Tendzin Chodrag

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Tendzin Chödrag ( Tibetan : bstan 'dzin chos grags ; also: Tenzin Chödrak , Tenzin Choedrak ; * 1922 ; † April 6, 2001 in Dharmshala ) was a Tibetan doctor and author .

Life

Youth and education

Tendzin Chödrag grew up in poor conditions as a half-orphan with his father and a stepmother. From a young age he had a desire to become a doctor.

The first few years he spent in a monastery were tough. The novices were often beaten for violations of discipline or failure to fulfill their tasks.

Since he did not give up his goal of becoming a doctor, Tendzin Chödrag set out as a teenager to Lhasa to find a way to attend the monastic medical school "Mentsikhang" (tib .: sman .) Founded by the 13th Dalai Lama in 1916 rtsis khang ) to be included. His project initially failed for financial reasons, but with the support of relatives he finally managed to find the financial means to be accepted into the Mentsikhang.

The time of his training in the Mentsikhang from 1940 onwards was also characterized by high demands on discipline and perseverance. The monks themselves were responsible for the great demand for medicinal plants that the Mentsikhang needed. The procurement of those plants that can only be found in the higher elevations of the highlands of Tibet turned out to be particularly difficult . For the poorly equipped monks on such expeditions there was a risk of injuries , frostbite , blindness or altitude sickness .

In 1944 Tendzin became Chödrag Menzin and was now allowed to manufacture medicines himself in the presence of a doctor. Between 1950 and 1952 he learned the traditional methods of detoxifying mercury and was instructed in the manufacture of the "jewel pills" used in Tibetan medicine. At this time he was also allowed to start treating patients himself before graduating in 1952.

When the mother of the 14th Dalai Lama Dekyi Tshering (1900–1981) fell ill, Tendzin Chödrag, who had earned a good reputation as a doctor, was called to help and was able to treat her with success. In 1956 he became one of four personal physicians of the Dalai Lama and received the title "Lhamenpa" (Tib .: lha sman pa ).

Captivity and Exile

After the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India in the course of the Tibet uprising in 1959, Tendzin Chödrag was arrested. As a person from the immediate environment of the Dalai Lama, now referred to as a counter-revolutionary feudal ruler, he was viewed with particular suspicion , who up to that time had hardly heard of Mao Zedong . He was tortured if he was supposed to admit his mistakes in "class struggle meetings " ( Thamzing ) and be re-educated through work .

Between 1959 and 1976 Tendzin Chödrag was a political prisoner of the People's Republic of China . He was first taken to Laogai Jiuzhen north of Lanzhou , and later transferred back to Lhasa to Drapchi Prison. It was not until 13 years after his arrest, in 1972, that he was formally sentenced to 17 years imprisonment as an upper-class intellectual who was associated with the former Tibetan government and imprisoned in Sangyib Prison , also in Lhasa, where he worked under the most severe conditions in a quarry . A year later, he was consulted by a Chinese prison doctor who had learned about his medical skills about a personal ailment. He was able to help him and as a result was assigned to work in the prison hospital.

After his release in 1976, Tendzin Chödrag practiced as a doctor again and also received a small salary for his work in the prison hospital. On the Tibetan side he was suspected of collaborating with the Chinese , but on the Chinese side he was still considered an enemy of the people .

Through the mediation of Lobsang Samten (* 1932) - an older brother of the 14th Dalai Lama, who at that time was staying in Tibet due to diplomatic relations between the Tibetan government in exile and the Chinese government - Tendzin Chödrag received permission to visit Dharmshala in 1979 to be allowed. In 1980 he was again the personal physician of the 14th Dalai Lama and did not return to Tibet.

In the Mentsikhang in Dharmshala, founded in 1961 by the 14th Dalai Lama, Tendzin Chödrag became Chief Medical Officer , as well as head and later advisor of the Department of Pharmacy . In 1984 he spoke at the International Conference on Tibetan Medicine in Venice. In 1987 he traveled to New York, Washington DC, Phoenix and San Francisco to explore the possibilities of a program to scientifically study the effects of Tibetan medicine in the treatment of cancer, hepatitis, arthritis and AIDS. Further trips to France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Russia, Mongolia, Japan, Mexico, the USA and South Asia followed. After the Chernobyl disaster , he was also consulted about treating radiation sick people.

Tendzin Chodrag died on April 6, 2001.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ tibet.de: Book reviews: The Palace of the Rainbow ( Memento of the original from March 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tibet.de
  2. ↑ openyourlife.de: The eight valuable pills
  3. ↑ subliminal.org/tibet: Victim of Chinese Torture in Tibet " Excerpt of Statement by Dr. Tenzin Choedrak before the House International Relations Committee May 8, 1996
  4. ↑ tibet.ca: Personal Physician To His Holiness The Dalai Lama Passes Away
  5. ↑ tibet.ca: Letter to the WTN Editors from Tenzin Wangdak of Men-Tsee-Khang , World Tibet News ( en: World Tibet News )
personal data
SURNAME Tendzin Chodrag
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tendzin Choedrak
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tibetan personal physician to the 14th Dalai Lama
DATE OF BIRTH 1922
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 2001
Place of death Dharmshala