Journey To Cure (continue)
August 4, 2007 — The beginning of mass Lajin practice
When I got up this morning, so many patients were already waiting, there was no space left inside and outside the courtyard. My interpreter Yangzhen informed me that all queue numbers for today had been distributed, and priority was given to those coming from afar. There were more people than the previous days, and more patients with eye and ear problems. Luckily I could count on the
Tulku’s help now with the eye and ear patients, since he had learned to treat these diseases with acupuncture, and the good results made him increasingly confident. The variety of diseases we had to deal with was increasing as well, unfortunately some of them were beyond us, such as the case with a wheelchair patient who came from far away, his lower part of the body was paralyzed and distorted, moreover, his brain was so damaged that he was unconscious and not able to communicate at all.
The best thing today was that we adopted Lajin invented by Dr. Zhu on a large scale. Introducing it to the Tibetans was tough in the beginning, because they wanted to be tended to by my very hands. Finally I managed to convince two young men to take the lead, who tried and found their pain in the knees vanished immediately after. In order to encourage more people to try, the Tulku and I took photos with them as recognition of the first ever Tibetans who did
Lajin.
The first female who did it was a lady over 70 years old, whose pain in the waist and legs disappeared completely after the practice. Their successes set good examples, and I could subsequently put out three short tables next to corridor pillars for people to lie down and do Lajin. All of those who had pain in their hips, knees, legs or backs were asked to practice Lajin prior to any further treatment by me, and as a reward, those who were done with it earlier could jump the queue to come inside for acupuncture and bone-setting treatments.
Some did not take it seriously and hurried through the process just so that they could come in earlier. If there was no obvious improvement after Lajin, it would be clear to me that they did not do it properly, in such cases, I had to be patient yet strict, and make them do it again. Since I was working in the room as well, my interpreter and I had to run back and forth between the room and the corridor.
I showed them how to press the leg, how to assist each other, and told them to observe the facial expressions during Lajin, i.e. a painful face meant effectiveness. Gradually, people learned to do it properly and the efficacy kept improving. Lajin had a sweeping effect on all existing pains in the back, legs and hips, ideal as a preliminary therapy prior to more precise bone-setting or acupuncture treatment, as it eased much, if not all, of the pain, making the later treatments more efficient and effective. For instance, there were two middle-aged Tibetan women whose pain in their back and legs disappeared after Lajin, but not the pain in their shoulders; I simply took their fingers and twitched the arm and shoulders till they felt a current of numbness surging toward the head — the pain was immediately eliminated, even without the use of acupuncture.
More than twenty patients who had pain in the back, hip or knees did Lajin under my supervision, and the therapeutic effect was obvious — the pain either disappeared, or diminished to a considerable extent. Seeing the benefit with their own eyes, people became enthusiastic about the practice, and began to make good use of the queuing time, either doing Lajin themselves or assisting others, while observing and learning from each other; even those lazy ones or those afraid of hurting themselves were now genuinely practicing it.
Now that I only had to treat the remaining pain after Lajin, my efficiency improved greatly; besides, the Tulku and my interpreter Zhilin Yangzhong had both learned to treat common pains with acupuncture; with their help, I was working at a much faster pace, and the atmosphere became more active and lively.
August 5, 2007 — Health problems and medicare scarcity in remote areas
When I came back from a bath in the hot spring this evening, a big crowd was waiting in the monastery for me, so I started working right away. The Tulku distributed the queue numbers himself, and then joined me in giving acupuncture treatment. He had become very experienced, especially in treating knee or leg pains; however, even with his help, there were just too many patients out there that kept us both busier than ever.
Like yesterday, I put out low tables at the corridor outside for the queuing Tibetans to do Lajin. The number of tables had increased from three to six, on top of each lay a patient, who had one leg straight up against the pole, while someone next to him helped to press his legs. If I noticed that some did not seem to benefit from the practice, I would make them repeat it, with me pressing the leg myself, and show those around how painful the facial expression would be when it was done properly. In the end, they realized that their symptoms had gone with the painful exercise.
