Medicine, Magic, and the Yeti:

Varying Perspectives on the meaning of the Tibetan word ‘Mi-Go’.

Lee A. Weiss
2/7/19
 This essay will examine the variety of meanings of the Tibetan term mi-go (mi

rgod) in theological, occult, and medical writings, in an attempt not only to outline the

ambiguity of the term in translation and application, but also the underlying, consistent,

implications of the phrase, as they relate to the people, animals, and emotions called mi-

go. What is the mi-go, and if it is not one thing what does the term mean? What does it

imply on the variety of living beings it refers to? I will present and conclude that it

identifies- in people and non-humans- a nearness and simultaneous distance from

humanity. The mi-go is something- human or otherwise- that is close to people, but

violates some essential dictum of what human ‘is’.

The popular contemporary use of this term is as a synonym for Yeti. The yeti is

posited in Tibetan folk culture1 and mi-go is used consistently to define the yeti2. Certain

monasteries have become famous among cryptozoologists, and in yeti-lore for housing

and enshrining relics of mi-go.3 While scientists and academics have evaluated and

studied these mi-go/yeti relics of Mongolian and Tibetan monasteries, this essay will

focus instead on the word mi-go, and on its wide variety of meanings. While mi-go does

often mean yeti, it also identifies ‘wild’, thieving, or otherwise barbaric people, and for

some at least the term seems to identify more conventional apes and large primates.4

1
Emmanuel Vlcek, “The Diagnosis of the ‘Wild Man’ according to Buddhist Literary Sources from Tibet,
Mongolia and China” in Man vol.60 (oct.1960),Rockville: Serenity, 2009), 80-84. And P.R. Rincen “Almas
2
Reuchung Rinpoche, “The Life of the Great Physician-Saint gYu-thog Yon-tan mGon-po” in Tibetan
Medicine. (University of Berkley, California, 1976), 165.
3
Marca Burns, “Report on a Sample of Skin and Hair from the Khumjung Yeti Scalp” in Genus vol.18
no.1/4 (1962)
4
This can be seen on a Kangdze (instructional illustration for deity meditation) print included later in this
essay: the “Shri Devi(Buddhist Protector) Magzor Gyalmo”. In it the mi-go is depicted as a four-legged
monkey-like being.
(Mi-go and other ‘wild animals’ in a 19th century Kagndze for various tantric divinities.5)

I began this essay as an attempt to define what mi-go meant- with the false

assumption that it referred unilaterally to a ‘yeti’ type being, a Wildman that- regardless

of its literal existence- was understood as real. The impetus for this, and for the

translations presented from medical texts, was the unusual presence of ‘yeti flesh’ (mi

rgod sha) and ‘yeti blood’ in pharmacological and magical guides. There are no Tibetan

drugs (that I could identify) that make use of Naga Flesh or Vetāla Blood, let alone other

pharmacopeia derived from preternatural or divine beings. In short, the mi-go seems to

5
“Miscellaneous Offerings” 1800-1899. Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton,
33.66x97.79cm(13.25x38.50in) at Rubin Museum of Art, [https://www.himalayanart.org/items/877
possess a uniquely ‘physical’ status in Tibetan Medico-Occult traditions and texts. While

Tibetan medicine and theology explicitly acknowledge and involve supernatural or

‘mythical’ beings, the mi-go is unusually commodified. Its flesh, blood, and furs are

understood as physically substantial enough to be included in practical guides for doctors

and pharmacists-while mi-go blood is included as a- seemingly exotic- component in

certain Nyingma and Bon occult practices.6

The problem I ran into, and which I hope to outline here, is that while mi-go is

used to talk about the yeti, the usage is more multifaceted, and can potentially be

confused. The Tibetan-English Dictionary of Tibetan Medicine and Astrology translates

mi-go as “Wild and savage people…”and as “raw, courageous men…” 7 Whereas the

Tibetan doctor Reuchung Rinpoche translates mi-go into English as Ape-man.8

Additionally mi-go is used to talk about humans, particularly in translations from

Sanskrit where it is used specifically to translate the word ‘caura’ (thieving/thievery). It is

used to talk about barbaric, or uncivilized behavior broadly. More specifically it is used

to describe laughter or excessive joy as obstacles to progress on the Buddhist path.9

Additionally, in the medico-occult traditions we find illustrations and descriptions of the

mi-go as an animal- and a distinctly inhuman one. While this animal is most often

depicted as a ‘Wildman’, a large, hairy, bipedal bear/monkey hominid, a yeti- it has also

been used to talk about more conventional primates, gorillas and apes.

