Terminalia chebula ཨ་རུ་ར།

English name: Chebulic myrobalan

Tibetan name: A-ru-ra (ཨ་རུ་ར)

Location: found in India, Nepal, Myanmar and China from 500 to 1700 meters altitude in the forest.

Part used: fruit without seed (འབྲས་བུ)

Taste and potency: A-ru Nam-gyal has 5 tastes (except salty), 3 post-digestive taste, and 8 potencies (slightly more cool and light). Others have astringent taste (རོ་བསྐ་བ་), bitter post-digestive taste (ཞུ་རྗེས་ཁ་བ།), cooling and light potency (ནུས་པ་བསིལ་ཞིང་ཡང་བའོ།)

 

Nestled amidst the majestic peaks of the Himalayas lies a treasure trove of healing wisdom – Chebulic Myrobalan. Known as "A-ru-ra" in Traditional Tibetan Medicine, this revered botanical holds a sacred place in the hearts and practices of Tibetan healers.

Legend has it that Chebulic Myrobalan is not merely a botanical marvel but a divine gift bestowed upon humanity. Medicine Buddha, the embodiment of healing and compassion, holds a plant of Chebulic Myrobalan in one hand as a symbol of its profound healing properties. This symbolism underscores the divine nature of Chebulic Myrobalan and its significance in the realm of holistic healing.

 

Profound value of Terminalia chebula in Tibetan Medicine:

• Balancing the Three Humors (འདུ་བ་སྙོམས་): According to Tibetan Medicine, health is governed by the equilibrium of three vital energies known as Wind (རླུང་), Tripa (མཁྲིས་པ་), and Beken (བད་ཀན་). Chebulic Myrobalan plays a pivotal role in harmonizing these humors, restoring balance, and promoting overall well-being. It's prescribed in conditions where there's an imbalance of these energies, such as digestive disorders, respiratory ailments, and even emotional disturbances.

• Nourishing the Seven Bodily Constituents ( ལུས་ཟུངས་ཉམས་པ་): Chebulic Myrobalan is renowned for its ability to nourish the seven bodily constituents (ལུས་ཟུངས་བདུན་), including nutritional essence (དྭངས་མ་), blood (ཁྲག་), muscle (ཤ་), fat (ཚིལ་), bone (རུས་), marrow (རྐང་), and reproductive fluids (ཁུ་བ་). By replenishing these essential elements, it fosters vitality, strength, and resilience.

• Digestive Harmony ( ཟས་འཇུ་): In Tibetan Medicine, Chebulic Myrobalan is cherished for its profound effects on digestive health. Whether addressing "cold" or "hot" causes of digestive complaints, this botanical gem soothes the gastrointestinal tract, enhances digestive fire (མེ་དྲོད་), and promotes optimal nutrient absorption. It's often used in formulas to treat conditions such as gastritis, acid reflux, and irritable bowel syndrome. It also stops both "cold" and "hot" causes of diarrhoea (ཚ་གྲང་གཉིས་ཀས་འཁྲུ་བ་). 

• Respiratory Wellness (གློ་གཅོང་): From clearing old coughs and sooting sore throat to treating respiratory infections, Chebulic Myrobalan offers comprehensive support for respiratory health. It helps alleviate respiratory disorders, strengthens the lungs, and restores vitality to the respiratory system.

• Fever Reduction and Immune Support (ཆམ་པ་ཕོག་པ་དང་སྐད་འགག་པ་): In times of illness, Chebulic Myrobalan emerges as a formidable ally. It lowers fever, reduces inflammation, and fortifies the immune system, empowering the body's natural defenses against pathogens and ailments.

• Renal Support and Physical Restoration (མཁལ་གཅོང་): Chebulic Myrobalan is renowned in Tibetan Medicine for its efficacy in treating chronic kidney disorders. It supports renal function, promotes kidney health, and aids in the management of conditions such as kidney stones and renal failure. Additionally, it restores physical strength and vitality, rejuvenating the body and enhancing overall well-being.

• Promoting Mental Harmony (སེམས་ལ་དགའ་བ་): Beyond its physical benefits, Chebulic Myrobalan holds profound significance for mental and emotional health. It is believed to bring peace and happiness to the mind, alleviating stress, anxiety, and depression. By fostering mental clarity and emotional balance, it contributes to a sense of inner harmony and well-being.

 

According to the Second Tibetan Medicine Tantra (བཤད་པའི་རྒྱུད།):

There are 5 types of A-ru-ra: 

1. Nam-gyal ཨ་རུ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་ (Victorious A-ru-ra) - it looks like the tail of bottle gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris, ཀུ་བ་). Balances all disorders of  Wind, Tripa, and Beken and the combined disorders of these humors. Its presence is especially auspicious and favourable because it fulfils every wish. 
2. Jig-med ཨ་རུ་འཇིགས་མེད་ (Fearless A-ru-ra) - the 5-edged Jig-med is recommended against ophthalmic disorders and problems related to the influence of an evil spirits. 
3. Dud-tsi ཨ་རུ་བདུད་རྩི་ (Nectar A-ru-ra) - with thick pulp, helps to strengthen the body and put on weight.
4. Phel-jed  ཨ་རུ་འཕེལ་བྱེད་ (Rising A-ru-ra) - vase-like rounded Phel-jed heals all wounds.
5. Kem-po ཨ་རུ་སྐེམ་པོ་ (Drying A-ru-ra) - with many creases cures pediatric Tripa (མཁྲིས་པ་) disorders.

 

As we embrace the timeless wisdom of Tibetan Medicine, let us honor the legacy of Chebulic Myrobalan – a botanical beacon of healing, harmony, and holistic wellness.

 

Present in Daknang formulas:

• DAKNANG 1
• DAKNANG 2
• DAKNANG 3
• DAKNANG 10
• DAKNANG 13
• DAKNANG 16
• DAKNANG 25
• DAKNANG 69
• DAKNANG 100
• DAKNANG 108

 

 

References:

1. The Tibetan Art of Healing by Ian A. Baker
2. Fundamentals of Tibetan Medicine by Thinley Gyatso
3. Healing with Form, Energy, and Light by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
4. Tibetan Medicine and Other Holistic Health Care Systems edited by Charles Leslie
5. A Handbook of Tibetan Medicinal Plants by Dr. Tsering Dorjee Dekhang (MD)
6. Tibetan Medicinal Plants by Dr. Tenzin Dakpa
7. Essentials of Tibetan Traditional Medicine by Thinley Gyatso and Chris Hakim
8. བོད་ཀྱི་གསོ་རིག་དང་ཨ་ཡུར་ཝེ་དྷ་ཀྲུང་དབྱིའི་སྨན་གཞུང་བཅས་ལས་བསྟན་པའི་སྐྱེ་དངོས་སྨན་རྫས་ཀྱི་དཔར་རིས་དང་ལག་ལེན་གཅེས་བཏུས་བློ་གསར་རིག་པའི་སྒོ་འབྱེད་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ།། by Dr. Tsultrim Kalsang (Men-Tsee-Khang)
9. ༄༅།།བོད་ཀྱི་གསོ་བ་རིག་པའོ་རྒྱུད་བཞི་ལས་རྩ་བའི་རྒྱུད་དང་བཤད་པའི་རྒྱུད་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ།། The Root Tantra and the Explanatory Tantra by Men-Tsee-Khang publisher