The referents ‘mantra’ and ‘syringe’ in my title may serve as two general, iconic poles in a shared cultural logic of healing among Tibetan communities. Towards the ‘religious’ end of this spectrum,mantramay represent here the ritual healing practices performed by professional healers and patients. Syringe, on the other hand, refers to a ‘scientific’ biomedical technology commonly in use among Tibetans (and in rural China in general) that became the symbolic signifier for and hallmark of Western medicine and modernity. The term syringe is meant to indicate intravenous injections (IV) usually containing an antibiotic that are frequently used for