It really made my day when I witnessed the immediate effects of Lajin — it not only cured the pain in the torso and limbs, but also eased headaches and pains in internal organs. A woman who had pain in her knees and legs had it eliminated after Lajin, but the pain in her back, chest and stomach remained. There were clicking sounds in her thoracic and lumbar vertebrae when I performed bone-setting on her, and afterwards all her remaining pain disappeared; in another case, I used bone-setting on a middle-aged man with acute stomach pain that radiated from his abdomen to the back. After four popping sounds on his thoracic vertebrae, the pain went away completely. By now I was convinced that pain in the organs such as stomach and liver must be closely related to the corresponding spots on the vertebrae.
It occurred to me that since Lajin could easily be practiced at home or in the office, it should be introduced to the world so that more people could benefit from it, especially the increasing number of office workers who suffer from neck and back pains. Companies could consider installing “Lajin benches” in the office, as
part of welfare service for employees.
I also discovered some sad truths today. I saw that some Tibetans had spent the night sleeping along the corridor of the monastery, in order to get treated the next day. From this I guessed that the reason why so many Tibetans suffer from diseases such as arthritis might be because a majority of them are nomads used to sleeping out in the fields at night where damp and cold air gets into the body. Since there are hardly any medical services available at remote places in Tibet, people could not get treated when sick; instead, they have to rely on medicines such as painkillers or hormone pills, which they could buy without prescription. Monasteries with many lamas usually purchase boxes of painkillers so as to alleviate various pains. The overdose and/or misuse of these medicines induce a lot of diseases, such as distortion of bones. Deafness, which is a common illness here, is caused by misuse of hormone pills to treat colds. To make things worse, a lot of medicines that are sold to the locals here are either counterfeit or of poor quality, which would not be able to find a buyer elsewhere.
Many illnesses can actually be treated without any medication, including the many eye diseases I found among my patients, such as cataract, presbyopia, inflamed eyes or tearing eyes, because they could all be cured with acupuncture. However, due to poverty and lack of acupuncturists in the area, people either let it worsen, or travel afar to a hospital to get infusions. They seemed to always get infusions in hospital, hardly receiving any other treatments. Sadly, they seemed to always get sicker after the infusions.
August 6, 2007 — Time to say goodbye
Today was my last day in this monastery.
I had a sore throat when I got up in the morning, so I decided to give myself an acupuncture treatment. A few locals were watching through the window, smiling at me while pointing curiously at the needle I inserted into my own hand. I sat down at the edge of my bed, took a sip of tea, and smiled to them. I had gotten used to being watched like an animal in the zoo, as it had been like this every morning. The locals came to the courtyard to wait for me to get up, and then watched through the window how I got up, got dressed, and left the room to the outhouse. They were obviously very interested in every little movement of their “divine healer”, getting a glass of water, brushing teeth, pouring out water, washing face, and so on. I was like a performer on the stage, fully aware of my audience yet not finding the situation bizarre.
Before adopting Lajin, I had mostly used acupuncture in treatment, which achieved very good results. Therefore, many Tibetans became obsessed with the needle, to the extent that even though their pains vanished after Lajin, they refused to go home without getting needled. At first I was confused by such a reaction ― why would anybody be addicted to a needle? The Tulku saw it and came over to explain that this was psychological, because the Tibetans believed that a treatment by the very hands of the “divine healer” would produce some sort of superior effect. Enlightened by his insight, I immediately gave every one of the eager Tibetans a prick of the needle before seeing them happily off.
It was time to leave. By noon I finished with the last patient and quickly had my lunch. The Tulku gave me a bronze statue of the “Buddha of Longevity” as a present, pointing out that this Buddha and the practice of medicine both bring people longevity. I jokingly asked, “Why don’t you give me a statue of the ‘Medicine Buddha’, which is even closer to what I do”? He smiled and agreed that I was right, and promised that he would teach me the sutra of “Medicine Buddha” and more, as soon as we were back to Qamdo.
From the car, I waved farewell to the lamas and local Tibetans gathered at the monastery. I was now heading to the mountains in the direction of Qamdo.
