Pilnov A. I.- Doctor of Tibetan medicine, head of the Tibetan medicine clinic.
In 1989 he graduated from the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute named after. Pirogov, specializing in pediatrics.
Studied at the Moscow Medical Academy named after. Sechenov, has a certificate of a herbalist and a reflexologist.
He studied the Tibetan medical tradition in the Chita region (Agin Autonomous Okrug) and the People's Republic of China (Qinghai Province).
He is a follower of famous masters of the Tibetan tradition: Dr. Migmar Suren (Mongolia, Erdenet), Dr. Nida Chenagtsang (northern Tibet, Amdo District, Rmalholing), Dr. Ja Jamba (Inner Mongolia, China), Professor Wang Du (Lhasa University, central Tibet ), Dr. Rinchen Tenzin (Meng Ri Monastery, Dolanji, northern India), Dr. Menpa San-kho (Lavran Monastery, Qinghai Province).
He has been practicing Tibetan medicine for over 20 years.
In our clinic he performs pulse diagnostics diseases, is involved in compiling and prescribing Tibetan herbal teas, carries out procedures warming up Moxa.
Tenzin Thapa
Tenzin Thapa- Doctor of Tibetan Medicine highest category.
For 15 years he studied at the Tibetan Menri Monastery and by the age of 23 he completed the full course of study. In 1986, he was awarded the highest degree of Doctor of Tibetan Medicine - "Emchi".
My son and I live peacefully, trying not to bother each other with excessive attention. Our relationship has always been strong and reverent. In general – love + mutual respect. But sometimes I, like any woman, experience emotional withdrawal. I don’t know how this state is expressed in ordinary caring and thrifty mothers, but I suddenly have this feeling, you know, “I’m not his mother, but a viper.” And it starts - in my opinion, A. is not eating well, and he’s not growing at all, he’s kind of sad and lethargic. I got sick twice this year. I don't do it at all!!!
So another “program failure” led me to a Tibetan doctor. Don’t be surprised, because A. caught a cold twice in a year. As many as two. Zorik - that’s the doctor’s name - already knows us, well, this is not the first time the program has gone astray, he puts his son on a chair.
-What are you complaining about?
- I? No matter what. This is mom complaining about something. Ask her.
- It seems to me that A. is kind of lethargic and gets tired quickly. And I was sick twice,” I entered the conversation.
- Twice in what period?
- In a year.
- A.
Zorik took A. by the hand. Tibetan doctors carry out diagnosis using the pulse. At the same time, they absolutely hit it. How do they manage this?
“Everything is fine with him, it’s just that the school year is coming to an end, hence the fatigue.” I can give him strengthening herbs, but this is not necessary. We need to walk more, and while walking, run...
- Well, great. “Thank you,” I said with relief and was about to leave the office with a feeling of fulfilled maternal duty. The reboot occurred and the failure was canceled successfully. Life goes on.
- A., go sit in the corridor. But sit down, please,” as you understand, these words were addressed to me. Maybe you understood right away, but I was a little surprised.
- I?
- Yes, yes, Masha, sit down.
- What is it?
- Give me your hand.
Here, no matter how hard I try to dodge, I still have to explain the life circumstances that befell me at that moment. But, in order not to become in the eyes of the reader a lonely woman with a child complaining about life, this will be a summary. So, more air in the lungs, determination in the heart and let's go. My beloved man, with whom I lived for four wonderful years, spent all these wonderful years trying to persuade me to marry him. I don’t know what held me back. But in the fifth year I broke down. An extravagant skirt, a T-shirt covered in large letters, guests and other paraphernalia of those getting married were already ready when exactly five days before the expected event he disappeared. As in the joke - in the morning he left for work with the words: I’ll come in the evening, we’ll order you your Hummer - and did not return. Funny. Although it almost killed me then. Foolishly hoping for a miracle until the wedding day, I began to slowly move from the world of the living to the world of the dead. At the same time, this transition was the only activity that gave me pleasure. In a month, from a curvy lady with a decent bust, I turned into a size 40 creature with bones protruding outward and very blue veins. In general - unisex.
By the way, add to the joke about “he went to work and didn’t come back” that we had a joint business, from which I somehow automatically found myself outside. Both cars also left me. In general, an adventure.
