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38     EASTERN HORIZON  |  FACE TO FACE








           In Buddhism, there are the four   and have a good quality of life. There   treatments – external therapies. I
           noble truths. We can very well    are many more similarities between   believe in today’s modern world,
           translate it onto someone with    the two approaches.               we don’t invest enough in diet and
           mental illness. The first noble truth                               lifestyle. If we did, there would be
           is the truth of suffering. If you don’t   For more information on Sowa   much less chronic disorders and
           accept this first noble truth, then   Rigpa institute and their trainings,   less need of expensive medical
           there will be no spiritual path and   you can visit the website: https://  treatments with all their side
           no progress. I have many patients   www.sowarigpainstitute.org/     effects. Tibetan medicine teaches us
           who deny their illness and therefore                                to trust our intuition again, listen
           don’t look for help. They are forced   What aspects of traditional   to our inner voice which has been
           by a judge to come to consult me.   Tibetan medicine would you      silenced by all the noise of our
           Well, the prognosis of those patients   say are applicable for people in   business and activities. We need to
           is much worse than those who      today’s modern world?             slow down, look more inward in
           recognize they have a problem and                                   ourselves, listen to this inner voice,
           seek help. I can really see a difference   The four tantra’s of the Gyu   and follow her advice on what’s best
           in quality of life between those two   Shi stress those four aspects of   for our own health, be it mental or
           groups, the latter group having much   treatment (and in this order of   physical.  EH
           more chance to recover with time   importance): diet – lifestyle – herbal




           Woman of Wisdom –




           The Story of Yeshe Tsogyal


           By Dr Jue Liang



                                    Jue Liang is an Assistant   Buddhists. She is currently working on a second
                                    Professor in the Religion   project titled Who Is a Buddhist Feminist: Theorizing
                                    Department of Denison     Gender and Religion in Contemporary Tibet. It is a
                                    University. She is a      study on the history, discourse, and social effects of the
                                    scholar of Tibetan        khenmo program, a gender-equality initiative that
                                    Buddhist literature,      has been taking place at Tibetan Buddhist institutions
                                    history, and culture. She   in China for the past three decades. Jue is also an
                                    received her Ph.D. in     active participant in discussions on Buddhism in both
           Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. Her   academic and public forums.
           dissertation, Conceiving the Mother of Tibet: The Life,
           Lives, and Afterlife of the Buddhist Saint Yeshe Tsogyel,   In the following interview with Benny Liow, she
           examines the literary tradition surrounding the    explained her interests in Buddhism, her choice of
           matron saint of Tibet, Yeshe Tsogyel, in the fourteenth   Yeshe Tsogyal for her doctoral study, her popularity
           and fifteenth centuries. It also presents the blossoming   in the Nyingma school, why she finds Yeshe Tsogyal
           of this literary tradition in tandem with the efforts   inspiring, and the relevance of this seminal female
           to trace their religious pedigree and define what   figure for the modern woman today.
           counts as authentic Buddhism by Nyingma Tibetan
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