Book Description

PREFACE During the last fifty years of Men-Tsee-Khang since its establishment, a number of different debates were held related to medicine and astroscience and of course, a lot of new knowledge, new experience and new approach are gained in the process of the debates. In 2013, holding the International Conference on Body, Mind and Life was the first time of its kind in the history of Men-Tsee-Khang. Thus, we called the conference as the First Conference on Body Mind and Life. The conference is directly or indirectly connected to improve the general altruistic manners and mental healthcare services and also related to social stability and environmental security. Thus, we can say that this is the starting point for future healthcare works. In this conference, we invited various experts from different perspectives such as Bon scholar from the field of ancient Tibetan indigenous Astro-science of Bon Tradition on identification of body, mind and life, experts from Tibetan Buddhist perspective, healthcare professionals from Tibetan medical and astro-science, psychologists from modern science and has engaged in dialogue and exchanging views in the conference for three days. While we overview the convivial conference through its events with an evaluation, due to the different cultural background and different intellectual understanding of the subject by the respective experts, there was not yet a unified identification of body, mind and life in general and the mind in particular. However, there were some general agreements in the conference; 1) that the wellness of the body is dependent on the well being of mental health, 2) that there is a deep relationship between the body and mind, 3) that there is a need to put importance on the mental health in the present world, that the psychological explanation is the most extensive and profound in Tibetan Buddhism and 4) finally it was unanimously concluded that the cultural exchange on issues like the way of the counseling on the discovery of favourable and unfavourable conditions for better mental health, practices and realization in the individual as well as social daily life are of great significance. Above all, all the conference participants had a great audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and presented the purpose and program of the conference to His Holiness, wherein His Holiness blessed us with an insightful advice on importance of the cultural exchange and research studies. Likewise, those presentations, panel discussions and question & answer for the three day conference were manually transcribed, translated and edited and made available in both Tibetan and English by publishing in books. I earnestly look forward that these works would extensively benefit the readers in gaining more insight from these different cultures in general and better understanding of the identification, causes, conditions and interrelationship of the body, mind and life, the causes and conditions of their disorder and their remedies in particular. Body, Mind and Life Department, Men-Tsee-Khang, 11 April 2014