Six months have passed. I have found a job. Even two. Terribly interesting. And I even began to notice what was happening around me. All this time, my heroic child walked next to me, worried about both me and himself. Like this!
Like this! But this is not the end of the summary. Let's move on. Six months have passed, remember, work, some joys, interests... And then he appears. Yes, my beloved man. The same one. And still dearly loved. I don’t know what a normal woman with a healthy psyche would have done in my place. By the way, don’t know how? Me too. But I, having a naturally overburdened psyche with emotions, forgave. Yes. And she didn’t even retain at least a small island of resentment in her soul. But he could warn against all sorts of nonsense, what? Let's move on.
Several months have passed.
- You know, we can’t be together, it was a mistake, I’m leaving!
Just as unexpected. Master of his craft!
And left.
And I left. Into the world of shadows. Again without work, again without the desire to live, hope, joy - the list goes on and on.
Add a month to this and we are back in the Tibetan doctor’s office.
I?
- Yes, yes, Masha, sit down.
- What is it?
- Give me your hand.
Zorik took my brush and somehow looked at me too intently.
-Have you been feeling tired lately?
- Feel.
- Dizziness?
- Yes.
- It's cold all the time...
- All the time.
- Do you eat anything?
- I?
- It's clear…
At the same time, all questions and answers are accompanied by completely wild actions. To the left of Zorik in his office is a chest of drawers filled with jars of herbs that he brings from Tibet every year. So, the crazy thing was that, while asking questions, he brought more and more cans onto the table. Then, without looking up from our wonderful dialogue, he began laying out those square pieces of paper in which he usually gives medicines to the sick. And, believe me, there were no less pieces of paper than cans.
How can I describe to you my state at the sight of all this? No way. I just asked a question:
- Zorik, am I already dead?
- No, Mashenka, what are you doing? How can you explain your condition from the point of view of Western or Eastern medicine?
- Well, I work as an editor for an oriental magazine, so oriental medicine is closer to me...
- You see, you have a DEFECT
- Lack of what, Zorik?
- Everything, - simple and clear.
Yes, Tibet is a mysterious and still unknown place. To describe all the horror in which I lived for a year, yes, in truth, I continued to live at that moment, in two words, you need to know real wisdom. I thought that I didn’t want to live, there was no joy left, love had left me forever - it was all some kind of vulgarity.
LACK OF EVERYTHING. Exactly. With all my heart I wished for joy and love, and sensations and God knows what else. I just missed it. It turns out I didn’t intend to die at all. I’m just very tired of the fact that my wishes don’t come true. But the point is that they exist. Otherwise, where would this delightful insufficiency come from?
Tibetans believe in reincarnation. Who they will be reborn in a new life depends on their earthly path. Gods of Zorika, I beg you, when you decide his fate, remember the lonely woman whose life he saved with two words. Maybe this very life is not very significant compared to the wheel of rebirth, but I don’t think so. Because when the pain that had tormented the soul for so long suddenly let go a little thanks to a real Tibetan doctor, this newfound life began to sparkle with new meanings and I wanted to love the whole world and say only kind words to those around me. Hear, gods of Zorik, think about this when you decide his fate. Necessarily!
“Science and Religion.”-2005 No. 11.
Advice from a Tibetan doctor.
At the request of readers, Dr. Tenzin Wangpo continues to introduce us to the secrets of Tibetan medicine. We will talk about some of the fundamental concepts of this ancient science. We hope that this new knowledge will help you take better care of your health and visit doctors less often.
According to Tibetan medicine, human health depends on three important elements. Tibetans call them wind (lung), bile (tri-pa) and mucus (bed-ken). Their balance must be maintained in the body, and if in at least one of them it is disturbed, our well-being worsens, and this can lead to illness. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the wind, bile and mucus in harmony.
