Tibetan and Unani system of medicine

Tibetan system of medicine

Ayurveda has contributed a great deal in enriching Tibetan medicine. The fundamental concepts of the Tibetan medical system, like the Ayurveda and the Siddha systems, also revolve around the five basic elements and the four humours. A unique feature of Tibetan medicine is its ideological structure of medical theory and practice, which is shown in the form of an Allegorical Tree. Its integrated Buddhist approach to the relationship between the mind and the body believes that the three inborn mental poisons of attachment, anger and delusion are the cause of all suffering. Other distinctive features of this system are pulse diagnosis and urine analysis. Although pulse reading is also a feature of the Ayurveda and the Siddha systems, the Tibetans have developed this to a highly sophisticated level. Pulse diagnosis is in fact, considered the most reliable diagnostic method for ailments.


Unani system of medicine

Unani is an alternative system of healing. The basic principles of this system are very similar to that of Ayurveda. This system is based on the belief that there are four humours present in the human body – blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile – and that every person has a unique humoural constitution, which represents his healthy state. The temperaments of people, whether sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric or melancholic, depend on the preponderance of one of these humours in their body. This system also believes that the four humours also possess temperaments. Blood is believed to be hot and moist, phlegm is cold and moist, yellow bile is hot and dry, and black bile is cold and dry.

Any change in the person’s natural humoural constitution affects his health. There is a power of self preservation or defence mechanism, which tries to restore the disturbances of the body within limits prescribed by the constitution of the individual.

The Unani system also believes that the body is made up of seven components: Arkan or elements, Mizaj or temperament, Aklath or humour, Aaza or organs, Arawh or spirits, Quo or faculties, and Afal or functions. Each of these has a close relation to the state of health of an individual. A physician takes into account all these factors before diagnosing and then prescribes the treatment.