Training in Tibetan medicine has undergone many changes over the centuries. Historically, Tibetan physicians were trained in one of two ways. In the oldest form of training students apprenticed with physicians, studying as novices often for as long as ten years or more. There developed lineages of physicians associated with the great historical physicians of Tibetan medicine. Training was also conducted in private academies led by well-known physicians. In 1951 there were at least two such academies, one in Lhasa and one in Shigatse. These privately trained doctors were primarily associated with the secular aristocracy. By the end of the 17th century Tibetan medicine was also taught in monasteries where advanced training was offered and in religious-based medical training institutes, such as the Chagpori College of Medicine. These two forms of training led to the development of various traditions of Tibetan medicine as well as distinct local traditions based on the different geographical regions of Tibet.

In the early 20th century the government moved to standardize training in government-funded institutions in order to increase the number of trained physicians and to expand public health services. A second medical college, the Mentsikhang, was established in Lhasa in 1916 as well as a public clinic to train new doctors. Physicians were also still trained privately and in monasteries.

In 1959 when the Chinese took control of the Tibetan government they instituted reforms consistent with their political and social ideology. The Chinese tolerated Tibetan medicine but worked to move it into the secular health care system with an emphasis on biomedicine, public health and low-cost primary health care. After suppression of the 1959 Tibetan revolt by the Chinese, the Tibetan government was dissolved and the monastic and private training of physicians was ended. All training in Tibetan medicine was conducted at the Mentsikhang under the direct control of the Chinese health bureaucracy. Training was modernized, curriculum was standardized, and fixed training time periods, testing and certification were instituted. In 1963 the Chinese Cultural Revolution sought to destroy traditional Tibetan medicine and many Tibetan physicians were sent to labor camps and rural communes where they were forbidden to practice medicine, medical texts were destroyed and religion was banned. By 1976, however, medical schools were allowed to add training in Tibetan medicine along side biomedicine, but in a form that eliminated many of its essential ingredients.

In the 1980’s the Chinese re-evaluated their policy toward Tibet and Tibetan medicine was officially recognized. Training programs in authentic Tibetan medicine were launched and promoted by the government, and the number of physicians and active practice throughout the country has greatly expanded. Eventually all training was centralized in the Mentsikhang, which now controls the state’s training of Tibetan physicians. Training has been standardized to the level used for training biomedical and traditional Chinese medical specialists in China. This includes four to five years of classroom instruction and a one-year internship with clinical rotation. Approximately half the classroom hours are devoted to specific training in Tibetan medicine, although changes in some of the fundamental theoretical and Buddhist aspects of earlier practice can be seen.

References
The majority of this information is based on the lectures of H.H. the Dalai Lama’s private physicians Dr. Tenzin Choedrak and Dr. Lobsang Wangyal and translated from Tibetan to English by Dr. Namgyal Qusar, Tibetan Medical & Astro Institute, Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamsala 176215, H.P. India.

Janes, CR. “The transformation of Tibetan medicine.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 9(1): 6-39, 1995.

Content last modified on May 16, 2003