6
René de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet (Book Faith India, Delhi 1996), 270,344.
7
Tsering Thakchoe Drungtso, Tsering D. Drungtso , The Tibetan-English Dictionary of Tibetan Medicine
and Astrology. (Drungtso, 2006.), 328.
8
Reuchung Rinpoche, Tibetan Medicine, 163.
9
Tony Duff, “Entry: mi rgods” The Illuminator, Tibetan-English Encyclopaedic Dictionary. (Nepal, Padma
Karpo translation committee.)
 Ultimately, mi-go is understood contextually, what is substantial is the underlying

implication of inhumanity, or monstrous humanity, or violation of social norms that the

term carries with it. In medical or moral uses, talking about animals or humans, it

references a nearness and similarity to humanity. It is something almost human, but

monstrous or wrong in its failure to be human. Medically, it is an animal that looks

almost human and acts nearly manlike.

Mi-go literally means wild-man: mi is the syllable for human, and go (rgod)

means wild or untamed. Go is used, tellingly, to distinguish wild from domesticated

animals, for instance Yak (g.yag) and wild yak, or Yak-go (g.yag-rgod). It is also used to

refer to excessive laughter, joy, and adulation. (Move to intro?)

(Kangze of Sri Devi(Magzor) depicting, amongst other wild animals, a mi-go10)

10
“Shri
Devi(Buddhist Protector) Magzor Gyalmo” 1800-1899. Ground Mineral Pigment
on Cotton, Rubin Museum of Art https://www.himalayanart.org/items/639
 One of the earlier uses of the term mi-go in the Tibetan Buddhist canon is found

in the Aryacaurividyanasananamadharani, a short Indian text that seems to survive only

in Tibetan translation in the Buddhist canons, containing a dhāranī and accompanying

ritual for subduing thieves, brigands, or otherwise wild men.

The text opens with the Buddha and Ānanda traveling through the mountains of

Videha, in the distance Ānanda spots a horde of mi-go.11 This sight was so terrifying his

hair “Stands on end”, and seeing this the Buddha speaks- introducing the Sanskrit

dhāranī. “Hear me and be purified”12 he says, before explaining that the Dhāranī he

speaks is to alleviate the fear of Dharma practitioners. The Buddha pronounces a series of

mantric phrases “…to subdue newly arising delusions.”13 Having pronounced the Sanskrit

verses of the spell/dhāranī, the Buddha pronounces that- given the potency of his dhāranī

pronouncement all mi-go, soldiers, guardians, and people within ten leagues (Yojnas)

have been ‘subdued’, or more specifically ‘bound’, ‘paralyzed’ in their places.

The final part of the text is a short occult prescription, describing a ritual that

when undertaken produces the same result as the Buddha’s Dhāranī. In order to ‘bind the

mi-go”, one must mix donkey hair with asafetida while weaving it into thread. A ‘ritually

clean’ woman must preform the weaving. The thread is then made into a cloth. Then the

end of it is cut off, and the spell is complete.

An essential point is that these mi-go are distinctly and clearly human; they are

not ape-men or yetis or monsters, they are just people. The term is used to refer to all of

the villagers who occupied the mountain passage Ānanda and the Buddha passed

11
“Mi rgod rnam ‘joms” in mDo Mang vol.2 s.n.,Varanasi. (1971), 303-306.
https://www.tbrc.org/#library_work_ViewByOutline-O1KG12536C2O0041%7CW1KG12536
12
Mir god rnam ‘joms” in mDo Mang, 304.
13
Ibid
through. The mi-go here are bands of thieves, and the binding words the Buddha recite

paralyze all of the members of the mountain city of these thieves.

In contrast to the Aryacaurividyanasananamadharani, the mi-go of medical texts

is clearly a particular being, and it is a being with a worldly, animal existence. The Shel-

Gong Shel-Phreng14 is a set of two books, consisting of a text listing the principle materia

medica of Tibetan medicine and an auto-commentary explaining the use, appearance, and

nature of these substances. Written in the 17th century by physician Tenzin Phuntsok,

this text documents the plant and animal- and inanimate- substances employed in the

creation of pills, unguents, and other drugs in Tibetan medicine.

