In Search of the Medicine Buddha: A Himalayan Journey

Nepal is a land of beauty and hardship, disease and ancient healing knowledge, poverty and transcendent spiritual wisdom. In March of 1987, David Crow journeyed to this land of stark contrasts, leaving behind his successful acupuncture and herb clinic in San Francisco in search of medical teachings from the Tibetan Buddhist and Ayurvedic traditions. Within a week of his arrival in Kathmandu, he met Dr. Ngawang Chopel, an elderly Lama who had escaped to Nepal after years of imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Communist Chinese in Tibet. Over the next decade, Crow studied the art and science of Tibetan and Ayurvedic medicine with Dr. Chopel and other teachers, including the first woman Ayurvedic MD in Nepal, and the King's alchemist, who showed Crow how to transform mercury--a dangerous poison in its natural state--into a potent medicine used by generations of Ayurvedic physicians. While living in Nepal, Crow resumed his clinical practice and, using traditional botanical medicines, treated a diverse clientele--including beggars from the street and high abbots of monasteries--in Kathmandu and surrounding mountain villages. A colorful and captivating story of adventure, exploration, and self-discovery, In Search of the Medicine Buddha transports readers into the life and work of David Crow and his teachers of medicine. It is a journey into the wonders of Himalayan herbology and spirituality, written in lyrical prose that interweaves valuable medical teachings with insights into the Buddhist and Hindu cultures of Nepal. Appealing to those interested in exotic places and genuine mystical encounters, this account of one man's search for authentic lineages of Himalayan medicine evokes the beauty and wonder of a faraway land, and reveals a hidden world of powerful and increasingly important healing knowledge.