The Knowledge of Healing is an illuminating examination of Tibetan medicine, which has developed over two millennia into an amazingly successful method of healing.

Unlike Western medicine, based on biochemistry, Tibetan medical thinking (which is strongly rooted in Buddhist principles) views the human body as governed by an elaborately organized system of energies flowing through a network of channels. In the 12th century, the Gyeshi (Knowledge of Healing) was created, a text codifying this intricate system. After flourishing for centuries, most Tibetan medical schools were destroyed by the Chinese in the 1950's and 1960's, and many physicians were executed.

Speaking from exile, the Dalai Lama argues for the value of Tibetan medicine, while his personal physician Dr. Tenzin Choedrak describes the principles behind it. We follow physicians in India and Siberia treating patients for a variety of ailments from paralysis to heart disease, and meet researchers in Israel and Switzerland to see how clinical studies are testing the effectiveness of Tibetan medicine.

Overcoming Anger Through Patience
The Dalai Lama speaks of positive and negative desire and how through training we can reduce anger and hatred and increase love and forgiveness. Negative emotions are harmful not only for you but for the society and for the future of the whole world. He speaks of the possibility for change and transformation and of how in the changing of the society, first must come the change of the individual. The Dalai Lama talks of the many methods for sustaining a calm mind and tells how in his own difficult circumstances he does so.

Knowledge of Healing, DVD, 89 minutes, $29.95