30 July 2006 * Memories of Dege: Tibetan Doctor

While in Dege, we met a renowned Tibetan doctor at the Dege Tibetan Medical Institute (I’ve forgotten his name).

The doctor sat at his desk like a king upon his throne, a broad smile on his face as he felt the right and left wrists of his patients, carefully analyzing their pulses and asking several diagnostic questions. Then he would get out a prescription form booklet, interleave triplicate carbons, and write out a series of prescriptions.



Tara received prescriptions for her neck, back, and sciatica pains; a mélange of 3 or 4 Tibetan medicines to be taken in different combinations morning, noon, and night. To get them filled, we went to the dispensary, where the clerk used an abacus to total our bill.