Some Aspects of Religious Spirituality in Medicine An Investigation Into the Dialogue between Biomedicine and Tibetan Medicine via Christianity and Buddhism

Abstract

Among all the disciplines in which local medicine and spirituality are still intricately entangled, there exists one, namely Tibetan medicine. These medical knowledge and practices are also known as Sowa Rigpa gso ba rig pa, which can literally translate to the “science of healing” or the “Tibetan knowledge of the field of healing”. It is based on two essential elements: local medicine and Buddhism. These two coexist together and are both pivotal to treating the patient’s imbalance or illness. Inspired by Tibetan medical tradition, this thesis proposes research on some aspects concerning the connection between medicine and religion. Despite the abundant scientific literature available about Sowa Rigpa and other medicines and religions such as Ayurvedic medicine and Indian Buddhism, there are no studies investigating the relationship between biomedicine and Sowa Rigpa that took into consideration the medical dimension and religious contexts of each practice, i.e. Buddhism and Christianity. This experimental and interdisciplinary thesis aims at investigating the dialogue between these two coexisting worlds in order to highlight the contribution of spirituality as a complementary and supportive element to accept and confront an illness. During hundreds of years, Christianity as well as Buddhism had a strong influence on the development of medicine. Although this is no longer the case, it is yet possible for biomedicine and Christianity to keep interacting together, as demonstrated by Tibetan medicine and Buddhism. Therefore, I ultimately decided to examine the connection between biomedicine and religion in the Trompone complex in Moncrivello, in the province of Vercelli (in Piedmont), which brings together both the medical facilities and the Catholic Sanctuary devoted to “Beata Vergine del Trompone”. Apart from standard pharmacological treatments, patients can benefit from religious services and spiritual support. Most of the investigative work with patients, health and social professionals and spiritual caregivers was conducted in this medical center. By adopting an anthropological approach, this essay attempted to contribute to the dialogue between biomedicine and Sowa Rigpa via Christianity and Buddhism.