rejuvenating Longevity Tonics

Gerke, Barbara

doi:10.18732/hssa.v5i2.15

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(5 reference statements)

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“…It comes to no surprise to find that powerful damdzé substances in the form of consecrated compounds (mentioned in the introduction) made their way into the compounding of special precious pills (rin chen ril bu), which form the pinnacle of Tibetan medicine preparations or menjor (sman sbyor) ( Figure 6). Precious pills are made by amchi, in the past often together with their lamas, and were generally sponsored by influential sections of Tibetan society (Gerke 2017). Even their recent institutionalized production in larger pharmacies is still connected to Buddhist lineages.…”

Section: Historical Background: Tibetan Pill Traditions and Their Patmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Sowa Rigpa, the formulas in question are nowadays for the most part collectively grouped under the category of precious pills, or rinchen rilbu (Gerke 2017). These are Tibetan medicines that contain between 25-160 plants and minerals as well as precious ingredients such as gold, silver, rubies, diamonds, corals, turquoise, pearls, natural agate beads (gzi), and sapphires.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Buddhist–Medical Interface in Tibet: Black Pill Traditions in Transformation

Gerke¹

2019

Religions

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This paper introduces Tibetan pill traditions and examines two exceptional pill formulas that emerged from an early Buddhist–medical interface in Tibet, but followed different trajectories due to the increased specialization of religious and medical knowledge. “Black pills” are the most revered consecrated healing compound of the Karmapas (the incarnate heads of the Karma Kagyü School of Tibetan Buddhism), while the “Cold Compound Black Pill”—a precious pill known as Rinchen Drangjor—is one of Tibetan medicine’s most complex formulas still produced today. Based on both textual research and ethnographic fieldwork in India, I critically explore the principal factors that link these black pill traditions. I argue that parallels in the use of potent substances and their processing offer examples of how strongly entangled medical and religious approaches are with respect to healing practices that include blessings, protection, spiritual support, and medical treatment. My findings reveal that although there are distinct areas of medical and religious specialized practices in the black pill traditions, consecrated multi-compounds are added to both types of black pills to enhance potency and ensure the continuation of lineage affiliations to certain Buddhist schools. I also show how political and sectarian conflicts within certain Buddhist schools may affect some of these rare pill practices.

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Section: Historical Background: Tibetan Pill Traditions and Their Patmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Buddhist–Medical Interface in Tibet: Black Pill Traditions in Transformation

Gerke¹

2019

Religions

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“…Pönsé Dzamling (dPon gsas 'dzam gling, b. 1259/1271), 45 a direct descendant of Shenchen Luga after a few generations, figures in the following account (translation by Dan Martin): 36 Martin 2017 andKarmay 1972: 170 f. 37 "Rigs 'dzin rig pa'i thugs rgyud," (Anon. 1972b: ff.…”

Section: T He B O N P O M E N D Ru P Ri T Ua L P R Ac T I C Ementioning

confidence: 99%

“…325, 326-7, 338, 356 and 400-401. On the lineages see Karmay 1998Karmay , 2007 and rMe'u tsha bstan 'dzin rnam rgyal 2014. pa) from Samyé (bSam yas) is attributed with introducing the practice of "amaraya nectar medicine" (a ma ra ya bdud rtsi sman). 87 The term amaraya is usually understood to refer to the mendrup ritual specific to the Bonpo Shen lineage.…”

Section: There Are Several Relevant Passages In the Treasury Of Wish-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tibetan Bonpo Mendrup: The Precious Formula’s Transmission

Sehnalova

2017

Hist. Sci. South Asia

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The article presents the traceable history of the Tibetan Bonpo mendrup ritual practice in textual sources, as it has been recorded by the Bonpos themselves. These records are put into context with the current performance of the practice by the Bonpo exile community. The study aims to embrace all the relevant Bonpo historical material accessible, and thus deals with documents of a wide time spam, from the eleventh or twelfth century onwards until the early twentieth century. The Bonpo mendrup is a healing, longevity, rejuvenation and enlightenment-seeking contemplative meditational practice of the Tibetan tantric tradition with a strong emphasis on its medicinal component. It embodies various spheres of knowledge and their principles, as the Indian tantrism, a strong Buddhist cosmological organisational and soteriological framework, the Tibetan medical tradition, with embedded elements of alchemy and Tibetan indigenous religious notions. As the studied sources reveal, its origin can be traced to the intellectually vibrant times in Tibet of around the twelfth century, where all these fields of expertise came together. Thus the case provides an example of such a complex composed of tantra, medicine and alchemic influences specific for Tibet. Since then, the Bonpo mendrup can be followed by varied records in a number of Bonpo literary sources of different genres. These are compared with the present form of the ritual. The sources support the ritual’s anticipated transmission and practice throughout the history. They show that different ideas apply to its origin, and particularly its revelation as a treasure text, and that the ritual existed in varied forms, and was shared and imparted among different lineages of Bon. The most important finding is that the practice is actually traceable throughout the history, and likely have never ceased to be active over the centuries from the very early times until today.

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“…Precious pills are multi‐compound pills that include precious substances (coral, pearl, turquoise, etc.) used for preventive and curative purposes (Gerke ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Sowa Rigpa Humanitarianism: Local Logics of Care within a Global Politics of Compassion

2020

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This article examines the circulation of humanitarian ideas, materials, and actions in a non‐biomedical and non‐Judeo–Christian context: Sowa Rigpa or Tibetan medical camps in India and Nepal. Through these camps, practitioners and patients alike often overtly articulate Sowa Rigpa medicine as part of a broader humanitarian “good” motivated by a Buddhist‐inflected ethics of compassion and a moral economy of care, diverging from mainstream public health and conventional humanitarian projects. Three ethnographic case studies demonstrate how micro‐political interactions at camps engage with ethical and religious imaginaries. We show how the ordinary ethics of Sowa Rigpa humanitarianism gain distinct political meaning in contrast to non‐Tibetan forms of aid, reconfiguring the relationship between Buddhism, essential medicines, moral economies, and politics. While Sowa Rigpa as a medical system operates transnationally, these camps are organized around local logics of emergent care, employing narratives of “charity” and Buddhist compassion when addressing health needs.

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Tibetan Precious Pills as Therapeutics and Rejuvenating Longevity Tonics

Cited by 9 publications

References 9 publications

The Buddhist–Medical Interface in Tibet: Black Pill Traditions in Transformation

The Buddhist–Medical Interface in Tibet: Black Pill Traditions in Transformation

Tibetan Bonpo Mendrup: The Precious Formula’s Transmission

Sowa Rigpa Humanitarianism: Local Logics of Care within a Global Politics of Compassion

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