Bön
Bön has typically been described as the
shamanistic religion in
Tibet before the arrival of
Buddhism in the
7th century. With the recent exile of many Bönpo
lamas to
India, however, a more complex description of Bön is emerging and is now being considered by Western scholars.
According to the Bönpo themselves, the Bön religion has actually gone through three distinct phases:
Animistic Bön,
Yungdrung or
Eternal Bön, and
New Bön.
Animistic Bön
The first phase of Bön was indeed rooted in
animistic and
shamanistic practices and corresponds to the characterization of Bön as previously described in the
West.
Yungdrung Bön
The second phase is the controversial phase which rests on the claims of the
Bönpo texts and traditions (which are extensive and only now being analyzed in the West). These texts assert that Yungdrung Bön can be traced back to a
Buddha-like founder named
Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche. He discovered the methods of attaining
enlightenment and is considered to be a figure analogous to
Gautama Buddha. He was said to originate 18,000 years ago in the land of
Olmo Lungring, or
Shambhala, which was a part of the so-called land of
Tazig to the west of present day Tibet (which some scholars identify with the
Persian Tajik). According to Buddhist legends, before the
Shakyamuni Buddha came, there were many other Buddhas in the past. Tonpa Shenrab transmitted the faith (similar in many regards to Buddhism), to the people of the
Zhang Zhung culture of western Tibet who were previously practicing animistic Bön, thus establishing Yungdrung ("eternal") Bön.
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Abott of a Bon Monastery in Nepal - Lopön Tenzin Namdak |
The most tantalizing claim (which on balance is not endorsed by most scholars) is that Buddhism may have arrived in Tibet by some other path than directly from northwest India. A transmission through Persia prior to the 7th century is not impossible.
Alexander the Great had connected Greece with India almost a millennium earlier, resulting in a flourishing
Greco-Buddhist art style in
Afghanistan and
Pakistan. The 6th century
Khosrau I of Persia is known to have ordered the translation of the Buddhist
jataka tales into the
Persian language. The
Silk Road, the path by which Buddhism traveled to
China in
67 C.E., lies entirely to the west of Tibet and passed through the Persian city of
Hamadan. Recently Buddhist structures have been discovered in far western Tibet that have been dated to the third century C.E. Bonpo stupas have also been discovered as far west as Afghanistan. Nonetheless, no scholars have yet identified a major center of Buddhist learning in Persia which corresponds to the Bonpo's land of Tazig. Alternative proposed sites have included the ancient cities of
Merv,
Khotan, or
Balkh, all of which had thriving Buddhist communities active in the correct timeframe and are located to the west of Tibet.
Leaving aside the speculation on Tazig, what can we say about the other Bön claims? The existence of the Zhang Zhung culture is supported by many lines of evidence, including the existence of a remnant of living Zhang Zhung speakers still found in
Himachal Pradesh. The claim that Lord Shenrab was born 180 centuries ago, generally is not taken literally, but understood as an allusion to a master born in the very distant past. One interesting question relating to the history of Bön is: when did the Bön really enter the Yungdrung phase, that is, when did elements strongly resembling Buddhism become important? These elements became apparent with the codification of the Yungdrung Bön canon by the first abbot of Menri, Nyame Sherab Gyaltsen in the 14th century, but this trend probably began earlier. At the same time the Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya orders of Buddhism were also reorganizing themselves in order to be able to compete effectively with the dominant Gelugpa order.
Even if we do not accept the Bön claim that the Buddhist elements are older than Buddha, we may consider some other milestones in Tibetan history which may mark points at which Buddhist ideas became integrated into Bön.
*In the first half of the
7th century, the Tibetan King
Songtsen Gampo assassinates King
Ligmincha of the Zhang Zhung and annexes the Zhang Zhung kingdom. The same Songtsen Gampo is also the first Tibetan king to marry a Buddhist (or in his case two): in
632 to
Nepalese princess
Bhrikuti, and in
641 to Princess
Wencheng, daughter of Emperor
Tang Taizong of
Tang Dynasty China (where Buddhism is approaching its zenith). Both Tibetan and Bön history agrees that King Songtsen Gampo decides to follow Bön, despite his marriages. The nature of Bön practiced by him and his court is not very clear.
