Sonam Choda

Om Swasti! The Triple Gem, an ocean of refuge, By blessing with the greatest of holy auspicious receptacle, A great sovereign with by name Jigme Khesar, May he live timeless and his merits flourish. By the powerful grace of the Victorious One Showers the blessed ambrosial rain incessantly, The Great Dharma King, the sovereign of all, lives endless. May his stock of merits flourish and multiply. As the Protector Ngawang Namyel’s consecration Of the Vajra of Three Secret undeceives, The Great Dharma King, the sovereign of all, lives endless. May his stock of merits flourish and multiply. May the Buddha’s Dharma, the source of blessings and happiness, flourish, The vows of the king, the ministers and the people be pure and deep, And the merits of prosperity reach the highest. May this land be an ornament of the world.   * Originally, it was written in choekey by one Lam. I was told to translate it. I hope the meanings were not lost in the tra...

The World health Organization defines mental health as "a state of well being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community." It also announced that half the population of this world is mentally ill.  According to Sowa Rigpa, As long as we are subject to human condition of ignorance, we are subject to illness. There is but once cause for all illness, and this is the ignorance due not understanding the meaning of no-self. Though there are numerous causes for mental illness, i have categorized in to five causes viz. karma, psychological stress, poison, humoral imbalance and demon. Karma is the negative actions done by body and mind in the past lives and reap their reward in present life as a disturbed mental state that has no explainable cause. Since the cause of the disease is spiritual, the medicine should be s...

This is an abstract i have submitted for the 8th International Conference on Traditional Asian Medicine organised by The International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine (IASTAM) which will be held in september 2013.   All living beings need food to live. Inappropriate food will cause diseases and at the same time, food is the first medication against diseases. Like the universe and human body, food is made of five elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space. Balanced diet should contain all the five elements. Although all plants contain these five elements, the varying ratios found in different plants make the six tastes: Sweet, Salty, Sour, Bitter, Pungent and Astringent. A different taste has different functions in our body. As we have different nature of body constitution: Wind, Bile and Phlegm, the requirement for food varies from individual to individual. Deficiency or an excess of a particular taste in food results in an imbalance of the three...