Tibetan Medicine: Background and Diagnosis

From Fundamentals of Tibetan Medicine:
"Tibetan medicine views health and disease holistically and holds that a human being is a composite whole of mind and body. Disorders are considered to be reflections of three basic afflictions, the Nyes-pa-gSum. The Buddhist view holds that everything within the universe is in a constant state of flux, that all phenomena are characterized by impermanence, and that their only permanent feature is impermanence.

It is this very impermanence of creation that causes each and every being, at one stage or another, to suffer. The Buddha traced the root of all suffering to the concept of ignorance, which gives rise to attachment, hatred, and delusion. These three 'mental poisons' give ruse to rLung, mKhris-pa, and Bad-kan disorders respectively. When the manifestation of these afflictive emotions is strong, they can influence the normal functions of Nyes-pa-gSum and therefore the human mind and body.

Nyes-pa refers to the body's principle energies, which also have the potential to cause affliction. Although they support our life, when disturbed they cause abnormal functioning of the bodily constituents, resulting in physical and mental suffering. rLung, mKhris-pa, and Bad-kan, the three principle energies of the body, are called the three Nyes-pas. These principle energies are directly linked with the Cosmo-physical elements of Air, Fire and Earth & Water respectively.

Diagnosis
Diagnosis in Tibetan medicine involves visual analysis (tongue color, texture & film; skin complexion; color/texture of the blood in sputum, vomit, urine & stool; nails; sputum; feces; physical structure; abnormalities on body and other general conditions), urinalysis (sedimentation, odor, color, steam, bubbles, surface layer, time of changes, mode of changes, post-change qualities), sphygmology (pulse reading), and interrogation."

Practicing pulse reading