brown titles spine & front with (front) Tibetan words - 'rlun', 'mkhris pa' and 'bad kan' drawn by the Tibetan artist Sherab Palden Beru; illustrated by two pages of b/w. block-prints from the book 'rGyud bzi'; illustrated large three-page foldout (Root A - Arrangement; Root B - Diagnosis; Root C - Therapy) tipped-in at rear; English language edition translated from the German by Fredericka M. Houser; preface by His Holiness the Dalai Lama; "Little has been known of Tibetan medicine in the West until the present day. In 'the forbidden land', visited by few westerners, medicine was taught in special medical schools and practiced chiefly by monks, who had to undergo a very long training. These medical schools were always closed to Western visitors. Since one could not meet Tibetan doctors, it was impossible to study Tibetan medicine, even though at the turn of the century a handful of Russian scholars did do some work on Tibetan medical treatises. Without oral instruction by competent Tibetan doctors, this unfamiliar area of medicine remains inaccessible even today. It was the custom in Tibet for the pupil to be initiated orally by the teacher, and it is still true that without such explanation a Western doctor simply cannot grasp the subject. The strict secrecy surrounding Tibetan medicine in the past has now been relaxed owing to political events. In 1959, the Dalai Lama was forced to leave his country. Some eighty thousand Tibetans joined him in flight, amongst them twelve doctors with whom we can now make contact in their countries of asylum. When the headquarters of the Dalai Lama were moved to the north Indian Himalayas (to Dharmsala, a small bazaar town in the State of Himachal Pradesh), a medical school was set up there; for the first time it became possible to meet Tibetan doctors."; the author, a specialist for internal medicine, & trained also in neurology, psychiatry and tropical medicine has made a study of Tibetan medicine with the help of the Dalai Lama's personal physician, interpreters, doctors & scholars culminating in the publication of this excellent work; a clean & unmarked copy.