The first and most important element is wind. It permeates our entire body, it can be called the leader of all other elements, its movements control their work. Air circulation during inhalation and exhalation, blood flow, heart function, food movement during digestion and energy movement in the body depend on it. “People of the wind” – those in whose bodies it is very active – are distinguished by increased emotionality. Wind imbalance causes diseases of the heart and blood vessels, depletes the body's strength and accelerates aging. Anxiety, worry, anger, excessive stress on the brain, endless TV, random reading or active phone conversations, inability to disconnect from problems, too frequent sex, long periods between meals, insufficient nutrition, bleeding, upset stomach, vomiting - all of this causes imbalance in the activity of the wind. The first symptoms of this imbalance: dizziness, tinnitus, touchiness, poor sleep, many chaotic dreams, wandering pains, forgetfulness, chills. The mouth is dry, the tongue is rough and red, the urine is bluish. At the initial stage, you can try to restore balance yourself. To do this, you need to introduce meat, wine, sweet and oily foods into your diet. It is advisable to give up strong tea and coffee, try to go to bed early and get a good night's sleep.
The second element is bile. It controls the functioning of the liver and gall bladder, maintains body heat. If your hands and feet are hot, your body is permeated with a pleasant feeling of warmth - this is an indicator that the bile in your body is balanced and you are not at risk of diseases of the lungs, liver, gall bladder and intestines associated with its imbalance. It is disrupted by the consumption of alcohol, oil, meat, sour, spicy, bitter, very hot food, hard physical work, long stays in unventilated areas, daytime sleep, anger, nervous tension. When bile is out of balance, a person feels feverish, has red or yellowing eyes, sweating, and a bitter or sour taste in the mouth; The pulse becomes rapid, the urine acquires a reddish tint and a pungent odor.
To normalize bile, I recommend: drinking water often during the day, but in small portions; eat light, non-fatty foods; do not sleep during the day, but sit somewhere in the shade, in some place pleasing to the eye (it is sitting, and not lying, that is useful for the “man of bile”). If there is an imbalance of bile, coolness is also beneficial, but not cold or heat, but excessive physical activity is harmful.
The third element is mucus. It controls the functioning of the stomach, spleen and kidneys. Symptoms of its imbalance in the body: decreased body temperature, kidneys, limbs, chills, worsening digestion. The pulse with mucus imbalance is weak and slow; urine color is whitish; the duration of sleep increases, but it is difficult to get up in the morning; a person with such mucus begins to gain weight. These are the first manifestations of what the Tibetans call “cold diseases.” An imbalance of mucus leads to diseases of the bladder, prostate, gynecological disorders, and the formation of tumors. What causes mucus imbalance? It is caused by depressive states, a sedentary lifestyle, consumption of large quantities of cold food, dairy products, raw fruits and vegetables, raw and poorly cooked food, white bread, potatoes. If you notice the first signs of mucus imbalance, change your diet, give preference to warm food and drink; try to move more, if possible, play sports, or at least do light exercises and walk more. Keep your body warm, get plenty of sun, but don't overheat! Try to find more positive emotions in life, watch funny movies, meet people you like.
The science of the three elements is complex, and it is impossible to fit it into one article. Often people are disturbed by the balance of not one, but two or even all three elements at once. A person cannot cope with such an imbalance on his own. In such cases, Tibetans turn to a doctor - not only for medicines, but also for individual recommendations.
The second topic I would like to touch on today may come as a surprise to you. These are tastes. Yes, yes, tastes. Tibetan medicine distinguishes forty-six thousand six hundred and fifty tastes. Six of them are considered basic: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. Some of these tastes are present in every food product, and the predominance of one or another taste in our everyday food can be both beneficial and harmful.
Let's consider these tastes. Sweets, of course, give us a pleasant feeling and a desire to eat something more sweet. Is it good for us? Yes, if you don't abuse it. Sweets increase appetite, give the body strength and energy. It is useful for children, the elderly, as well as thin, weakened people, and those with weak lungs and throats. Sweets help heal wounds and cleanse the body of poisons; adds shine to hair and clarity to the senses; treats diseases of wind and bile. But remember that excess sweets lead to weight gain, fat formation, and excess mucus in the body. And excess mucus in the stomach impairs digestion and leads to metabolic disorders; reduces the energy of the bladder, kidneys, pancreas, which can cause diabetes; leads to disturbances in the endocrine system.