August 4, 2007 — The beginning of mass Lajin practice
When I got up this morning, so many patients were already waiting, there was no space left inside and outside the courtyard. My interpreter Yangzhen informed me that all queue numbers for today had been distributed, and priority was given to those coming from afar. There were more people than the previous days, and more patients with eye and ear problems. Luckily I could count on the
Tulku’s help now with the eye and ear patients, since he had learned to treat these diseases with acupuncture, and the good results made him increasingly confident. The variety of diseases we had to deal with was increasing as well, unfortunately some of them were beyond us, such as the case with a wheelchair patient who came from far away, his lower part of the body was paralyzed and distorted, moreover, his brain was so damaged that he was unconscious and not able to communicate at all.
The best thing today was that we adopted Lajin invented by Dr. Zhu on a large scale. Introducing it to the Tibetans was tough in the beginning, because they wanted to be tended to by my very hands. Finally I managed to convince two young men to take the lead, who tried and found their pain in the knees vanished immediately after. In order to encourage more people to try, the Tulku and I took photos with them as recognition of the first ever Tibetans who did
Lajin.
The first female who did it was a lady over 70 years old, whose pain in the waist and legs disappeared completely after the practice. Their successes set good examples, and I could subsequently put out three short tables next to corridor pillars for people to lie down and do Lajin. All of those who had pain in their hips, knees, legs or backs were asked to practice Lajin prior to any further treatment by me, and as a reward, those who were done with it earlier could jump the queue to come inside for acupuncture and bone-setting treatments.
Some did not take it seriously and hurried through the process just so that they could come in earlier. If there was no obvious improvement after Lajin, it would be clear to me that they did not do it properly, in such cases, I had to be patient yet strict, and make them do it again. Since I was working in the room as well, my interpreter and I had to run back and forth between the room and the corridor.
I showed them how to press the leg, how to assist each other, and told them to observe the facial expressions during Lajin, i.e. a painful face meant effectiveness. Gradually, people learned to do it properly and the efficacy kept improving. Lajin had a sweeping effect on all existing pains in the back, legs and hips, ideal as a preliminary therapy prior to more precise bone-setting or acupuncture treatment, as it eased much, if not all, of the pain, making the later treatments more efficient and effective. For instance, there were two middle-aged Tibetan women whose pain in their back and legs disappeared after Lajin, but not the pain in their shoulders; I simply took their fingers and twitched the arm and shoulders till they felt a current of numbness surging toward the head — the pain was immediately eliminated, even without the use of acupuncture.
More than twenty patients who had pain in the back, hip or knees did Lajin under my supervision, and the therapeutic effect was obvious — the pain either disappeared, or diminished to a considerable extent. Seeing the benefit with their own eyes, people became enthusiastic about the practice, and began to make good use of the queuing time, either doing Lajin themselves or assisting others, while observing and learning from each other; even those lazy ones or those afraid of hurting themselves were now genuinely practicing it.
Now that I only had to treat the remaining pain after Lajin, my efficiency improved greatly; besides, the Tulku and my interpreter Zhilin Yangzhong had both learned to treat common pains with acupuncture; with their help, I was working at a much faster pace, and the atmosphere became more active and lively.
August 5, 2007 — Health problems and medicare scarcity in remote areas
When I came back from a bath in the hot spring this evening, a big crowd was waiting in the monastery for me, so I started working right away. The Tulku distributed the queue numbers himself, and then joined me in giving acupuncture treatment. He had become very experienced, especially in treating knee or leg pains; however, even with his help, there were just too many patients out there that kept us both busier than ever.
Like yesterday, I put out low tables at the corridor outside for the queuing Tibetans to do Lajin. The number of tables had increased from three to six, on top of each lay a patient, who had one leg straight up against the pole, while someone next to him helped to press his legs. If I noticed that some did not seem to benefit from the practice, I would make them repeat it, with me pressing the leg myself, and show those around how painful the facial expression would be when it was done properly. In the end, they realized that their symptoms had gone with the painful exercise.
