Blue Mountain Dharma Educational Film Series:

The Knowledge of Healing: a documentary on Tibetan Medicine

Directed by Franz Reichle

1997

The Knowledge of Healing is an illuminating examination of Tibetan medicine, which has developed over two millennia into an amazingly successful method of healing.

Unlike Western medicine, based on biochemistry, Tibetan medical thinking (which is strongly rooted in Buddhist principles) views the human body as governed by an elaborately organized system of energies flowing through a network of channels. In the 12th century, the Gyüshi (Knowledge of Healing) was created, a text codifying this intricate system. After flourishing for centuries, most Tibetan medical schools were destroyed by the Chinese in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and many physicians were executed.

Speaking from exile, the Dalai Lama argues for the value of Tibetan medicine, while his personal physician Dr. Tenzin Choedrak describes the principles behind it. We follow physicians in India and Siberia treating patients for a variety of ailments from paralysis to heart disease, and meet researchers in Israel and Switzerland to see how clinical studies are testing the effectiveness of Tibetan medicine.

Blue Mountain Dharma continues its educational film series, screening at 7 p.m. on the evening of Tuesday, July 22nd. (The doors open at 6:30 p.m.) The event is free, and it will be held at the Gryphon (213 West Main St., Charlottesville above Mudhouse Coffee on the historic Downtown Mall). All with an interest in Tibetan culture and Buddhism are welcome to attend. The film will be followed by a lively seminar-style discussion. 

The Blue Mountain Dharma Film Series (BMD Film Series) is a monthly educational seminar on Tibetan Buddhism. Meeting on the 3rd Tuesday of each month to view and discuss films illustrating Tibetan

Buddhist practice, the seminar features documentaries and biographical films focusing on the lives of notable Tibetan lineage.