TM - SOWA - RIGPA

Introduction

Sowa-Rigpa” commonly known as Amchi system of medicine is one of the oldest, Living and well documented medical tradition of the world. It has been popularly practice in Tibet, Magnolia, Bhutan, some parts of China, Nepal, Himalayan regions of India and few parts of former Soviet Union etc. There are various schools of thought about the origin of this medical tradition, some scholars believes that it is originated from India, some says China and others consider it to be originated from Tibet itself. The majority of theory and practice of Sowa-Rigpa is similar to “Ayurveda” .  The first Ayurvedic influence came to Tibet during 3^rd century AD but it became popular only after 7^th centuries with the approach of Buddhism to Tibet. There after this trend of exportation of Indian medical literature, along with Buddhism and other Indian art and sciences were continued till early 19^th century. India being the birth place of Buddha and Buddhism has always been favorite place for learning Buddhist art and culture for Tibetan students; lots of Indian scholars were also invited to Tibet for prorogation of Buddhism and other Indian art and sciences. This long association with India had resulted in translation and preservation of thousands of Indian literature on various subjects like religion, sciences, arts, culture and language etc. in Tibetan language. Out of these around twenty-five text related to medicine are also preserved in both canonical and non-canonical forms of Tibetan literatures. Many of these knowledge were further enriched in Tibet with the knowledge and skills of neighboring countries and their own ethnic knowledge. “Sowa-Rigpa” (Science of healing) is one of the classic examples of it. Gyud-Zi (four tantra) the fundamental text book of this medicine was first translated from India and enriched in Tibet with its own folklore and other medical tradition like Chinese and Persian etc. The impact of Sowa-Rigpa along with Buddhism and other Tibetan art and sciences were spread in neighboring Himalayan regions. In India this system has been practiced in Sikkim, Arunachal Pardesh, Dargeling (West Bangal), Lahoul & Spiti (Himanchal Pardesh) and Ladakh region of Jammu& Kashmir etc.

http://indianmedicine.nic.in/index3.asp?sslid=144&subsublinkid=20&lang=1