The sour taste causes the teeth to set on edge and increased salivation. Sour gives warmth to the body, improves blood, increases appetite, relieves nervous tension, stress, especially in women, improves digestion. However, excessive consumption of acidic substances disrupts the functioning of the gallbladder, worsens the blood, causes dizziness, sagging muscles and skin, itchy skin, acne and rashes.
The salty taste increases the internal heat of the body, kindles the fire of digestion, increases appetite, normalizes bile, and relieves nausea. But with an excess of salt, early wrinkles appear, hair begins to fall out and turn gray. Salty foods increase thirst and decrease vitality. Its excess can lead to blood diseases.
The pungent taste heals wounds, gives warmth, improves digestion, appetite, “dries” mucus in the body and cleanses the stomach. Its excess causes trembling and tightness of the body, pain in the spine and lower back, worsens the condition of the genitourinary system, and reduces vitality.
The astringent taste improves blood quality and has a beneficial effect on bile and fat. Heals wounds and improves skin color. But its excess increases mucus in the body, which leads to “cold” diseases: prostatitis, cystitis, kidney disease, etc.
The science of taste is necessarily used by Tibetan doctors in classifying herbs and formulating medicines. For example, saffron has a bitter and at the same time pungent and astringent taste. This makes it useful for diseases of the blood, blood vessels, liver, and it perfectly stops bleeding.
Here are some tips for people suffering from a very common disease in Russia - high blood pressure. Try to quit smoking or at least reduce it to a minimum. But if you've been smoking for a long time, you don't have to quit suddenly. Do not drink more than 100 grams of alcohol per day, and over time, give it up completely. Never get yourself drunk. Reduce salty, fatty and meat foods in your diet. Avoid worry, sadness and anger. Too much joy and excitement are also harmful. Get a good night's sleep. When sitting down, standing up or lying down, do so without sudden movements.
Concluding our conversation today, I would like to remind you that open, cheerful, always ready to help others, kind and spiritual people get sick less often and recover faster if they do get sick. So watch not only the state of your body, but the state of your spirit.
The number of Tibetan healers in Moscow, it seems, has already become equal to the number of “hereditary sorcerers” and “white magicians”. Going to meet one of them, I discover on a small section of the Garden Ring several establishments offering the services of Tibetan doctors mixed with “oriental incense” and “Chinese tea” - and they literally follow each other. This hobby, of course, did not come to us yesterday: new age with a fashion for everything calming oriental - Hollywood Buddhism, yoga, Tibet, lamas, Hare Krishnas, mantras, meditation, green tea and incense - the main cultural fad of the late 1990s - early 2000 ?X. The most widespread in our country, as elsewhere, are, naturally, the last two; However, long trips to Tibet and living in Buddhist monasteries as a variant of modern escapism, which has spread among the capital’s bohemia, are also part of the new age. Meanwhile, unlike fortune tellers and sorcerers, Tibetan doctors are a product of a high ancient culture, or at least they should be.
I must say that at the White Lotus center, where my doctor sees, tea and incense are only by-products: tea is served to patients, and his office smells of incense. Lama Rinchen Tenzin himself has been a monk of the ancient traditional Tibetan religion Bon for more than twenty years and is now a member of the Council of Tibetan Doctors, created under the government of the Dalai Lama. In appropriate exotic clothes, handsome, handsome, friendly, every now and then flashing not even a Hollywood, but some completely unrealistic dazzling smile, he patiently answers all the numerous questions.
— Now there are so many Tibetan doctors in Russia...
- Yes, and many of them are probably good, but I want to give a warning. What does a Tibetan doctor traditionally look like? He studies in a monastery for six years, studies a lot - this is a very complex medicine - and then for three years he practices with a teacher, examines patients, and only after that - after nine years - he has the right to be called a real Tibetan doctor. Here, probably, such training is not so widespread, but there are many people who worked somewhere as translators for Tibetan doctors, read books somewhere, learned several medicines and began to treat people. Therefore, you need to know for sure that the person is a real working Tibetan doctor. It doesn’t matter whether he is a man or a woman, Chinese, American or some other foreigner, the main thing is that he is a real doctor and has been properly trained.
I began studying medicine at the age of fifteen, taught until I was twenty-five and continue to teach now, and I still have to look into books when there are patients who are difficult to diagnose.
— What is real Tibetan medicine?
