Tibetan ‘wind’ and ‘wind’ illnesses: towards a multicultural approach to health and illness

Abstract

This article discusses the Tibetan notion of rlung, usually translated as: ‘wind’, but perhaps better understood as a close equivalent of pneuma in the Greek tradition, or qi in the Chinese tradition. The article focuses on the way rlung provides a useful prism through which concepts of health, illness and disease may be observed in a cross-cultural perspective. An analysis of syndromes linked with rlung in a Tibetan cultural context illuminates some of the ways in which culture determines particular syndromes. The article raises a number of questions which are relevant for a more general multicultural approach to concepts of health, illness and disease.The article argues that notions of rlung/pneuma/wind/ qi constitute a particularly interesting area for an exploration of culture-bound syndromes, as they reside in the meeting point between material and non-material, physical and mental, as well as the psychological, spiritual and religious. They are hence fundamental for a more cross-cultural approach to the mind-body problem.The article also deals with the significance of history of medicine, particularly histories of medicine, which attempt to widen the scope of the traditional Eurocentric narrative of the history of medicine, in dealing with questions such as concepts of health and illness. Allowing alternative narratives—whether narratives of patients, other cultures or historical ones—can enhance our understanding of what health, illness and disease are. Discussing perceptions of the body as culturally defined is not only important from a philosophical or historical point of view, but also has important practical ramifications, which are particularly crucial in our global age.

Posttraumatic stress in emergency settings outside North America and Europe: A review of the emic literature

“…Other studies were excluded because they identified symptoms without specifically naming the constructs that the symptoms indicated (e.g., Jayawickreme, Jayawickreme, Goonasekera, & Foa, 2009). Others were excluded even though they were examples of good emic practice because their purpose was to adapt measures of DSM constructs to particular cultural contexts (e.g., Kohrt, et al, 2011; Mollica, et al, 1992; Phan, Steel, & Silove, 2004), were not related to trauma or stress (Kohrt, Hruschka, Kohrt, Panebianco, & Tsagaankhuu, 2004), or provided insufficient detail on specific CCDs (e.g., Yoeli-Tlalim, 2010). …”

Distribution of Human Constitutional Types Used In Traditional Mongolian Medicine among Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

“…Human constitutional types used for differential approaches of diagnostics and treatment of diseases in traditional Mongolian medicine [8,17] determined in all participants according with examination tests developed by Sachs R [18] and modified by Batchimeg et al [19]. Examination test system includes 100 tests for collection of data using findings from anamnesis, observation and physical examination and all these tests were grouped in four sections such as body characteristics ( Pearson's Chi-square coefficient (χ 2 ) was calculated for distribution of signs, independent-samples T test (t) was used for comparison of mean in different constitutional types.…”

“…In traditional Mongolian medicine the typology system prescribes 3 single, 3 dual and one triple human constitutional types and additional mixed (or combined) types in accordance with domination of abstraction substances (or humors, or notions, or elements) in human body. Single types are "Khii" (ᠢ, Tibetanrlung [loong] or wind, or vital energy, or air), "Shar" (ᠰᠷ, Tibetanmkrispa [kris-pa], or Tripa or mucus, or fire) and "Badgan" (ᠪᠬ�ᠠ, Tibetan-badken or pekan, or phlegm, or bile, or earth/water), and dual types are Khii-Shar, Khii-badgan, Shar-Khii, Shar-badgan, Badgan-Shar and Badgan-Khii [7][8][9]. Our previous study has determined titer of some cytokines in plasma of peripheral blood and lymphocyte overnight culture supernatant of blood donors and has suggested the relationship between types of humors or constitutional types practiced in traditional Mongolian medicine and intensity of specific immune response types in healthy individuals [10].…”

Buddhism & Medicine in East Asian History

“…Some Buddhist therapies — particularly meditation for reducing ailments associated with stress — are beginning to be taken seriously by neuroscientists, psychiatrists, and other branches of biomedicine (see recent summary of this research in de Vibe et al ). Research engaging with Buddhism has also begun appearing in publications related to bioethics and healthcare policy (see, e.g., Florida ; Yoeli‐Tlalim ; Keown ). While the volume of this sort of literature is large indeed, the present article focuses on reviewing scholarship that approaches Buddhism and medicine in East Asia from a historical perspective.…”