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Story · Ajahn Brahm

The Tibetan doctor's pulse diagnosis

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Building a House of Peace | Ajahn Brahm | 13-04-2007

1 min read

Content note: health claim (anecdotal); second-hand, details uncertain

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

And I remember reading an article in a was a Buddhist magazine some years ago where they had a traditional Tibetan doctor who had only just came over from Tibet as a refugee, but he was one of the famous doctors in Tibet. He couldn't speak any English or that he could even read. And they took him into a hospital in the US just to test him out. They showed him patients and asked him to diagnose what was wrong with them. And I think he tested the pulses like in Chinese medicine. I think I don't is it nine pulses? I think I forget how many years is now. He checked all these pulses and then straight away he said that guy's got a blockage around his heart region. He had congested arteries around his heart. Was going to do a bypass soon. That was one example. I remember this guy got it straight away. But the way he interpreted it was like blockages in energy flows. The doctors in the US using the scan showed there was a blocked arteries close to his heart. Exactly the same.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 26:55 (to 28:13)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

Ajahn Brahm remembers reading of a Tibetan doctor with no English who felt a patient's pulses and found the same heart blockage the scans had shown. Take the details lightly; the point is about relaxing. Keep your doctor, and get out of your body's way too. You can't force healing. Rest and let go.

In brief (our summary)

As Ajahn Brahm recalls from a Buddhist magazine, a newly arrived Tibetan refugee doctor with no English is tested in a US hospital; reading a patient's pulses, he says there's a blockage around the heart — matching the scans showing blocked arteries awaiting bypass.

Teaching point

Illness can be understood as blocked energy flow; relaxation releases blockages.

When this story may help

  • health worries
  • heart disease

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Building a House of Peace | Ajahn Brahm | 13-04-2007 · 2007-04-17 · ▶ watch from 26:55 to 28:13 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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