About the Problem of Tibetan Medicine Studying. Foreword, re-edition, commentaries and appendix by <i>T.V. Ermakova</i> and <i>E.P. Ostrovskaya</i>
This is the republication of the article written by Mikhail Izrailevich Tubiansky (1893-1937), fellow of the Russian school of Buddhist studies, in collaboration with S. Yu. Belenky (1893-1973), the representative of Soviet Ministry of Public Health, in Mongolia. The main interest of the article is that it treats a set of problems associated with the discussion on the status of Tibetan medicine in the USSR during years 1930-1940. The article presents a critical survey of scientific opinions on Tibetan medicine, an essay on its history going back to Indian natural sciences, and the description of basic written sources on Indian and Tibetan medicine. The authors show that Tibetan medicine as a system of knowledge typologically different from European medical science deserves detail analysis, and think necessary to resort to help of competent representatives of the tradition. The basis of the present publication is: <i>Tubiansky M. I., Belenky S. Yu.</i> On the problem of studying Tibetan medicine // Contemporary Mongolia. 1935. No. 3. P. 59-84.