The Tibetan medical system asserts that the human body is formed from the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and space and that the elements of the body are distinguished as rlung (wind), mkhris pa (bile) and bad kan (phlegm). The changing relative strengths and proportions of the twenty characteristics of the three doṣas or energies, which are the potencies of the body elements will bring about changes in the body. If we look at this account more closely we can discern, for example, that the physical features of people vary from individual to individual. Their minds, too, vary in degrees of breadth and intelligence. There are also differences in the psychophysical traits of people corresponding to age and gender. Moreover there are variations in the hot and cold properties of individual beings. If we ask why the constitution and properties of our bodies and minds differ so much, the answer lies in the differences in the relative proportions of the potencies of the three energies at the time of the initial formation of the body. This is a basic concept of the traditional Tibetan medical system.

Dr. Namgyal studierte tibetische Medizin bei Dr. Tenzin Choedrak, dem Leibarzt S.H. Dalai Lamas am Men-Tsee-Khang Institut in Dharamsala. Seine zahlreichen Tätigkeiten umfassen u.a. die Erforschung tibetischer Heilpflanzen. Er führte auch vergleichende Studien zu westlichen und tibetischen Medizin-Systemen durch. Dr. Namgyal leitet heute das Choyang Tibetan Healing Trust in Mysore.