Western Herbs from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective

Dr. med. univ. Florian Ploberger B. Ac., BA Vienna. Main fields: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Tibetan Medicine. Education: Medical studies and internship in Vienna, study of acupuncture at the Austrian Society of Acupuncture and Auriculotherapy in 1996; three years of TCM studies with Claude Diolosa until 1998; Bachelor in Acupuncture from K.S. University in the USA 1999; four semesters of Sinology studies and numerous study visits to China (TCM University in Beijing, TCM University in Chengdu) and India (LTWA Library of Tibetan Works & Archives). Since 2004 studies of Tibetology at the Vienna University (Bachelor of Arts in the Languages and Cultures of South Asia and Tibet, 2009). Teaching and publications in the fields of TCM and Tibetan Medicine since 1997. Head of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Bacopa Centre of Learning in Upper Austria and President of the Austrian Educational Society for Traditional Chinese Medicine (ÖAGTCM) (after three years of further education physicians are awarded the diploma Chinese Diagnostics and Pharmacotherapy by the Austrian Chamber of Physicians). Regular lectures on Western herbs from the TCM perspective upon invitation of the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists. In 2007 he was publishing editor of Die Grundlagen der Tibetischen Medizin (a translation of the book Fundamentals of Tibetan Medicine of Men-Tsee-Khang Publication). It was a great honour and pleasure for him when in summer 2009 he was officially asked by Dr. Dawa, the Director of the Men-Tsee-Khang (Tibetan Medical and Astrology Institute of H.H. the XIVth Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, Northern India) to translate the first two parts of rGyud-bZhi, the most important work of Tibetan Medicine (The Basic Tantra and The Explanatory Tantra from the Secret Quintessential Instructions on the Eight Branches of the Ambrosia Essence Tantra). Since the 12th century this text has been serving as the foundation stone in the training of Tibetan medical practitioners, and is still being learned and memorised today. Currently, as university reader, he gives a weekly lecture on various subjects of Tibetan Medicine at Vienna University, and every year he spends several months in Dharamsala.