Eliot Tokar is an American practitioner of

Tibetan medicine Traditional Tibetan medicine or Sowa Rigpa is the Tibetan medical system developed in the 8th century under King Trisong Detsen that incorporated the best international medical practices of that time.Claude Arpi, ''Glimpses on the Tibet History' ...

, author, and lecturer. He lives and works in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. As one of the few Westerners to have apprenticed with Tibetan physicians, Tokar studied with and received private instruction from Dr.

Yeshi Dhonden Yeshi Dhonden (; 15 May 1927 – 26 November 2019) was a Tibetan doctor of traditional Tibetan medicine, and served 14th Dalai Lama, the 14th Dalai Lama from 1961 to 1980. In 2018, the Indian government honoured him with the Padma Shri, the four ...

, the former personal physician to

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, from 1983 to 1986. After 1986, Tokar was an apprentice of the late lama and physician Dr. Trogawa Rinpoche, founder of the Chagpori Tibetan Medical Institute in Darjeeling, India. He has also studied with numerous other Tibetan doctors including Shakya Dorje, Thubten Phuntsog and Kuzang Nyima. He also trained in aspects of traditional

Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence of effectiveness or ...

and Japanese medicine.

Areas of interest and guest lectures

Tokar has lectured at American universities, medical colleges and institutions as well as internationally on traditional Asian medicine. His publications have appeared in American and international journals. Tokar's writings and lectures concern the theory and practice of Tibetan medicine, as well as the role of traditional Asian medicine in the context of its current globalization, including topics such as

biopiracy Biopiracy (also known as scientific colonialism ) is the unauthorized appropriation of knowledge and genetic resources of farming and indigenous communities by individuals or institutions seeking exclusive monopoly control through patents or in ...

and the

intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

issue. While his work supports collaboration between traditional Asian medicine and

biomedicine Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

, Tokar is critical of certain modern approaches to medical integration and the application of

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

protocols that do not analyze the specific approaches used in traditional Asian medicine. Tokar has served as an advisor to organizations such as the

American Medical Student Association The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), founded in 1950 and based in Washington, D.C., is an independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States. AMSA is a student-governed national organization. They have a membershi ...

, and to the diplomatic office of the Dalai Lama in the US, the Office of Tibet. In 2008 Tokar's articl
'An Ancient Medicine in a New World: A Tibetan Medicine Doctor’s Reflection from ‘Inside'
was featured along with the work of numerous international scholars in the book 'Tibetan Medicine in the Contemporary World: Global Politics of Medical Knowledge and Practice,' published by

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

. In 2009 the book was awarded the International Convention of Asia Scholars Colleagues Choice Book Prize Award.

Publications

Tokar, Eliot 1998, A Tibetan medical perspective on irritable bowel syndrome: building a means of discourse for integrative medicine, Alternative and Complementary Therapies, 4(5): 343-349

Tokar, Eliot, 1999, Seeing to the distant mountain: Diagnosis in Tibetan medicine, Alternative Therapies In Health And Medicine, 5(2): 50-58

Tokar, Eliot 2006, Transformation and balance: The principles of Tibetan medicine in the context of American healthcare, Unified Energetics; 1:2, 47-51

Tokar, Eliot 2006, Practicing an ancient tradition in the new world: A Tibetan medicine doctor's view, Unified Energetics; 1:2, 19-250

Tokar, Eliot. 2007, Preservation And Progress: Using Tibetan Medicine As A Model To Define A Progressive Role For Traditional Asian Medicine In Modern Healthcare, Asian Medicine: Tradition and Modernity, 2(2): 303-314.

Tokar, Eliot 2008, "An Ancient Medicine in a New World: A Tibetan Medicine Doctor’s Reflection from ‘Inside’." ''Tibetan Medicine in the Contemporary World: Global Politics of Medical Knowledge and Practice'', Ed. Pordié, Laurent. London: Routledge. 229-248

Tokar, Eliot 2015, Learning to Harmonize and Therefore to Heal, The Journal of Traditional Tibetan Medicine, 6: 12-14
* https://tricycle.org/dharmatalks/tibetan-medicine-ancient-wisdom-for-modern-health-and-healing/ Tokar, Eliot, 2018, April. Tibetan Medicine: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Health and Healing, Dharma Talks, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review website.

References

External links

Tibetanmedicine.com Eliot Tokar's Clinical Page

Journal publications by Eliot Tokar

Areas of interest and guest lectures

Publications

References

External links

See also