Tashi Lumpo Monastery is today considered to be one of the largest and most important monasteries in Tibet. Constructed in the 15th Century by the first Panchen Lama, who unable to finish the work left his close disciple Panchen Zangpo Tashi the commitment of completing the project, the monastery is now home to approximately 800 monks and is the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas (the second highest religious authority in Tibet). It is in this monastery, thanks to the dedication and commitment of the monks, that many of the oldest and most sacred religious traditions were saved from destruction and preserved for the future generations.
However, it is not only the religious teachings that are preserved intact and kept alive in this monastery, the unique traditional medical and healing systems of the Himalayas have also survived and are thriving under the guardianship of the medical centre created within the walls of the monastery.
It is within the monastic structure that the poorest and most needy of Shigatse, and the surrounding villages in Central Tibet, find some repose from both their mental and physical suffering. Along with the first pilgrims of the day also arrive the weak and sick, knowing that here they will find for a symbolic cost the care, understanding and treatment that is unaffordable to them in other establishments. In fact, the monk-doctors in this clinic receive on average 150 patients a day.
Trained principally in traditional Tibetan medicine the monk-doctors have also received basic training in allopathic diagnosis, treatment and medicine. Here, these two systems that may seem opposite to us work together, complementing and supporting each other. As well as pulse diagnosis the doctors have on hand equipment to measure blood pressure and an electro-cardiograph machine. Antibiotics are as much a regular feature in the pharmacy as acupuncture needles and the traditional compositions of herbs, flowers and minerals. Referrals to specialists are as common as referrals to lamas and monks who carry out spiritual and healing practices that a person may require. In Tashi Lumpo Clinic the body and mind of the patient is treated as one, and both are given equal importance.
It was in fact after visiting all the other available medical establishments in Shigatse that a representative from the Don Gnocchi Foundation, understanding the true value of the Clinic, requested that Tashi Lhumpo Monastery act as a base for the proposed project for people with disabilities. Thanks to the long and sincere relationships that Lama Gangchen has developed over years of humanitarian aid work in Tibet, he was able to quickly gain the support not only of Tashi Lumpo Monastery but also of the local and regional government officials.
Regardless of their many other commitments, to both the local community and spiritual life of the Monastery, Doctor Tsepun (head of Tashi Lumpo Clinic) and all the other monk-doctors staffing the clinic, accepted whole heartedly to participate in the project. At the very beginning of the project, as well as offering a piece of land to house the new vocational training facilities, the Monastery also released space in the clinic to create a gymnasium, for physiotherapy treatment, an office and workshop. Monk-doctors were also nominated to follow the training, in the art of physiotherapy, carried out by a member of staff from the Don Gnocchi Foundation.
Now, two years later, when the Clinic closes its doors to the general public it opens its arms to welcome a number of disabled children who are fortunate enough to receive physiotherapy treatment from dedicated people who have seen the benefits and accepted new techniques in order to offer the best possible solution to their small patients.