By NIKKI MACDONALD
Lama Samten is better placed than most to talk about dealing with stress.
When he was just 10 he fled Tibet with his family after the Chinese invasion. Sickness and the stress of the move claimed 10 of Lama Samten’s 13 family members and by the age of 13, he was entirely alone.
Now a teacher at Karma Choeling Buddhist Monastery in Auckland, Lama Samten visited Blenheim over the weekend with Tibetan medicine specialist Dr Nyima Tsering Lhunkhang, as part of a national tour talking about meditation and health.
Meditation is a key element of the Buddhist philosophy, designed to calm the mind and put the body back in balance, Lama Samten said.
“According to Tibetan medicine, 70 percent of illness comes from the mind. If the mind is calm and gentle, the physical becomes calm and gentle. If the mind is disturbed the body is also disturbed.
“Meditation means looking inward. The answers to disease don’t come from outside but within.”
Formal meditation – sitting quietly for an hour or more, focusing on breathing and concentration – is only one of many forms, Lama Samten explained.
“Meditation means wherever you are and whatever you are doing you need to be more content and calm.
“You have to do 100 things but you do one thing and then go on to the next thing, not worry about everything at once.”
Tibetan people believe the body is made up of the four elements – earth, fire, air and water.
Tibetan medicine, which has been around since about 3700BC, is based around keeping those elements in balance, Lama Samten said.
Dr Nyima is based in a Tibetan refugee community in New Delhi, India. He obtained his doctorate in Tibetan medicine under Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and now tours internationally talking about his field.
Speaking through a translator, he explained that the most important difference between Tibetan and western medicine is that he takes a holistic approach – looking at the cause rather than just the cure of disease.
“If you want to stop water boiling, in the western medicine you put in cold water as a temporary measure. But the fire is still on and it will slowly boil again. Tibetan medicine is about how to reduce the fire.”
The Tibetan doctor gives three types of advice – exercises, diet and herbal medicines, Dr Nyima said.
Part of the doctor’s role is to gather special herbs from the Himalayas and prepare them into infusions, powder or tablets, depending on the strength required.
Lama Samten gave a public talk about health and meditation on Saturday, while Dr Nyima held consultations. The pair have been touring the South Island, from Twizel to Nelson and will now visit the North Island.
