Tibetan medicine is a science, art and philosophy that provides a holistic approach to health care.
It is a science because its principles are enumerated in a systematic and logical framework based on an understanding of the body and its relationship to the environment. It is an art because it uses diagnostic techniques based on the creativity, insight, subtlety and compassion of the medical practitioner. And it is a philosophy because it embraces the key Buddhist principles of altruism, karma and ethics. Buddhist philosophy states that everything in the universe is in a constant state of flux - that all phenomenon are characterized by impermanence, and that the only permanent feature is impermanence itself. It is this impermanence that causes each and every being to suffer at one stage or another.