CONFERENCE PROGRAM
The program will comprise several distinct elements from the academic to the experiential, interwoven with overlapping themes. Participants will include Tibetan medical practitioners from diverse ethnic backgrounds and traditions; biomedical scientists and clinicians; researchers and policy makers.
The meeting is subdivided and organized to attract a broad audience: physicians and allied health workers; pharmaceutical and other health related organizations; alternative medicine practitioners; environmentalists, researchers, scholars and students; media; lay public; and peace-builders concerned with the preservation of cultural, environmental and scientific heritage.
Throughout the duration of the conference there will be film and slide presentations, the creation of a medicine sand mandala, information booths, book sales and demonstrations of the practice and art of Tibetan medicine.
DAY ONE -- PLENARY SESSION (Sat. Nov. 7, 1998)
Location: Constitution Hall, Washington, DC
Morning
Plenary Session: His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be the
key-note speaker. Presentations and introductions will be made by guest speakers. This
session will serve to delineate and introduce the basic elements of Tibetan medicine, its
development and history.
Afternoon
Talk by H.H. the Dalai Lama on the spiritual basis of Tibetan medicine and the
Medicine Buddha.
H.H. the Dalai Lama will participate in a question and answer session with prominent physicians and scholars.
DAYS TWO AND THREE -- BREAKOUT SESSIONS (Sun. Nov. 8 and Mon. Nov.9, 1998)
Location: Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill Hotel, Capitol Hill, Washington DC
Section 1 : Traditional Tibetan Medicine : Its Status and Practice
Current status of education and training of Tibetan doctors – legal and regulatory issues affecting practice in US and Europe – basic principles of health and disease in Tibetan medicine - humoral theory – diagnosis and types of therapeutic treatment.
Program Chairs: Christopher Beyrer, MD, Johns Hopkins
University
Dr. Dickie Paldon Nyerongsha, San Francisco,CA
Philip Weber, MD, Boulder, CO
Grand rounds
Tibetan and western doctors will examine patients and present cases from their different perspectives. Suggested specialties: psychiatry, gynecology, rheumatology and oncology.Workshops
Experiential workshops for beginners, intermediate, and advanced practitioners will be held on the Tibetan practice of: urine analysis, pulse diagnosis, acupressure, acupuncture and massage.
Section 2 : Current Clinical and Scientific Research
Research reports on the activity of multi-compound Tibetan herbal formulas–jewel pills – application of system theory to understanding Tibetan medicine. Indications include: irritable bowel syndrome, migraine, intermittent claudication, breast cancer, and arthritis.
Program Chair: Herbert Schwabl, PhD, PADMA, Inc.
Section 3 : Methodology and Translation in Tibetan Medicine
Panels and round table discussions on the development
and history of Tibetan medicine; issues related to language, translation, terminology and
text; methodology and development of protocols; comparative analysis with other
Asian medical tradition.
Program Chairs: B.Alan.Wallace, PhD, UC - Santa
Barbara
Fernand Meyer, MD, PhD, CNRS - Paris
Kenneth G. Zysk, PhD, University of Copenhagen
Section 4 : Mind/ Body Relationship and Mental Health in Tibetan Medicine
Exploration of Buddhist concepts of health – maintaining the balance of mind and body; The biology of remembered wellness; the treatment of hostility; mindfulness for stress, pain and anxiety; meditation – heat yoga and local healing.
Program Chair: Herbert Benson, MD, Harvard Medical
School
Joseph Loizzo, MD, Columbia University
Dr. Lobsang Rabgay, UCLA
Death and Dying
Treating life-threatening illnesses – how the Tibetan medical tradition contributes to our understanding of the death and dying processes; children and dying; dealing with pain and bereavement; ancient Tibetan practices of meditation, mantra and visualization.
Section 5: Tibet: Environmental Issues of Traditional Medical Systems
Threats to the Tibetan plateau – poaching and endangered species protection – Buddhist approaches to conservation and reforestation – Tibetan pharmacology – the medicinal plants of the Himalayas – legal and intellectual property rights issues.
Program Chair: John Ackerly, International Campaign for Tibet
Section 6 : The Spiritual Teachings of the Medicine Buddha
Medicine Buddha practice – use of prayer – meditation – visualization – mantras – mental and behavioral techniques for health and healing – role of compassion in healing – discussion of the Three Poisons – Buddhist ethics.
Program Chair: Jeremy R. Geffen, MD, Geffen
Cancer Center and Research Institute.
Jamphel Lhundup, Conservancy for Tibetan Art & Culture