*Approximately 130 years later, King
Trisong Detsen (
742-
797) holds a debate contest between Bön priests and Buddhists and decides to convert to Buddhism. He invites the great Indian saint
Padmasambhava to bring
Tantric Buddhism to Tibet in
779. According to
Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the arrival of Padmasambhava represents the First Transmission of the faith. Tantric Buddhism becomes important in Tibet at this point.
*As Tantric Buddhism becomes the state religion of Tibet, the Bön face persecution, forcing Bönpo masters such as
Drenpa Namkha underground. In several decades, however, with the collapse of the Tibetan Empire into civil war in
842, it is possible that Bön may have experienced a partial revival in some districts, especially in western Tibet.
*In the
11th century, approximately coincident with the Second Transmission of Tantric Buddhism associated with saints such as
Atisha and
Naropa, we start to find more Bön text, discovered as terma.
New Bön
The "New Bön" phase emerges in the
14th century when some Bön teachers discovered termsas related to Padmasambhava. New Bön is primarily practiced in the eastern regions of Amdo and Kham. Although the practices of New Bön vary to some extent from Yungdrun Bön, the practitioners of New Bön still honor the Abbot of Menri as the leader of their tradition.
Presently about 10 percent of Tibetans are estimated to follow Bön according to the Chinese census. At the time of the
communist takeover in Tibet there were approximately 300 Bön monasteries in Tibet and western China. According to a recent survey, there are 264 active Bön monasteries, nunneries, and hermitages.
The present spiritual head of the Bön is His Holiness
Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, the thirty-third Abbot of
Menri Monastery (destroyed in the
Cultural Revolution, but now being rebuilt), who now presides over
Pal Shen-ten Menri Ling Monastery in
Dolanji in
Himachal Pradesh, India.
A number of Bon establishments also exist in Nepal; the most accessible is probably Triten Norbutse Bonpo Monastery, on the Western outskirts of Kathmandu. In Kathmandu, go to the bus stop on the Ring Road nearest Swayambhu (downhill just behind the great stupa.) Follow the Ring Road about 500 meters northeast in the direction of Balaju. Turn left at the small village called Baraing, and follow the dirt road through the rice fields to the red colored monastery, situated on the side of the mountain, a little lower than the Swayambhu Stupa. (It is not the monastery on the top of the mountain.) The Monastery is clearly visible from the Ring Road. Visitors are welcome.
Bön, while very similar to schools of
Tibetan Buddhism, may be distinguished by certain characteristics:# The origin of the lineage is traced to Buddha Tonpa Shenrab(sTon pa gShen rab) rather than Buddha Shakyamuni# Counter-clockwise (rather than clockwise) circumambulation of
chortens # The use of yungdrung (
swastika) instead of dorje (
vajra) as a symbol# A nine-way path which is distinct from the nine-yana system of the Nyingma. Bönpo consider it a superset of Buddhist paths. (The Bönpo divide their teachings in a mostly familiar way:
Causal Vehicle,
Sutra,
Tantra and
Dzogchen)# The Bön canon includes rites to pacify spirits, influence the weather, heal people through spiritual means, and other "shamanic" practices. While many of these practices are also common in some form in Tibetan Buddhism (and make the distinction between Tibetan and other forms of Buddhism) they are actually included within the recognized Bön canon (under the
causal vehicle), rather than in Buddhist texts.# Additional sacred texts including many that include sections in the ancient
Zhang Zhung language# Symbolism which includes the Mountain of Nine
Swastikas and the
Olmo Lungring paradise.The Bön school is said to resemble most closely the
Nyingma school, the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism which traces its lineage to the First Transmission.
*
Dongba*
Dzogchen - considered by some to be the pinnacle of the nine yana of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism and the Tibetan Bön tradition
*
Ligmincha Institute*
Tibetan Bön Tradition in Belarus and Ukraine - English language*
Tibetan Yungdrung Bön Arts - Collection of rare artefacts of the Bön religion*
The Founder of Bon and His Teachings*
Garuda Switzerland*
interview with Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, the most senior teacher of the Bönpo tradition*
Picture of Bön inscription*
John Reynolds' web site, including his Bonpo translation project
