Bookreview
By A.C. McKay
Jurgen Aschoff's new bibliography of Tibetan medicine is a remarkable resource for scholars, medical practitioners,
and students of the subject. It contains over 1,700 entries, listed alphabetically by author.
Interest in the use of Tibetan medicine has spread rapidly in the West during the decades following the Dalai Lama's
flight to India in 1959. But the high percentage of texts listed here which originate in Russia reflects the fact that
Tibetan medicine became popular in St. Petersburg in the latter part of the 19th century, with pioneering studies of
the subject by Peter Badmayev (1811-1923). While this is the first such bibliography in the English language (and
certainly the first to also be available on the internet!) the author identifies three previous such works originating
in Russia.
Given that Tibetan influence spread widely in South and Central Asia, references from India, Nepal, Mongolia,
Zhang-zhung, and the Russian Buriats are included. The policy of the author, a neurologist at the University of Ulm
with extensive experience of Tibet and its surrounding regions, is clearly all-inclusive. Several entries are of only
peripheral relevance to the subject, including general works on Tibet and travel writings which include references
to medical practices. Even the fake and the fanciful find a place in this book. Lobsang Rampa, Theodor Illion, and
Timothy Leary are all here, their lack of authority duly noted. As the works cited are all published in some form,
there is no mention of the records of British Medical Officers who practiced in Tibet during the first half of this
century. Their reports, preserved in the India Office, contain valuable statistical information on the frequency of
diseases and accidents in Tibet.
Both English and German are used for the annotations, a somewhat unsatisfactory system, but doubtless necessary
to broaden the market for what is a very specialised work, attractively produced. This is an essential reference work
for specialists.
The full text of the book can be read and searched in the internet through: http://www.uni-ulm.de/~jaschoff/
Dr Alex C.McKay is an affiliated fellow at the IIAS.