Although research evidence does exist for many of the most common essential oils used in the relief of joint pain, stiffness and inflammation, the purpose of this paper is to outline a terrain-based approach to the aromatic treatment of rheumatic conditions – an approach that is defined by the principles of Oriental medicine. The purpose behind this is not to offer an alternative therapeutic methodology, but one that is complementary to that of science.

Contrary to orthodox scientific medicine, gynaecological therapeutics in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is inseparable from the treatment of the woman as a whole—primarily because, from the perspective of TCM, the precise nature of her symptomatology, carefully analyzed and assessed, implicates imbalances that have their root in her energetic-constitutional physiology. Thus, in the language of TCM, it is only by addressing the problem in the ‘root’ (Ben) that one is able to begin healing the manifestation or ‘branch’ (Biao).

The use of the body as a vehicle for spiritual transformation as exemplified in the Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice known as gCod (‘cutting’) is discussed. The principal feature of this form of meditation is its stress on the contemplative offering of the body as a technique for generating the compassion and wisdom crucial to the attainment of buddhahood according to Mahāyāna Buddhism. In the first part of this paper a brief definition of the principal features of gCod is given, and then the practice is situated in its historical setting by relating its development as a distinct practice in the eleventh century and briefly surveying its subsequent transmission. This introductory material will be followed by a discussion of the theoretical underpinning of gCod, as located primarily in the confluence of the Prajñāparamitā doctrines and the techniques of the Vajrayāna. The third and final part of the paper focuses on one particular example of a gCod meditation-text, outlining the fundamental structure of the practice, and at the same time endeavours to show how it is designed to provide existential realisation of the various doctrinal affirmations of Mahāyāna Buddhism.