The tantric management of "life-wind illness" (srog rlung nad) in the Tibetan tradition : an interplay of Vajrayāna ideation and healing

Abstract

Given that spirituality occupies an important position in the Tibetan socio-cultural context, the interplay of religion and medicine in Tibetan healing plays a fascinating role in the perception of health and illness, and offers a radically different perspective on human functioning than that offered by the prevailing materialist-biomedical model. In the Tibetan medical tradition, religious paradigms are enacted in conjunction with diet, behaviour, and medicinal treatments. This study examines a set of important Tibetan texts that prescribe tantric practices for the healing of “life-wind illness” (srog rlung nad) under Vajrayāna Buddhist influence. Upon examining these texts, the life-wind illness and its healing were perceived within the framework of subtle body teachings, a constructed “body” which forms the basis of much Tibetan spirituality. On the Tibetan account, this synergistic mode of healing is considered effective and valuable. Even so, the efficacy of its religious aspect remains controversial and poorly understood in the context of modern biomedicine. A key challenge facing modern healthcare professionals in recent times is to bridge the gap between the biomedical and the religious aspects of healing, as healing involving religious rituals may seem to be illusory and “unscientific” to those with a scientific bent. Nonetheless, the engagement of the subtle body concept and religious healing are evident in many cultures and in everyday life there are many applications of these concepts. To delegitimise this approach of healing by labelling it as “non-scientific” is to ignore its valuable contributions in the treatment process. In this thesis, I argue that this hindrance is not due to concepts of scientific validity, but the way we interpret what “science” is, and how knowledge is created and enacted within a specific cultural milieu.