« Bad behaviour is shameful! »: Medical ethics, elite social practices and conflict management in Tibetan medicine
Résumé
Practitioners of Tibetan medicine (the amchi) reveal an entire series of behavioural and moral codes
that, ideally, they should follow so as to improve their medical practice and more broadly the fate of
each of them. Tibetan medical ethics, which are found to some extent in the canonical text of Tibetan
medicine, are based on Buddhism, and all healers underscore the importance of the moral dimension in
the practice of medicine, a dimension that refers expressly to religion. In Ladakh, northwestern India,
the elite practitioners of Tibetan medicine discursively reject such attitudes as anger, disputes,
domination or verbal aggression. In this region, antagonism is generally perceived as a threat to social
equilibrium and conflicts are normatively controlled as part of the local moral order. These attitudes are
considered “dirty” or “deviant”, and the creation of, or participation to conflicts shameful. Conflict is
also seen as undermining the image of involved elite practitioners, who present themselves as “good
amchi”, in both technical and moral terms. However, tensions, disagreement and disputes characterize
the relations between these practitioners. The occurrence of conflict is a common fact. How does
conflict emerge, and how do the amchi deal with the feeling of shame? Can one be a “good practitioner”
and quarrel with his homologues? To answer these questions, this paper will explore medical ethics and
the way recurring social conflicts are experienced and negotiated by the elite amchi, who aim to keep
their reputation as good practitioners.