The Tree of Treatment

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The root of treatment has four trunks (from left to right): advice on diet, advice on conduct, prescribing medicine, and performing external therapies.

Advice on diet has branches for rlung, makbris-pa, and bad-kan. The nature of rlung is light and rough; an imbalance is counteracted by recommending oily and nutritious food such as molasses, butter, garlic, onion, meat milk, mustard oil for cooking, soup, and alcohol in moderation. The nature of mkbris-pa is hot and sharp; an imbalance is counteracted by recommending cool and light foods such as cow and goat milk, younger and buttermilk, goat meat, vegetables, nongreasy foods, and water. The nature of bad-kan is cold; an imbalance is counteracted by recommending a warming diet of lamb, yak meat, honey barley, hot water, dri's (female yak) milk curd, and buttermilk.

Advice on conduct: A rlung patient medicine with sweet, sour, salty, heavy, and smooth taste and potency is prescribed. For a mkbris-pa Patient medicine with sweet, bitter astringent, cool, and blunt taste and potency is prescribed. For a bad-kan patient medicine with hot, sour, astringent, sharp, coarse, and light taste and potency is prescribed.

Performing external therapies: For a rlung patient therapies include mild enemas, massages, or hot oil compresses on the various point of rlung -The sternum, crown of the head, palms and the soles of the feet. For a mkbris-pa patient the doctor might perform mild purgative therapies, cooling therapies such as placing the patient beneath a waterfall, or bloodletting at various point of the body. For a bad-kan patient the doctor might induce vomiting or perform moxibustion.

This is only a brief explanation of treatment methods; in fact there are ninety-eight different methods f treatment for imbalances in the three nyes-pas. If the physician applies full concentration and effort he will be able to pull the patient safely from the swamp of illness.

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Unveiling the Divine Art: Journey into the Making of Thangkas

A Thangka is a traditional Tibetan Buddhist painting that usually depicts a Buddhist Deity (Buddha or Bodhisattva), a scene, or a mandala. These paintings are considered important paraphernalia in Buddhist rituals. They are used to teach the life of the Buddha, various lamas, and Bodhisattvas to the monastic students, and are also useful in visualizing the deity while meditating. One of the most important subjects of thangkas is the Bhavacakra (the wheel of life) which depicts the Art of Enlightenment. It is believed that Thangka paintings were developed over the centuries from the murals, of which only a few can be seen in the Ajanta caves in India and the Mogao caves in Gansu Province, Tibet. Thangkas are painted on cotton or silk applique and are usually small in size. The artist of these paintings is highly trained and has a proper understanding of Buddhist philosophy, knowledge, and background to create a realistic and bona fide painting.

The process of making a thangka begins with stitching a loosely woven cotton fabric onto a wooden frame. Traditionally, the canvas was prepared by coating it with gesso, chalk, and base pigment.

After this, the outline of the form of the deity is sketched with a pencil or charcoal onto the canvas using iconographic grids. The drawing process is followed in accordance with strict guidelines laid out in Buddhist scriptures. The systematic grid helps the artist to make a geometrical and professional painting. When the drawing of the figures is finalized and adjusted, it is then outlined with black ink.

Earlier, a special paint of different colors was made by mixing powdered forms of organic (vegetable) and mineral pigments in a water-soluble adhesive. Nowadays, artists use acrylic paints instead. The colors are now applied to the sketch using the wet and dry brush techniques. One of the characteristic features of a thangka is the use of vibrant colors such as red, blue, black, green, yellow, etc.

In the final step, pure gold is coated over some parts of the thangka to increase its beauty. Due to this beautification, thangkas are much more expensive and also stand out from other ordinary paintings.

Thangka paintings are generally kept unrolled when not on display on the wall. They also come with a frame, a silken cover in front, and a textile backing to protect the painting from getting damaged. Because Thangkas are delicate in nature, they are recommended to be kept in places with no excess moisture and where there is not much exposure to sunlight. This makes them last a long time without their colors fading away. Painting a thangka is an elaborate and complex process and requires excellent skills. A skilled artist can take up to 6 months to complete a detailed thangka painting. In earlier times, thangka painters were lamas that spent many years on Buddhist studies before they painted.