— True Tibetan medicine arose fourteen to sixteen thousand years ago in the legendary state of Shang-Shung, the existence and location of which scientists still argue about, in the tradition of the Bon religion; Buddhism appeared only later, many centuries later. The foundations of Tibetan medicine are set out in a sacred text called “Chzhud-Shi”. And it is still the basis for traditional teaching, and many sages in former times and now have written and are writing commentaries on it. There are many schools where they still study medicine in the Bon tradition, for example in India - I myself am from a monastery in northern India. There is a Council of Tibetan Medicine, whose headquarters is in India, and I am also a member of it.
— Tell me, please, why did you start practicing medicine?
“I didn’t choose anything, I lived this from early childhood - my father, grandfather, uncle were doctors, I received this knowledge from childhood. Medicine should be studied with the goal of helping all living beings, and medicine can only be learned in this way.
- Residents of big cities and Tibetans lead completely different lifestyles - is there a difference in the approach to treating both?
- In Tibetan medicine, all human ailments are divided into hot diseases and cold diseases - and, accordingly, there are two types of medicines: if the disease is hot, then cold medicines should be taken, and vice versa. Behavior and diet are also very important. Russian and Tibetan food are very similar - people in Tibet, like in Russia, do not add a lot of spices to their food, we eat the same types of meat, not counting horse meat, which is very popular in Tibet. Both here and there they eat a lot of heavy, oily, fatty foods - in Tibet they even eat tea with butter, because of this there are many problems with blood pressure. But residents of big cities also eat a lot of concentrates and semi-finished products, many different artificial additives, which subsequently cause indigestion and all sorts of diseases.
In general, there are classes of diseases that are the same for everyone, but each person has their own specific disease with specific characteristics, which means the treatment will be different. General and methods of diagnosis: palpation of the pulse (the pulse on the wrists of both hands gives information about the state of the 12 main vital organs. - E. S.), urine diagnostics (the patient should come to an appointment with a Tibetan doctor much like he would for tests in a regular clinic - with a morning jar . - E.S.), questions about what, where and how it hurts, medications and recommendations on nutrition and lifestyle.
“And yet we are people of a completely different culture, and medicine is part of the culture.” Maybe it’s better for us to be treated in the way that is customary in our culture?
— Both the Chinese, the Tibetans, and the Russians have diseases that would be better treated with Tibetan medicines, and there is simply no European method of cure. But they may also develop a disease that is better treated with European means. European medicines are something like “first aid”: when a person has something in pain and needs to quickly alleviate his condition, he uses European medicines. Tibet works a little differently - the cause of the disease is slowly, gradually eradicated, but there will be no benefit from Tibetan medicines right away. For example, if you have liver pain, you come to a European hospital where your liver is treated, but the medications you take can harm other organs. Tibetan medicines, eliminating the cause of the disease, will never harm other organs. At the same time, in Tibetan medicine there are very strong medicines, but for special, rare cases, they are usually not used. The Tibetan method of treatment is not limited to taking medications; it also includes lifestyle, diet, acupuncture, moxibustion, and lotions.
— This is not the first time you have worked in Russia. What common problems do you see among us, common flaws in our way of life?
- Of course, they exist. First of all, these are problems with blood pressure - both high and low. As I already said, indigestion is very common, almost all people who come to the appointment have a stomach that does not cope well with food, there are many breathing problems - asthma, allergies, women's problems: your women very often do not wrap themselves well in the cold season .
— For all these reasons, there are probably some general recommendations?
— A general recommendation for good health is to watch what you eat. The root of all diseases is digestion: if everything is fine with the stomach, then there will be a good metabolism and there will be no diseases. Do not eat old food that you did not cook today, and in general you need to cook a little at a time, do not eat cold food - always warm it before eating. Nothing should be in excess - salt, sugar, butter; you need to drink a lot of ordinary boiled water, which is much healthier than all sorts of carbonated drinks and juices from packages. It is very important to eat little, often and with plenty of water. There is no need to eat heavily fried foods. Vegetables and fruits are vitamins, this is very good, but they need to be chewed for a long time and well. Of course, you can sometimes allow yourself to do something harmful, but if you do it all the time, nothing good will happen.
