Sangye Gyamtso

Sangye Gyamtso (1653-1705) (also Desi Sangye Gyamtso) was the regent of the Fifth Dalai Lama (1671-1682) who founded the School of Medicine and Astrology on Chags-po-ri's Hill (or 'Iron Mountain') in 1694^[2] and wrote the Blue Beryl (Blue Sapphire) treatise^[3][4].

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Iron Mountain

The medical college at Chags-po-ri (Iron Mountain) was designed for monastic scholars who would, after learning esoteric arts of medicine and tantrism, mostly remain in the monastery, serving the public as would other monk scholars and lamas. In 1916, Khenrab Norbu, physician to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, sponsored the construction of a second secular college of Tibetan medicine and Astrology, the Mentsikhang. Mentsikhang was designed as a college for 'laypersons' who would, after receiving training, return to their rural areas for work as doctors and educators.

Six herbs

Six medicinal substances were in common use in Tibet when they appeared in the Blue Beryl Treatise^[5][6]:

• Arabic frankincense (Burseraceae} (see on the left, top-left corner);
• Mongolian garlic (see on the left, top-middle);
• Chinese quince (Pseudocydonia) (see on the left, top-right corner);
• Indian embelic myrobalan (Terminalia chebula) (see on the left, bottom-left corner);
• Tibetan ginger (see on the left, bottom-middle);
• South Chinese Kaempferia galanga (see on the left, bottom-right corner);

References

See also

• Traditional Tibetan medicine
• Tree of physiology
• Ayurveda
• Traditional Chinese medicine
• Traditional Mongolian medicine
• Tibetan people