中国范儿 73 藏医药浴法：雪域高原的神奇药浴

Dubbedas the world's Third Pole, the Tibetan Plateau of China witnesses imposing snow mountains stretching to the distant white skyline. Underneath these giant andfrigid snow mountains are rich geothermal energy resources. It is a placedotted by hot springs, boiling springs, geysers, and hot streams, which notonly warm up the local Tibetans but also engendered the unique tradition ofTibetan Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpa.

In theTibetan language, the word "Lum" indicates the traditional knowledgeand practices of bathing in natural hot springs, herbal water or steam toadjust the balance of the body and mind, ensure the health, and treat illness.

As anatural and pollution-free external therapy, Tibetan Lum medicinal bathing hasa long history. Especially popular during the period of Merging Religious andSecular Rule in Tibet, it was originally a prevalent way among variousreligious leaders and Tibetan Buddhist Lamas to keep good health. Four Medical Classics, the mostauthoritative Tibetan medicine book, contains some information on medicinalbathing. In particular, it recorded the way for making Wuwei Ganlu(Five-Flavored Dew), the main recipe of medicinal bathing. According to the traditionalTibetan medicine theories, people are instructed to collect 100-plus herbswhich fall within five categories like Yin, Yang, Water, Earth, and Grass.Five-Flavored Dew laid the groundwork for the development of medicinal bathingrecipes in various parts of the Tibetan region.

Beforereceiving a Tibetan medicinal bathing therapy, patients should first getdiagnosed by a doctor, who would select different combinations of herbs basedon the conditions of the patients. All the herbs will have to get soaked,fermented and specially processed before being put into use. The patient soaksthe whole or one part of his body in the herb-filled hot water to remove badelements in the body and cure the disease. Another way is the so-called BindingBathing Therapy, according to which the doctor will place all the herbs into acloth bag and bind it with the affected parts of the body. With similar effectsas the conventional medicinal bathing therapy, it merely applies to patientswhose illnesses are confined to certain parts of their body. For patients withdiseases that affect the whole body, conventional medicinal bathing therapy isstill recommended.

A lotof local farmers and herdsmen, as the indigenous inhabitants of the TibetanPlateau, tend to suffer from diseases like rheumatism and arthritis. Tibetanmedicinal bathing therapy is effective in countering these diseases.

As onecomponent of Sowa Rigpa, Tibetan medicinal bathing therapy is popular in theTibetan autonomous region as well as regions in Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, andYunnanprovinces inhabited by Tibetans. It is playing a significant role inensuring the health of local Tibetans and preventing certain diseases.

OnNovember 28, 2018, UNESCO inscribed China’s Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpaon the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.Inthe foreseeable future, this magical therapy from theTibetan Plateau is set to bring health and miracles for the people around theworld.

来源：中国网

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