An ecological name often invoked for Bhutan is Menjong (སྨན་ལྗོངས་), ‘the land of medicinal herbs’, a name which must certainly strike a chord in those familiar with Bhutan’s rich botanical diversity. This name was used to refer to the Paro valley as early as the 13th century. Located on the southern slopes of the Himalayan watershed, Bhutan has long enjoyed immense botanical richness compared to the relatively dry and arid Tibetan Plateau. Bhutan remains largely forested and even today about 72.5% of the country is under forest cover, much of it pristine and dense. It is for this reason that the late Bhutanese hierarch and historian Gedün Rinchen (1926-1997) called Bhutan ‘the southern land of forests’ (ལྷོ་ཕྱོགས་ནགས་མོའི་ལྗོངས་) in the title of his religious history of the country.
Bhutan’s point of comparison is Tibet, Bhutan’s northern and most important neighbour until 1959, and the significance of the name Menjong can only be properly appreciated with reference to the Tibetan medical tradition. Tibet has an ancient and sophisticated medical system, which is a synthesized amalgam primarily of Indian Ayurvedic, Chinese and Central Asian ideas of health and healing but heavily imbued with Buddhist theories of the mind-body relationship. It is primarily based on the theory of three humours of vital energy, bile and phlegm and the maintenance and restitution of their balance through medical, dietary, lifestyle and/or behavioural interventions. The locus classicus of the tradition is the corpus of four medical texts called Four Tantras (རྒྱུད་བཞི་) which the tradition believes was taught by the historical Buddha in his manifestation as the Medicine Buddha. Thus, this medical system is considered to be Buddhist and is particularly referred to in Bhutan, as ‘Buddhist medicine’ (ནང་པའི་སྨན་) in contrast to biomedicine, often referred to as ‘Indian medicine’ because it was first introduced from there.
Unlike biomedicine, the traditional medical system uses little or no chemical medications but relies upon remedies made from herbs and minerals. It is for this important role of herbs in health and healing and their abundant growth in Bhutan that the country got its laudatory name ‘the country of medicinal herbs’, although, as noted earlier, it seems the appellation was first applied to Paro and only later to the whole country. It is clear, however, that herbs, like paper--another Bhutanese product from the local environment--was highly valued across the border in Tibet. For centuries, Bhutanese sent freight loads of herbs and paper to Tibet as both gifts and trade items. For instance, the second Dési ruler of Bhutan, Langonpa Tenzin Drukdra (r. 1656-1667), twice made mass distributions of herbs to Tibetan doctors during his reign. Even today, the use of these natural resources continues through the Royal Institute of Traditional Medicine, which promotes indigenous herbal treatment alongside biomedicine throughout the country.
As with most other things, Bhutanese oral traditions provide an interesting explanation for the country’s herbal richness, stating that long ago, when Princess Wencheng, known to the Bhutanese as Ashe Jaza (རྒྱ་བཟའ་) or Chinese Princess, went to Tibet as a bride for the great 7th century king Songtsen Gampo. The story goes on that she brought with her the sciences of geomancy and medicine from the Chinese court. She also carried with her a pouch of medicinal seeds, which upon her arrival in Tibet she cast into the sky with prayers that they may spread across the land. A few seeds landed on Chagpori while the rest were carried by the prevailing northern winds down to the southern mountains of Lhomon. Chagpori later became a renowned centre for medical and astral studies in Tibet and the southern land became a country rich in medicinal herbs.
As for the story itself, it is perhaps of a Tibetan origin as it falls in line with the Tibetan nostalgia with which all good things are traced to the Yarlung dynastic period, with even the botanical richness of Tibetan borderlands somehow considered the result of the Tibetan dynastic period. Such Tibetan superciliousness may have impacted neighbourly relations, which at times manifested in serious conflicts between the two countries. Even in modern times, a new contest over a medicinal plant is taking place along the high mountainous border as confrontation grows over boundary issues and harvesting rights between Tibetan/Chinese and Bhutanese collectors of the expensive fungi Cordyceps sinensis, which is said to have helped three Chinese athletes to break world records in running.
Karma Phuntsho is a social thinker and worker, the President of the Loden Foundation and the author of many books and articles including The History of Bhutan, from which this piece is extracted.