Common Compounds Associated With Bitter Taste In Tibetan Medicine: Medicinal Properties And Characteristics

From the latter transmission of Tibetan medicine, the r Gyud b Zhi, or Four Medical Tantras, endowed with the common and unique characteristics of both the ancient and common eras, is a great reliable and foundational chest of knowledge. In accordance with the great passage of time – over three thousand years-- it has cultivated humankind’s lifespan, body and good fortune, and extensively developed the doctor. At this time, as the gateway of research opens domestically and internationally for countries throughout the world, it is possible to consider whether it is merely meaningless praise and interest in novelty, or if all will welcome, value and honor the contributions of Tibetan medicine.The great predecessors of each of the historical eras of the healing practices of the Land of Snows, through their outer, inner and secret accomplishments, have painstakingly created great works regarding general and specific methods of medical treatment with many commentaries in the Tibetan medicinal chemistry field that continue to benefit future generations. In this vein, this study investigates and summarizes the critical points of over 32 such commentaries authored primarily by Tibetan physicians themselves. This study focuses on the commentaries which are most clearly written and easily understood, and which classify and summarize the key results and developments in Tibetan medicinal chemistry. Moreover, this study explicates the resultant identity and meaning of the concepts of body, illness and antidote, which have provided root principles for the foundational terms in Tibetan medicine due to the explication of relationships among these terms. Drawing from these relationships and key concepts, the principles of taste(Tib. ro), potency(Tib. nus) and post-digestive taste(Tib. zhu rjes) provide the primary theoretical foundation for Tibetan medicine. The great scholars of Tibetan medicine from earlier times until present day have had many distinct methods of recognition and classification using these three principles of medicinal chemistry. Despite such differing approaches, this study draws upon the means that provide the most beneficial research and development in Tibetan medicine in accordance with contemporary times for classification and analysis. Thus, this study uses Tibetan medicinal chemistry logic from these diverse scriptural authorities to earnestly explain theoretical foundations of taste, potency, and post-digestive taste as necessary roots of Tibetan medical theory.Objectives. Regarding the investigation of the theoretical foundations, I have investigated the Tibetan medical principles of taste, potency, and post-digestive taste as roots of cultural transmission. Because there is a significant amount of discordant assertions from the earlier and later commentaries on Tibetan medicinal compound science regarding the bitter taste from the six tastes, this study seeks to clarify and definitively decide the outcome of these varying perspectives. Thus, this study is distinguished by focusing on the bitter specimens of herbaceous medical plants in the materia medica.Methods. Using analytical research methods, this study seeks to determine what the relationship is between taste and the products produced by the compounds as explicated by the Tibetan medical tradition. Additionally, these days, when research in Tibetan medicine is conducted, the theoretical foundations of taste, potency and post-digestive taste is not applied to the clinical context. Medicine compounding processes and the identity of potency is not considered from the perspective of the respective theoretical roots, and, like uncovering the numerical basis of the medicinal qualities(Tib. sman gyi yon tan), this study focuses on the definitive modes of existence of medicinal compound potencies from the basis of those knowledgeable in this field so as to contribute to theoretical understandings and clinical applications.Results. This study has summarized and classified the common potencies, and elaboration of the Tibetan medicinal chemistry field, by elucidating the main points historical records and analyses on the over 33 commentaries on medicinal chemistry written by Tibetan authors. If we take, for example, the roots of theoretical foundations for the medicinal chemistries of both the traditional Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic medical systems in comparison with Tibetan five element theory, the Tibetan system’s own ideology of object apprehension is explained from the characteristics and formation pathways of taste, potency, strength, quality and so forth. For example, bitter taste is not formed form the elements of space and wind, but rather from water and wind. Likewise, the way in which the tastes of bitter, hot and astringent become the post-digestive taste of bitter, is from the identity potency, which stems from an understanding of its function and an unfabricated paradigm of its primary taste aspects. Though the seven critical branches of herbal medicine(Tib. sngo); the triad of gathering, processing and storage of medicinal compounds; formula substrates; proper administration methods; identification of medicinal specimens; and so forth, have the possibility of contending with medicinal potency, if one were to include these aspects with greater accordance to medicinal chemistry in general, a profoundly stable foundation for the development of modern Tibetan medicinal chemistry would be formed. This study has newly categorized over 72 condensed subcategories of medicine compounds from analyzing primary products formed by bitter compounds in terms of the four primary nutrients of alkaloid, saponin, carbohydrate and phenol class compounds.The results of this study demonstrate that a unique characteristic of Tibetan medicinal chemistry is the identity potency, post-digestive taste and so forth of the medicine compounds. The post-digestive taste is not merely accomplished through the enumeration of the taste potency, but instead that it arises from the function of the identity potency. For example, the study has shown the method in which the tastes bitter, spicy and astringent become the post-digestive taste bitter and salty, astringent and sweet become what is called a “heavy potency” and so forth. I have shown that research in Tibetan medicine must necessarily base its approach of medicine compound analysis on the theoretical roots of taste, potency and post-digestive taste. Based on the methods in the field of chemistry, I have found that in researching the compounds associated with taste, one must not primarily analyze the products formed by the compounds but, instead, on the identity of the compound. Regarding the enumeration of the medicinal qualities, I have shown that, from an understanding of the medicinal potencies, one is unable to clearly show the complete enumeration of the compounded medicinal potencies through the associated enumeration of the compounded medicinal potencies.