Category Archives: Ayurveda

Healing according to Dharma

“Lose ten pounds in one day!!!”

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Tashi Nyima

So, you gained a few pounds during the Holidays… Like clockwork, the diet season is once again upon us. We are bound to see many ‘new and improved’ schemes added to the already bloated list of useless regimens accumulated during … Continue reading →

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Healing Principles

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Tashi Nyima

Every external manifestation of disease is a marker for a previous corresponding internal state. In every case, stabilization of the mind, removal of obstacles to the flow of energy (prana), and harmonization of the elemental modes of nature are necessary … Continue reading →

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Final Disposition

Posted on August 4, 2012 by Tashi Nyima

Invasive procedures performed on the physical body after death distress the departed mindstream, unnecessarily postpone final disposition, and may affect family members negatively. For these reasons, autopsies should be avoided unless required by law, and dissection of cadavers is also … Continue reading →

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Voluntary Death

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Tashi Nyima

Suicide postpones and intensifies negative karma, and Dharma ethics do not condone deliberately causing the death of a person at his/her request by any lethal means. Dharma practitioners may describe —but never enthusiastically recommend— voluntary fasting unto death and powa … Continue reading →

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Removal of Life Support

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Tashi Nyima

Removal of life support systems is justified when an assistive device is the major impediment to the natural death process in the terminally ill. The Dharma also allows for suspension of hydration and nourishment at the request of the terminally … Continue reading →

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Respect for Awareness

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Tashi Nyima

Interventions that make the dying person overly dependent on professional caregivers, drugs (whether natural or synthetic), aggressive therapies, and assistive devices, and those that contaminate awareness, instill false hope, and direct the person’s attention away from spiritual cultivation, should be … Continue reading →

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‘Heroic’ Measures

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Tashi Nyima

Dharma practitioners accept the natural rhythm of life and death, and do not engage in extraordinary measures to prolong life (in fact, suffering) at great effort and expense. These ‘heroic’ measures include those actions that cause ecological and societal harm … Continue reading →

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Pain killers at death

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Tashi Nyima

Palliative measures can and should be employed whenever possible to mitigate pain and suffering, but the clouding of consciousness through the use of excessive anodyne (pain-killing) therapy should be avoided, as a conscious exit from this plane is beneficial for … Continue reading →

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End of Life Process

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Tashi Nyima

The death process follows a general pattern, although some stages can be abbreviated to the point of imperceptibility, while others can be extended considerably:   1.    In the terminally ill, prana (life force) becomes debilitated and begins to withdraw from the … Continue reading →

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No contraindication

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Tashi Nyima

Among salutary means, the subtle are simplest and most effective. When we are mindful of each limb or organ as we exercise it, we bring the mind’s attention, and the prana that bears it, to every part.   What we call … Continue reading →

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