The Medicine Buddha’s Garden:
A Practical Course in Tibetan Herbalism
With Dr. Nida Chenagtsang and Dr. ED COUGHLIN
SATURDAY AND Sunday, May 4 & 5, 2024
2 - 6pm
Due to the practical nature of this course, it will NOT be livestreamed.
NCCAOM PDA POINTS PENDING
Accommodations at Pure Land Farms are reserved for students enrolled in Sowa Rigpa Institute’s Foundations of Sowa Rigpa, Sowa Rigpa Practitioner, or Sowa Rigpa Counselor programs. (Sowa Rigpa Institute students, please e-mail info@purelandfarms.com to request a private link to register for this event).
This weekend is open to all others on a non-residential basis by signing up here:
This workshop will begin with a reading transmission of the Root Tantra, the first of four volumes of Tibetan medical (Sowa Rigpa) texts that are said to have been taught by the Medicine Buddha himself from the center of his Pure Land, called Tanaduk. In the first chapter of the Root Tantra, we find a description of Tanaduk - a botanic garden in the form of the mandala, with medicinal plants of different tastes and potencies that heal all kinds of diseases.
Pure Land Farms’ Tanaduk Gardens was modeled after this traditional description and it is from this botanic garden that we will receive teachings on the fundamental principles of Tibetan herbalism. Focusing on specific plants that are growing here in our Topanga Pure Land, we will study, mindfully harvest, and prepare together simple Tibetan medicinal formulas, learning about their unique uses.
This will be a practical, fun, and immersive weekend that will benefit Sowa RIgpa students, Western herbalists, practitioners and students of other Eastern systems of medicine including Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine, or any lover of nature and plants!
Dr. Nida Chenagtsang
Born in Amdo, in North Eastern Tibet, Dr. Nida began his early studies Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine) at the local Tibetan Medicine hospital. Later he was awarded scholarship to enter the Lhasa Tibetan Medical University, where he completed his medical education in 1996 with practical training at the Tibetan Medicine hospitals in Lhasa and Lhoka.
Alongside his medical education, Dr. Nida trained in Vajrayana with teachers from every school of Tibetan Buddhism, especially in the Longchen Nyingthig of the Nyingma school from his root teacher Ani Ngawang Gyaltsen and in the Dudjom Tersar lineage from Chönyid Rinpoche and Sremo Dechen Yudron. He received complete teachings in the Yuthok Nyingthig lineage, the unique spiritual tradition of Tibetan Medicine, from his teachers Khenpo Tsultrim Gyaltsen and Khenchen Troru Tsenam, and was requested to continue the lineage by Jamyang Rinpoche of the Rebkong ngakpa/ma (non-monastic yogi and yogini) tradition.
A well-known poet in his youth, Dr. Nida later published many articles and books on Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine) and the Yuthok Nyingthig tradition both in the Tibetan and English languages which have been translated into several languages. He has extensively researched ancient Tibetan healing methods, and has gained high acclaim in the East and West for his revival of little known traditional Tibetan external healing therapies.
Dr. Nida is also the Founder and Medical Director of the Sowa Rigpa Institute: School of Traditional Tibetan Medicine and Co-Founder of the International Ngakmang Institute, established to preserve and maintain the Rebkong ngakpa non-monastic yogi/ini culture within modern Tibetan society.
In addition to his work as a physician, he trains students in Sowa Rigpa and the Yuthok Nyingthig tradition in over forty countries around the world.
Sifu Edward Coughlin
For this teaching, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang will be joined by intercultural herbalist Sifu Edward Coughlin, medical director of Jade Lotus Acupuncture in Miramar Beach, Florida.
A graduate of the Florida Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Edward is a licensed acupuncture, physician and Doctor of Oriental Medicine in Florida for the last 28 years. He is a diplomat in oriental medicine, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental medicine. As one of the first acupuncturists in Florida to have hospital staff privileges he has preformed over fifty thousand treatments. He trained in Eclectic Western herbal medicine with the Matthew Wood institute.
Edward has studied and taught Chinese martial arts, qi gong, classical and Tibetan yoga and Chinese medicine and inter-cultural herbalism around the world. A senior student of Master Kao San Lun, he is a 35th generation disciple of the Little Nine Heaven system of martial arts. He has trained in the unique Little Nine Heaven system of qi gong for nearly 30 years.
Edward has been a student of Dr. Nida’s since 2015, and integrates Sowa Rigpa and Tibetan herbalism into his medical practice.