It is very important not to sit on cold and damp things - cement, concrete - even if it is warm, its properties are cold, and this is harmful. There is no need to introduce vitamins and all sorts of supplements into the system - the body gets used to synthetic vitamins and stops producing them itself, and when you stop taking them, a deficiency occurs. Tibetan medicines act completely differently: they do not add anything, but simply improve the heat of digestion, and the stomach begins to work better, therefore, if you take Tibetan medicines for a long time and then stop, there will be no harm from it. Based on the experience of last year, I can say with confidence: Tibetan medicines bring benefits to Russian people. Naturally, the younger the person, the better the medications help him, but there is benefit for everyone.
— In addition to purely physical illnesses, one of the main problems of a hard-working modern metropolis resident is chronic fatigue, apathy, depression, and all sorts of neuroses. In Western medicine, an entire industry has been built around this - antipsychotics, tranquilizers, antidepressants. What is the situation with this in the Tibetan tradition?
- All these symptoms - depression, depression - can be divided into four types: there are depressions caused by mucus disease, wind disease, bile disease and blood disease. Although it seems to a person that these are just his moods. Of course, there are cures for this - for example, the cause may be wind disease, that is, a person eats poorly, this affects his condition and mood and ultimately gives a lot of unnecessary thoughts, which is why depression and depression appear. There are medicines for all these diseases.
- That is, all mental states have only physical causes?
— All such conditions can be divided into two types: diseases caused by material causes, and diseases caused by spirits. We are believers, we treat diseases caused by spirits with rituals. If the disease is fresh, it is treated only with rituals; if it is old, medical means also come to the rescue. European medicine has no cure for such diseases.
— The European consciousness is quite skeptical - when you treat people of a different culture, how important is the patient’s faith in your treatment?
— If we talk about religion in principle, then faith is of paramount importance - without faith you can’t get anywhere. In everything that concerns medicine, faith does not play any role - if the medicine is precisely selected, it will help you, whether you believe in it or not. At the same time, if you strongly believe in medicine, in Tibetan medicine in general, in all Tibetans, but the doctor gave you the wrong diagnosis and gave you the wrong medicine, it will not help you in any way.
The next time we met was at the reception. The doctor felt my pulse for a long time, according to the custom of Tibetan doctors, without asking anything at first (so that, as he explained, he could tell the patient about his problems and thus inspire trust), asked me to show my tongue, and then asked if my stomach was bothering me. “Yes, yes,” I answered joyfully, “I probably ate some kind of stale rubbish and for the third day now I’ve been eating exclusively crackers.” The doctor said that it was a “bile disease”, nothing serious, gave me three bags of medicine and told me to take them for two weeks - which I did in good faith, despite the fact that the brown balls of Tibetan tablets, which must be chewed, taste incredibly bitter . To such an extent that it was impossible to resist a pained grimace and those around me had to tell the story about Tibetan medicine and my trip to the doctor. After a few days, everything really went away, but life experience tells me that it probably would have passed just like that, of course, well, I would have drank activated charcoal - as the doctor said, nothing serious. Meanwhile, I know several people for whom Tibetan treatment helped in much more serious cases, and my appointment with my doctor is very busy.
What's the resume? A moderately restrained and moderately skeptical position can be formulated something like this. Modern Western man, living in a world where everything has shifted from its usual places and become confused, where the traditional way of life has collapsed and where neuroses have become an integral characteristic of a cultured person, really wants to hear encouraging formulas like “eliminate the general discord”, “remove the source of the disease.” And if someone gets rid of bodily problems as a result, this is obviously good, and if someone simply has a feeling of a correct and useful action that will now improve something in life, this is also very good. In addition, behind the dark metaphorical style - “wind illness”, “heat illness” - there are quite understandable and even familiar instructions from childhood: “eat little, but often”, “chew your food well”, “don’t sit in the cold”. It is precisely this correspondence with everyday common sense that captivates me personally - but something incongruously exotic would definitely alert me. Having been tested not only by centuries of Tibetan medicine, but also by your own mother, this wisdom is in any case worth the 50-100-200 dollars paid for an appointment with a Tibetan doctor. Well, some irony, which is certainly present in this situation, even has its own charm - the charm of humility.
