The Healing Palace of Tanadug

"I have thus spoken these words at one time in the abode of the sages, the City of Medicine called Tanadug, where there is an inconceivable palace made of five different precious substances and decorate with various types of precious medicine gems. These precious gems cure the four hundred  and four disorders of rLung, Tripa, Badkan, Denpa, and Duepa. They act as cool medicine against hot disorder and and warm medicine against cold disorder. They alleviate one thousand and eighty kinds of suffering forces and fulfill all wishes."

Chapter 1, the Basic Tantra from the Secret Quintessential Instructions on the Eight Branches of Ambrosia Essence Tantra.

In the first chapter of the Basic Tantra from the Secret Quintessential Instructions on the Eight Branches of Ambrosia Essence Tantra, a luminous scene unfolds. The teachings are set in Tanadug, the City of Medicine, a pure and radiant realm where healing is both material and spiritual.

Within this sacred city stands a palace made of the five precious substances, shimmering with light and decorated with medicine gems of inconceivable power. These gems are no ordinary jewels, they embody the essence of medicine itself, restoring balance and easing suffering.

Tibetan medicine describes 404 disorders, all arising from imbalances of the vital energies:

• rLung (wind, nervous system, movement)

• Tripa (bile, heat, metabolism)

• Badkan (phlegm, stability, body fluids)

• Denpa (disturbances from external forces)

• Duepa (karmic disorders)

• 
  

The healing gems of Tanadug work as both cooling remedies for excess heat and warming remedies for cold conditions, symbolising the medicine of balance. They not only relieve physical disease but also the 1,080 forms of suffering, forces of body, mind, and spirit that afflict sentient beings.

This vision reminds us that healing is not only about curing illness but about restoring harmony, within ourselves, with the elements, and with the deeper currents of life. Just as the medicine gems of Tanadug fulfill all wishes, so too does genuine healing bring us back into wholeness, clarity, and connection.

The palace of Tanadug, then, is not only a celestial place—it is also a reminder that the source of healing is within us.