The two subdivisions of the flesh chapter I will cover briefly are the section on

‘human flesh’15 and the section on the flesh of wild animals: “The mi-go, lion, leopard,

etc.”16 It is important to note initially that the text makes a distinction between human

flesh (mi) and the flesh of the mi-go. Whereas the ‘wildmen’, or not-men, described in

the Sanskrit dhāranī are merely barbaric, the mi-go of medico-pharmaceutical literature

are distinctively animals. As such they are placed in a category apart from humans.

Human flesh is said good for alleviating “ulcerations, tumors, and malignant cancers of

the skin and other illnesses of the gDon[,an illness bringing spirit] wind(rlung).”17 The

proceeding section lists a variety of animals, beginning with mi-go, including lions,

tigers, bears, wild(rgod) pig and wild(rgod) goat, vultures, crows, and ravens. “These

various meats dispel gDon caused sickness (gdon nad).”18

14
bstan 'dzin phun tshogs, dri med shel gong dang dri med shel phreng dang lag len gces bsdus. Tashigang,
lcags po ri par khang (1970), 400.
15
bstan 'dzin phun tshogs, Shel gong shel phreng, 400
16
ibid
17
ibid
18
ibid
 The employment of mi-go flesh in the Shel-Gong Shel-Phreng is interesting,

which mi-go do they mean? Contextually it cannot be a human, wild or not, the mi-go in

this context is an animal. Other magical uses of the mi-go continue the trend of

commidifying the body and components of the animal. In Oracles and Demons of Tibet

René de Nebesky-Wojkowitz Defines mi-go as a yeti, or ‘abominable snowman’, and

provides a number of additional terms for it in Tibetan.19 He highlights Bon works which

require “…for the performance of certain magic rites ‘the blood of a mi rgod who has

been killed by a sharp weapon’…or the blood of a mi rgod who has been killed by an

arrow…”20.

Fortunately, whatever the mi-go is supposed to be, it has been illustrated in

technical, medical manuals designed to aid physicians in identification and proper

application of medicine. The mi-go, alongside primates, herbs, and exotic birds, was

described and illustrated in medical commentaries. Particularly, the Dri-med Shel-phreng

provides illustrations of the substances and animals enumerated in the Shel-gong Shel-

Phreng, an extraordinarily practical tool for a Himalayan physician potentially unfamiliar

with Indian and Chinese animals and exotic herbs. The Dri-med Shel-Phreng’s entry on

the mi-go reads as follows:

Mi-go, shaped like humans and [those animals of] the bear family,

live in mountains. They are large and very strong. It is said that

their flesh is beneficial for illnesses caused by the gDon. Their

19
“gangs mi (glacier man), Mi shom po (strong man), and Mi chen po (Great man), the Yeti of the sherpas,
and the chu mung (snow goblin) or Hlo mung (mountain goblin) of the lepchas.” Nebesky-Wojkowitz,
Oracles and Demons, 362 fn.1.
20
.” Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons, 344
 flesh clears away imbalances of bile, and other illnesses of the

liver/bile.21

(Mi-go and (other?) monkeys, illustrated and described in the Dri-Med Shel-Phreng 22)

(section expanding on ‘occult’ texts and extended Binding dhāranīs here?)

Initially, I had wanted to establish a single definitive identity of mi-go, as either

human, animal- probably ape- or preternatural being such as the yeti or sasquatch. I had

noticed mi-go in medical documents first, then in descriptions of bon and Nyingma

magical practices and descriptions of wrathful dharmapala before reading the

Aryacaurividyanasananamadharani and similar binding rituals for mi-go in terma

cycles.23 Fortunately- or unfortunately- I have been forced to reassess and broaden my

understanding of the term. Far from just yeti or abominable snowman which it certainly

seems to mean occasionally, mi-go has a consist implication of inhumanity. Every time

21
ye shes bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan, Dri med shel phreng nas bshad pa’i sman gyi ‘khrungs dpe mdzes
mtshar mig rgyan, (New Delhi, International Academy of Indian Culture. Satapitaka series, v.82. 1971),
238.
22 22
ye shes bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan, Dri med shel phreng, 238.
23
“mi rgod jap pa reng bcings”, in Gter chos rat+nag ling pa, (Darjeeling, Taklung Tsetrul Pema v.8 1977-
79), 123-124.
the term is used it people or beings that are like people, but have in some way violated or

transgressed the basic rules of humanity. In the Aryacaurividyanasananamadharani the

people of the mountains steal and rob, their fearsome appearance and thieving reputation

are enough to terrify Ananada. These mi-go are human, as it seems are the mi-go

referenced in the many Dhāranīs that exist similarly providing rites to bing ‘mi-go’.