It really made my day when I witnessed the immediate effects of Lajin — it not only cured the pain in the torso and limbs, but also eased headaches and pains in internal organs. A woman who had pain in her knees and legs had it eliminated after Lajin, but the pain in her back, chest and stomach remained. There were clicking sounds in her thoracic and lumbar vertebrae when I performed bone-setting on her, and afterwards all her remaining pain disappeared; in another case, I used bone-setting on a middle-aged man with acute stomach pain that radiated from his abdomen to the back. After four popping sounds on his thoracic vertebrae, the pain went away completely. By now I was convinced that pain in the organs such as stomach and liver must be closely related to the corresponding spots on the vertebrae.
It occurred to me that since Lajin could easily be practiced at home or in the office, it should be introduced to the world so that more people could benefit from it, especially the increasing number of office workers who suffer from neck and back pains. Companies could consider installing “Lajin benches” in the office, as
part of welfare service for employees.
I also discovered some sad truths today. I saw that some Tibetans had spent the night sleeping along the corridor of the monastery, in order to get treated the next day. From this I guessed that the reason why so many Tibetans suffer from diseases such as arthritis might be because a majority of them are nomads used to sleeping out in the fields at night where damp and cold air gets into the body. Since there are hardly any medical services available at remote places in Tibet, people could not get treated when sick; instead, they have to rely on medicines such as painkillers or hormone pills, which they could buy without prescription. Monasteries with many lamas usually purchase boxes of painkillers so as to alleviate various pains. The overdose and/or misuse of these medicines induce a lot of diseases, such as distortion of bones. Deafness, which is a common illness here, is caused by misuse of hormone pills to treat colds. To make things worse, a lot of medicines that are sold to the locals here are either counterfeit or of poor quality, which would not be able to find a buyer elsewhere.
Many illnesses can actually be treated without any medication, including the many eye diseases I found among my patients, such as cataract, presbyopia, inflamed eyes or tearing eyes, because they could all be cured with acupuncture. However, due to poverty and lack of acupuncturists in the area, people either let it worsen, or travel afar to a hospital to get infusions. They seemed to always get infusions in hospital, hardly receiving any other treatments. Sadly, they seemed to always get sicker after the infusions.
August 6, 2007 — Time to say goodbye
Today was my last day in this monastery.
I had a sore throat when I got up in the morning, so I decided to give myself an acupuncture treatment. A few locals were watching through the window, smiling at me while pointing curiously at the needle I inserted into my own hand. I sat down at the edge of my bed, took a sip of tea, and smiled to them. I had gotten used to being watched like an animal in the zoo, as it had been like this every morning. The locals came to the courtyard to wait for me to get up, and then watched through the window how I got up, got dressed, and left the room to the outhouse. They were obviously very interested in every little movement of their “divine healer”, getting a glass of water, brushing teeth, pouring out water, washing face, and so on. I was like a performer on the stage, fully aware of my audience yet not finding the situation bizarre.
Before adopting Lajin, I had mostly used acupuncture in treatment, which achieved very good results. Therefore, many Tibetans became obsessed with the needle, to the extent that even though their pains vanished after Lajin, they refused to go home without getting needled. At first I was confused by such a reaction ― why would anybody be addicted to a needle? The Tulku saw it and came over to explain that this was psychological, because the Tibetans believed that a treatment by the very hands of the “divine healer” would produce some sort of superior effect. Enlightened by his insight, I immediately gave every one of the eager Tibetans a prick of the needle before seeing them happily off.
It was time to leave. By noon I finished with the last patient and quickly had my lunch. The Tulku gave me a bronze statue of the “Buddha of Longevity” as a present, pointing out that this Buddha and the practice of medicine both bring people longevity. I jokingly asked, “Why don’t you give me a statue of the ‘Medicine Buddha’, which is even closer to what I do”? He smiled and agreed that I was right, and promised that he would teach me the sutra of “Medicine Buddha” and more, as soon as we were back to Qamdo.
From the car, I waved farewell to the lamas and local Tibetans gathered at the monastery. I was now heading to the mountains in the direction of Qamdo.
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