Blo bzang Chos grags´ Anatomy

In my previous project, which focussed on the murals at the Labrang Monastery Medical College, (FWF P 22965- G21), it was proven that a text by BLO BZANG CHOS GRAGS on Unfolded Trees of the Explanatory Tantra (2005) formed their written basis. His contribution listed in the chapter on anatomy is remarkable and goes far beyond the descriptions in the Bshad rgyud or ist commentaries Vaidurya sngon po and Mes po`i zhal lung. The aim of the following project planed in this proposal is to examine the new anatomical achievements in BLO BZANG CHOS GRAGS` text, and to analyse differences between this and the Bshad rgyud commentaries. It is also to explore the related circumstances surrounding the development of Tibetan macroscopical anatomy in the seventeenth century, with a major focus on looking into the reasons why the personal physician of the Fifth Dalai Lama wanted to find and count the bones and ligaments mentioned in classical texts through human dissection? BLO BZANG CHOS GRAGS` examination of the locomotor system will be compared to other anatomical systems circulating in Asia at that time; such as the anatomy of Andreas VESALIUS which was translated into Chinese in the seventeenth century during the Jesuit Mission. Their medical impact on China and Tibet has to be examined in this context. Anatomical descriptions in BLO BZANG CHOS GRAGS` text which seem to be a new achievements but can be traced back to older commentaries shall be examined. Which of these findings are based on research through human corpse dissection in Tibet and which are based on older influences from India, the Orient or the East Mediterranean? In the scope of these questions a symposium will be held in order to discuss the historical sources of various medical systems with specialists in the relevant scientific fields. Another aim of this proposed project is the examination of anatomical vocabulary. All terms revealed will be entered into a database and all terms will be made available on the Internet. In order to show the development of the intrinsic meaning of these terms, they will be examined, contextualised and compared with depicted Tibetan medical terminology shown in modern Tibetan anatomical atlases as well as in classical thangkas. This comparison is crucial, not only to developing our understanding of the history and context of this knowledge but also in terms of the safety of applied Tibetan medicine. As a result this interdisciplinary research will not only give new insights into seventeenth century Tibetan anatomical terminology but also into the history of Asian anatomy.

In this part-time research project, the anatomical achievements of the Fifth Dalai Lama's personal doctor were analyzed. A physician and eye surgeon, Blo bzang Chos grags (Lobsang Chodrag) wrote a text at the end of the seventeenth century which was designed to help medical students of the time to learn the subjects of teaching. The content presented in this text is remarkable in that it critically questions traditional views described in classical texts. Rather unusual for a man at that time in Tibet, Lobsang Chodrag carried out corpse sections in order to examine the traditional data with his own eyes. Particularly in the field of ??the locomotor system, his findings diverge from earlier specifications. In my project, the chapter on anatomy was tabulated and the relevant data were compared with information found in earlier and later commentaries, which typically refer to the so-called "Four Tantras". This is the central textbook of Tibetan medicine, the exact date of which is not yet determined but which is certainly older than the commentaries. These in turn often go far beyond the basic text and clarify it from different perspectives. Contrary to most other East Asian medical traditions such as Chinese medicine, the Tibetan art of healing has an astonishingly high degree of anatomical terms for internal structures of the body.In order to investigate the significance of the anatomical contents established by the project against the backdrop of the general history of medicine from different perspectives, experts from Germany, England, Korea, Austria, Russia and the United States were invited to a symposium which took place in Vienna in June 2014. Several articles have been published in a special issue of Curare, a journal of medical anthropology. The topic seems to have resonated in the specialist community. Subsequent to the venue I received invitations to various international conferences and had the opportunity to give a number of guest lectures in China (Beijing and Lhasa) as well as at numerous European universities.An important part of the project was to establish a database for Tibetan medical terms. Not only anatomical but also pharmacological terms were taken into account and identified on the basis of thirty different sources. This has documented both the variety of Tibetan medical terminology and the meaning of the terms as found in the literature so far. The Tibetan terms were provided with scientific names, trivial names and more general statements, all specifically tagged for the purpose. These data are already fully available on the Internet and may be used for the preparation of a printed version. The database, which is continuously expanding, was created in cooperation with the Berlin State Library and is made accessible to the public via "CrossAsia", a virtual subject library for Asian studies (web address: https://crossasia.org/service/crossasia-lab/tibetische-medizin-termini ).