Medical texts- and less commonly magical texts- are not, however, talking about brigands

or human thieves when they mention mi-go. Within the pharmacology of Tibetan

physicians is a comprehensive zoological systemization of Chinese, Indian, and Tibetan

plants and animals that are valuable in the production of medicines. Yet there is no clear

yeti here, illustrations and descriptions of the medical mi-go could easily be of apes and

gorillas, which are absent from Tibetan systematizations of primates. Yet between yetis

and gorillas is a common quality of resembling human beings, not being people, but

looking enough like people that the animal is described as a “Wild Human”, in the same

manner as a wild sheep, wild boar, or wild ox.

(section expanding on ‘occult’ texts and extended Binding dhāranīs here?)

The term speaks to a middle ground of human nature; it references the liminal

space in-between humans and animals. The mi-go is not a mi (human), but it must be

more mi than a yak or a crow, since these animals don’t have mi in their names.

Wildman, a term used to describe the human-like beings which populate the folklore of

many cultures, seems like a good definition- but it fails to apply to the many human

beings the term is used to talk about. What I have tentatively concluded is that mi-go

means something like, inhuman (in appearance and/or behavior). More succinctly, mi-go

seems to mean that which has failed either to be human physically, or to behave like a
human: the mi-go is anything monstrous. This does not shed much light on literary uses

of the term, instead this essay intentionally occludes them- the mi-go is not a yeti, it is not

a Wildman, but sometimes it is. The only identifiable consistency between the various

beings called mi-go is their ultimate failure to conform to humanity.

Bibliography

Burns, Marca. “Report on a Sample of Skin and Hair from the Khumjung Yeti Scalp” in
Genus vol.18 no.1/4 (1962)

Duff, Tony, “Entry: mi rgods” The Illuminator, Tibetan-English Encyclopaedic

Dictionary. (Nepal, Padma Karpo translation committee.)

bstan 'dzin phun tshogs, dri med shel gong dang dri med shel phreng dang lag len gces
bsdus. Tashigang, lcags po ri par khang (1970), 400.

mi rgod jap pa reng bcings”, in Gter chos rat+nag ling pa, (Darjeeling, Taklung Tsetrul
Pema v.8 1977-79), 123-124.
ye shes bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan, Dri med shel phreng nas bshad pa’i sman gyi ‘khrungs
dpe mdzes mtshar mig rgyan, (New Delhi, International Academy of Indian Culture.
Satapitaka series, v.82. 1971), 238.

Mi rgod rnam ‘joms” in mDo Mang vol.2 s.n.,Varanasi. (1971), 303-306.

https://www.tbrc.org/#library_work_ViewByOutline-
O1KG12536C2O0041%7CW1KG12536

“Miscellaneous Offerings” 1800-1899. Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton,

33.66x97.79cm(13.25x38.50in) at Rubin Museum of Art,
[https://www.himalayanart.org/items/877

Nebesky-Wojkowitz, René de, Oracles and Demons of Tibet (Book Faith India, Delhi
1996), 270,344.
1
Tsering Thakchoe Drungtso, Tsering D. Drungtso , The Tibetan-English Dictionary of
Tibetan Medicine and Astrology. (Drungtso, 2006.),

Reuchung Rinpoche, “The Life of the Great Physician-Saint gYu-thog Yon-tan mGon-
po” in Tibetan Medicine. (University of Berkley, California, 1976) 165

Shri Devi(Buddhist Protector) Magzor Gyalmo” 1800-1899. Ground Mineral Pigment on

Cotton, Rubin Museum of Art https://www.himalayanart.org/items/639

Vlcek, Emmanuel, “The Diagnosis of the ‘Wild Man’ according to Buddhist Literary
Sources from Tibet, Mongolia and China.” Man vol.60 (oct.1960),Rockville: Serenity,
2009), 80-84. And P.R. Rincen “Almas Still Exist in Mongolia”, in Genus Vol 20, No1/4
(1964)