Tibetan Medicine and Hawaiian Medicine
I just saw the movie about Tibetan Medicine, “The Knowledge of Healing.” It is a wonderful overview of the ancient principles and practice, combined with supporting research conducted by physicians and biomedical researchers in Europe.
I was struck by the commonalities between Hawaiian and Tibetan medicine. Watch the Tibetan doctors as they are feeling wrists for pulses, palpating shoulders, and massaging legs. They are in constant physical contact with their patients, thus giving them healing touch.
While the doctor administers the medicine, both he and the patient chant prayers. This works not only on a spiritual level but also on the mental and emotional states of the patient.
One patient is told not to drink or touch cold water after the treatment – common advice in old Hawai’i.
A nun tells the doctor in a matter of fact manner that she was tortured and abused in prison. She says she has trouble sleeping and eating. The doctor briskly attends to his diagnosis and treatment, while tears cloud his eyes. It reminded me of Martha Noyes’ description of Papa Kalua Kaiahua. She said he made no effort to be detached or objective. He laughed and cried with his patients.
There were differences, too. It appeared the Tibetans use only dried herbs and roots, while Hawaiians preferred to pick them fresh the morning the treatment was to be given. However, both Hawaiians and Tibetans use minerals, including coral and shells.
In fact, the part of the movie that really surprised me was how the Tibetans talk about the channels of the body being like waves on the ocean. They spoke knowledgably of wave action, and use coral and shell, when they had lived all their lives in a land-locked country.
The similarity that struck me most was the complexity of the herbal remedies. Both Tibetan and early Hawaiian remedies use a large variety of ingredients, in some cases more than 50 herbs in one dosage. Swiss scientists explained the importance of having a large number of ingredients.
Unfortunately, many in Hawai’i have lost this knowledge. Those who recommend the use of noni for every ailment carry on a folk tradition, but the kahuna la’au lapa’au used noni only as one of many ingredients in elaborate preparations.
I was struck by the commonalities between Hawaiian and Tibetan medicine. Watch the Tibetan doctors as they are feeling wrists for pulses, palpating shoulders, and massaging legs. They are in constant physical contact with their patients, thus giving them healing touch.
While the doctor administers the medicine, both he and the patient chant prayers. This works not only on a spiritual level but also on the mental and emotional states of the patient.
One patient is told not to drink or touch cold water after the treatment – common advice in old Hawai’i.
A nun tells the doctor in a matter of fact manner that she was tortured and abused in prison. She says she has trouble sleeping and eating. The doctor briskly attends to his diagnosis and treatment, while tears cloud his eyes. It reminded me of Martha Noyes’ description of Papa Kalua Kaiahua. She said he made no effort to be detached or objective. He laughed and cried with his patients.
There were differences, too. It appeared the Tibetans use only dried herbs and roots, while Hawaiians preferred to pick them fresh the morning the treatment was to be given. However, both Hawaiians and Tibetans use minerals, including coral and shells.
In fact, the part of the movie that really surprised me was how the Tibetans talk about the channels of the body being like waves on the ocean. They spoke knowledgably of wave action, and use coral and shell, when they had lived all their lives in a land-locked country.
The similarity that struck me most was the complexity of the herbal remedies. Both Tibetan and early Hawaiian remedies use a large variety of ingredients, in some cases more than 50 herbs in one dosage. Swiss scientists explained the importance of having a large number of ingredients.
Unfortunately, many in Hawai’i have lost this knowledge. Those who recommend the use of noni for every ailment carry on a folk tradition, but the kahuna la’au lapa’au used noni only as one of many ingredients in elaborate preparations.
posted by Makana Risser Chai at
7:34 PM
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