By Julia Lambert

For the Medicine Buddha Healing Center

Getting secret treatment from a Tibetan doctor started Yangbum Gyal on his path in Tibetan medicine.

Gyal, a doctor of Tibetan medicine who treats patients at the Medicine Buddha Healing Center in Spring Green three days a week, had laryngitis as a child.

“I noticed that when people in the village were sick, they went to him,” he said.   “I had a sore throat, went to him, and he cured my problem.”

The doctor, the only one in the village of about 100 people, was not supposed to practice Tibetan medicine due to the Chinese government’s takeover of Tibet in the 1950s and its repression of Tibetan Buddhism.  The Dalai Lama escaped Tibet in the late 1950s on a trek through the Himalayan Mountains, as did Gyal about three decades later.

“I was so astonished to see the result of Tibetan medicine,” he said about the doctor’s successful treatment of health problems more serious than sore throats.  “I decided to learn Tibetan medicine.”

Gyal, who was born in Amdo, in northeastern Tibet, grew up on a 10-acre farm.  His parents, two brothers and two sisters grew maize, barley, potatoes and basic food staples.  The family used a yak hybrid for plowing, pulling and for transportation.  The all-purpose animal is used for hauling grains to a mill too.

Although the agricultural products mainly fed the family, residents of the small community were very close-knit and shared work and play.

“They are very good people, honest people, and they helped each other,” he said.

For example, during harvest time, families rotated to different farms.

“One day, 15 to 20 neighbors come to help,” Gyal said.  “The next day, we help them.”

Parties, weddings, festivals and religious ceremonies also draw crowds.

“For parties, weddings, we have soup and food,” he said.  “For religious purposes, we pray in the temple.  We pray for the well-being of all in the village and all sentient beings.”

Villagers go to a larger village, Rongwo, to see movies and partake of other activities in the city of about 10,000 population.

When Gyal was 16, in 1985, he’d completed middle school and took a state exam with about 500 other students.

“Only 80 students were chosen for training,”  he said about the honor of he and others attaining high scores, which meant he could train to become a teacher or a medical professional and would be guaranteed a job after completing training.  Others could attend high school and maybe college but were not guaranteed teaching and medical jobs.

Gyal chose medical, referred to as hygiene, which is similar to medical school in the United States. He went to the school that taught courses in Tibetan, some students went to courses taught in Chinese.

“I liked the classes,” he said, adding that the spiritual aspect of Tibetan medicine was banned.  “Under the communists, professors were not allowed to talk about Buddhism, so teachers skipped the Buddhist part.”

After high school, Gyal went to a Buddhist monk to learn the spiritual aspects of Tibetan medicine. In 1988, he finished medical school and was assigned a job in a clinic.

“At 19, I wanted to continue study but was told I have to stay in the area for five years and have to sign an agreement,” he said.  “So I left to go to India.  There was no freedom of speech, of what you would like to do.”

Gyal heard about the Dalai’s Lama’s projects in Dharamsala, India, where he was granted asylum in 1959 after fleeing Lhasa, Tibet due to threats from the Chinese government to him and other Tibetan Buddhists.  The Dalai Lama, like Gyal, faced a long, cold trek over the mountains.

Gyal and five other Tibetans went south to the Nepal border and tried to cross.

“We were caught by Nepali police and sent back to China,”  he said.  “We were questioned, threatened.  We had no papers.”

Because a lot of snow had fallen, the police couldn’t take the prisoners back to China and told them to walk back.

“So we tried again,” Gyal said.  “But there was snow up to our chests. It was too cold, too much snow and we had to sleep in a cliff, so we headed back to the border.”

Gyal said he and the others were told by police that if they were caught again, they would go to prison and be tortured.  Four of his companions went back to their Tibetan villages.  Gyal and a friend tried a third time in December of 1988.

“We got to Kathmandu walking,” he said.  “There was a (Tibetan refugee) center there to arrange going to India.”

Once in Dharamsala, India, Gyal was able to get an audience with the Dalai Lama.

“His Holiness asked my name and what I wanted to do, and I told him that what I want to do is continue my medical studies,” he said.  The Dalai Lama agreed.  From 1989 to 1992 at the Tibetan Medical & Astrological Institute, he studied eight years, learning on  science, Buddhism and conversational English. The institute was established by the Dalai Lama.  While there, Gyal translated One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch and Doll House.

“I like learning anything and studied anatomy, physiology, surgery, diet, trauma and other medical topics,” he said.  He was resident doctor at the institute’s branch clinics in Nepal and India. From 1992 to 1998, he was a chief medical officer in Nepal and India.

After that, Gyal was a research fellow at the institute and created massage oils, creams and lotions and researched herbs for the products and directions to formulate products.

In 2000, Gyal headed to the United States.  He was a professor at the University of Indiana at Bloomington.  He taught three courses in Tibetan language and culture. 

“The Dalai Lama’s brother lives there, and there is a Tibetan study program there,” he said.  In 2002, he went back to India, where he worked again for the institute. He did research for and wrote a dietary book, Tibetan Medical Dietary Book: Vol. I,  the Potency and Preparation of Vegetables.  The book discusses Tibetan herbs and plants used for medicine and illnesses they treat.  Many of the plants grow in the United States.

In 2004, Gyal went back to Indiana University and taught language and a layman’s course in Tibetan medicine.  He also had a small clinic in Bloomington and saw patients in Columbus and Cincinnati.  He did presentations and workshops about Tibetan medicine too.

“One thing is that the holistic approach to healthcare means focusing the mind, body and spirit,” he said about the 2,500-year-old Tibetan tradition.  “You focus on the root cause, and you treat the root, not the symptoms.”

Gyal said illnesses exist at the root even when symptoms disappear or lessen.

“It’s like a stove, and the water is boiling (like an illness), and if you kill the fire, that’s the root, but if you add cold water to the boiling water, it’s like you’re treating the symptoms,” he said, adding that Tibetan medical techniques often enhance Western medicine and are used before and after surgeries, for example.

“Western medicine is best on pathology, after the disease,” he said about surgery and other non-prevention modalities. “Tibetan medicine is best on pathology, but  plus physiology – before the disease.”

Herbs and other plants are used along with dietary and lifestyle changes such as not eating vinegar-based food or quitting smoking.

It doesn’t matter if the patient is non-Buddhist.

“Regardless of religion, we are human beings, made of blood,” he said.  “We are what we think, what we do, what we eat.”

Tibetan pills, made of various herbs and plants, used to be made by hand, but machines are used now.

“It’s a blend of modern techniques and ancient wisdom,” he said, adding that some unique medicines, such as precious pills, are specially blessed by the Dalai Lama. Gyal keeps in touch with the institute and is U.S. coordinator for the Central Council of Tibetan Medicine of Dharamsala, India.

Gyal met his wife in India, and they have two daughters.

When he’s not seeing patients or teaching about Tibetan medicine, health and culture, he enjoys reading.  He likes intellectual and academic publications and enjoys biographies and history, especially related to leaders.

“I play basketball, watch basketball, like to cook, especially Tibetan food,” he said. “I like movies, especially dramas such as Schindler’s List and others based on real stories,” he said.  Documentaries are also a favorite.

Gyal will normally be at the Medicine Buddha Healing Center on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays to see patients.  People may call 608-583-4241 or email mbhc2@mhtc.net for information. The web site is at:  http://medicinebuddhahealing.org.