Gangri Langtso (The college journal) 2018 [Men-Tsee-Khang-སྨན་རྩིས་ཁང་།]

Book excerpt: A Note from the Editor’s Desk Dear fellow students, It is a matter of immense joy for us to be able to bring out the XXIVth issue of our annual academic journal, Gangri Langtso. Gangri Langtso is a vitally important bilingual academic platform of our college for free and open intellectual discussions on various topics pertaining to Tibetan medicine, Tibetan Astro. Science and many other subjects. It is also a common platform where we all can share our ideas, thoughts, dreams, and memories in the form of any creative writings. As English editors of this esteemed magazine, we learned a lot of things from the experience and at the same time had quite a delightful and memorable year 2018. We hope the very same for you all;the most respected teachers, staffs, and fellow students. It was a privilege for us to go through your diligently written articles, translations, and poetry all of which are highly admirable and truly deserving much more appreciation. We have published every single article that was submitted to us as we genuinely consider that even one paragraph written on one’s own is so much worthwhile. The benefits of writing essays or analytical articles are so much more than we know. It is believed to be the best method of learning in not only remembering the textual information but also to stimulate our brain for critical and logical thinking which His Holiness the Dalai Lama always gives emphasis to. Why writing is the best method of learning? This is because we can write something on our own language if and only if we are convinced of the facts and we do not get convinced of facts by memorizations through repetition but by reasoning through analysis and logic. Questions may be asked such as, it will be very difficult to cultivate those qualities mentioned above anyway so, why those skills and qualities are absolutely essential for us as future doctors and TASPs? Our profession is deeply connected to wellbeing of other people having direct impacts on their lives. Unlike western doctors who rely on many laboratory tests and machines, our diagnoses and course of treatments have to be mainly based on our own critical thinking, experience, and intelligence. Hence, we must try to develop these skills as early as possible. Even a slight fault in the diagnosis of a patient can cause loss of trust in our medical system. Such is the magnitude of our responsibility. Moreover, if we allow ourselves to think in the lines of secure job from Men-tsee-khang and no need to bother beyond that. I am surely not the right person to point out these facts but every single theory of education, modern or traditional, scholars and research on education policy says learning or educating for job and future security is wrong. We blame modern education and modern medical practitioners with bombastic words like “commercialized” and “no ethics” but first even as students, we absolutely need to search within ourselves to make sure we are free from such blames. How does human brain works as far as learning is concerned? Exams are a necessity that we cannot do away with in today’s world but studying for exams alone does not guarantee knowledge and skills that are needed in real life. This is a challenge that every educators and students face today. When we study only for an exam, our brain naturally cannot commit those chunks of information into permanent memory because sub-consciously we wanted our brain only to retrieve those pieces of information in few weeks during the exam. So, majority of people cannot retain 70-80% of the information one month after the exam if it was not revised regularly. I would be more than glad if someone proved me that I am wrong. However, once we write an investigative article or a short piece on a certain topic in our own words, we don’t forget about it plus we gain additional perspectives on the topic. In my humble opinion, it is in our own advantage to study for life beyond exams. As a fellow student, I am optimistic that what I say here will be taken in a positive spirit. We are living in an interesting time when the world is making leaps and bounds in the field of health science. The diseases that were not curable before few decades are cured easily and preventive medicines even nullify the possibility of many diseases. The research in stem cells and biotechnology is developing in such a rate that now doctors are taking steps in detecting the possibility of certain diseases in one’s life through genetic information and correcting those faulty genes even before birth. The scientists, doctors and researchers spend their lifetimes solely for such breakthroughs needless to mention the billions of dollars spent. In such a rapidly changing time, we, as Sowa Rigpa students, all want to become great future healthcare providers. This is undisputedly a great aspiration and even a noble one. However, just noble thoughts and flowery words will mean nothing if it is not translated into concrete action and obtained results. While maintaining the integrity of our medical system, if we as Sowa Rigpa practitioners, were not able to keep up with the time, our goal of providing people the best possible health service may not be materialized. To highlight some of the things that happened in 2018 pertaining to Sowa Rigpa. In July, American chemistry society, USA published a paper claiming the mercury level in Tibetan medicine is causing an environmental hazard in Tibet and China. Unbiased analysts believe that it is nothing but another sham that Chinese government enacted because ACS clearly acknowledged that the funds came from the Chinese government and they merely published the paper on its website. Since China cannot possibly deny the destruction and havoc brought on the third pole of the world for economic gains, in an effort to mislead the world and wash their hands off, they tried to blame the destruction of Tibetan environment to Tibetan medicine. In the article itself, it does not talk about the thorough process that is strictly followed to detoxify or tame it before using it in Tibetan medicines. In another drama, they added the medicinal bath therapy of Lum, in UNESCO list as “world intangible cultural heritage”. They on one hand want Sowa Rigpa to take the blames of environmental destruction and on the other hand want to claim full patent rights on Sowa Rigpa as “China’s intellectual property”. What more is unreasonable than this? What can we do in the wake of such developments? Last but not the least, I would like to say thank you all who contributed your writings for this very important platform. Such journals are crucial part of educational curriculum. Particularly in the traditional system of education, three things are deemed indispensable namely, lecture, debate, and composition. Each one of them is equally important for a holistic quality education. We believe publishing this journal is serving as a small part in fulfilling the requirements of composition. In fact, I don’t need to emphasize more on the importance of learning through composition because Yuthok Yonten Gompo himself clearly stated in Gyueshi that, “the foundation to become a great physician is to excel in reading and composition”, in the 31st chapter of explanatory tantra. Finally, we thank Dr. Namdol Lhamo la for proofreading the articles and sharing her insights with us. We also thank you all very much for giving us this opportunity to serve as the English editor of this journal. Our very limited experience and lack of proper knowledge in English language were the greatest obstacles to work in our best abilities. Even so, we are very happy to put our best efforts in this endeavor for we consider it an honor to have your trust and support. May the merits of our collective efforts bear the fruits soon, to free sentient beings from suffering. We wish you all a very happy and meaningful academic year 2019. Yours Sincerely, Thupten Palden