Chagpori projects
Plant preservation

Herbs are the raw materials of Tibetan medicine and there is a very long-standing tradition in the use, the proper time of collection, the ways to prepare, and the assessment of the herbs in this ancient system of healing.

Tibetan amchis and pharmacists evaluate each individual plant because not all specimens of a certain medicinal herb have the same quality and power. Depending on that assessment, larger or smaller quantities of plants are needed to get the desired result. All medicines are a composition of many specific herbs and substitutions are not easily made. However, finding alternative plants that could be used as substitutes was something that Dr Trogawa was concerned with.

Environmental questions
To know which plants are vulnerable, endangered, or close to extinction, detailed studies have to be made. Also, causes of scarcity should be investigated, such as environmental degradation and over-exploitation by non-expert plant gatherers which is an increasing problem in the Himalayas. It’s important to grow not only economically valuable plants but also those which are important and supportive for the total

Our projects

Museum display items

Under Indian law, all college institutions are required to have a museum. Therefore, we are pleased to report that since 2006 we have had a small museum on our campus in Takdah. We are always looking for donations for the museum, such as old Tibetan medical instruments as well as funds to allow us improve […]

Plant preservation

Herbs are the raw materials of Tibetan medicine and there is a very long-standing tradition in the use, the proper time of collection, the ways to prepare, and the assessment of the herbs in this ancient system of healing. Tibetan amchis and pharmacists evaluate each individual plant because not all specimens of a certain medicinal […]

New Car

At the moment the office is in Darjeeling, the college is in Takdah which is slightly less than two hours drive away, while the pharmacyat the new site is in Siliguri on the Indian plains is about 80 km away– a journey of three and a half hours – and doctors, personnel and medicines need […]

Chagpori clinics

At the moment we have suitable accommodation for four clinics and the Institute’s office in the center of Darjeeling town. The clinic in Darjeeling starts to become more and more self supporting, which allows us to think of opening new clinics.All our four clinics are at the moment headed by nun amchis. We are very […]

Herbal camps

As a part of their curriculum the students spend one day every week collecting herbs in the nearby hills or they help with the preparation of the medicines. Tibetan medical students also go every year for one month to distant mountain places to learn to identify medical plants, some of which are rare. At the […]

Children of the staff

Over the years the families of some of the staff members have increased in size. The Chagpori Board would like to help with child care and on-going education for their staff’s children. Generally speaking, salaries in the Tibetan community are low and this kind of assistance is much appreciated

Chagpori Salugara

Chagpori Tibetan Medical Institute has their roots in a variety of areas and while growing bigger, the need to centralize the different departments became very strong. That’s why Trogawa Rinpoche and the board decided to purchase a plot of land in Salugara, Siliguri where the whole institute can be together. It took quite some negotiations and time to […]

Student sponsorships

Although we ask them to fund their study themselves most of the students who come to Chagpori are from very poor families. Without sponsorship it would not be possible for them to fullfil their ambition to study Tibetan medicine. Each student will need 80 Euro per month which is payable for twelve months a year […]