As someone who grew up as a Tibetan Bonpo, I believe I can explain why Bon religion is not well known in rest of the world. First and foremost, Bon settlement in exile (Dholanji) was built in one of the remotest parts of India, and only few western scholars have made it there. This remoteness, however, turned out to be a mixed blessing because outside distractions were an absolute minimal while producing a great number of learned monks with Geshe degree (doctorate). Most of these Geshes did not speak English so they could not readily go overseas to teach or write books in English. While it might seem like a disadvantage not being able to publicize the religion for its expansion, most monks put more emphasis on practicing the religion than going to the west. This principle had taken root through the leadership of Yongzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, and the late 33rd Abbot of Meri Monastery in Dholanji who planted the seed of humility, authenticity, focus on preservation, and the rigorous standards of monastic trainings. The other reason why Bon isn't well known could be explained through the lens of the well known Tibetan historian Tashi Tsering la who has forthrightly pointed out that many western scholars come very biased when it comes to Tibetan religious sects or Bon religion. Sadly the centuries of religious persecution and lies against Bonpos since the 7th century has morphed into intentional underrepresentation or often misrepresentation by western scholars against the Bon religion. Except for a few great human beings like the late Namkai Norbu Rinpoche, Professor Per Kavaener, and Tibetan historian Tashi Tsering la, who had challenged the rest of us to open our minds, most scholars and lamas today still do not take part in publicly acknowledging Bon history and religion as the foundation of Tibetan civilization and religion. When they rarely do mention about Bon religion, they always take try take the deflate it by spreading notions of Black Bon, and White Bon. The Black Bon is supposedly what it originated with (Shamanistic and animistic) and the White Bon is discredited as copy of Tibetan Buddhism. Anyway, thanks if you read this far! Let me say this: Today, religious teachings are served like fast foods. The danger is when people get fed up with fast foods, the true meaning of religion might get tossed in the garbage bin.
I am from Gurung clan of Nepal. We still follow Bon religion, Black bon as you said because we are shaministic and animistic but as a youngster we have less knowledge regarding our religion, how it originated. This helped me a lot to know about my religion. Thank you so much. You can check how we perform our death retuals by typing " Gurung arghum retual" on youtube. Hope it might be the same as you said about Black bon.
Thank you so much for sharing! Maybe Bon wasn’t for the whole world to know. I hope to study this as much as I can, because I never knew Bon existed before yesterday! Thank you again ❤
Thank you for the Historical information about BON tradition. I had practiced Bon here in Houston Texas with a Lama back in 2018. I won’t say his full name for respect reasons. I hope that BON stays unknown and only for the one seeking for the next step.
There are so few publications on Bon art & iconography. This book, the Per Kvaerne book and the Samten Karmey publication are really the only general works available in English that I can think of.
I've watched an excellent documentary on Bon religion on TH-cam. It tells of the many practitioners today & takes us far back in time when the belief system was followed throughout Tibet & beyond. It describes how Buddhism forcefully overthrew Bon, substituting its own statues, art & monasteries. Present day practitioners are in the documentary. It is extremely well done in my opinion.
My grandparents from my father's side are indigenous to the Himalayas, there's a monastery next to my grandmother's house which has Bon monks reside in it. We even had a Bon shaman in the town and he used to live near the local gravesite.
I need advice regarding specific practices in Bon because I am not an expert and I know that there are thousands of practitioners :) I am interested in four areas 1 - It is about cleansing places and people, from negative influences,also "ghosts" other beings etc (but also attracting positive energy and beings.) Also Phowa...for the dying/for us, recently died 2 - Healing - physical body, emotional and mental ailments, cleansing and unlocking chakras, karma etc. 3 - financial dimension, attraction of prosperity (prosperity can of course be understood more than money but...mainly financial) 4 - something for myself, work with the mind, nature of the mind Sleep and dreaming / Sleep yoga, practices that allow you to maintain awareness in phase before dreaming What are the most essential, powerful and possible to perform by Westerners, with a lack of time, practices from these four groups?
This video and the comments below are the best examples of how Westerners self isolate and thus develop distorted perceptions of the world. Today in the Xizang Autonomous Region, there are more than 30000 Bon temples, more than 100000 full-time clergy, and hundreds of thousands of Bon believers. I have been to several of the largest Bon temples, which are very magnificent and spectacular. Regarding the history, culture, and teachings of Bon religion, there are countless publications in both Chinese and Tibetan languages. Bon culture flourished, but as a result, Westerners were unaware of it? ha-ha.
@@anonimo90br As far as I know, Chinese culture has always distinguished between ethnicity and religion. We believe that only those who have the right to choose are called religious freedom. No one is born with a certain religion, and no religion only accepts a certain ethnicity. Many people believe in Bon religion including Han and Tibetans, while among the Tibetan people, there are Muslims and even Christians (oh my god. sounds unbelievable and funny). The traditional Han Chinese religion, the Taoism, have taken many white followers.
Bon religion is totally mystery. This religion was before Buddhism. There were different sects in this religion like may chos , Chu chos etc But they were mostly shamans and were living with non human beings. I belong to northern areas of Pakistan . There are many petroglyphs on rocks
The book say's a demoness mated with the compassionate monkey, but it's actually an ogress that mated with the compassionate monkey and is considered to be the progenitor of tibetan people.
No, Bon has it’s own religious founder: Tenpa Sherab and before Buddhism was introduced in Tibet, Bon was the major religion in the Kingdom of Shang Shung..( today’s Guge.)..
Good bad nasty. Good bad ugly. Good bad EVIL. That's the three phases of our ancients. Its all always in Tri sequences. So, 3,6,9 became a major factor for many societies.
As someone who grew up as a Tibetan Bonpo, I believe I can explain why Bon religion is not well known in rest of the world. First and foremost, Bon settlement in exile (Dholanji) was built in one of the remotest parts of India, and only few western scholars have made it there. This remoteness, however, turned out to be a mixed blessing because outside distractions were an absolute minimal while producing a great number of learned monks with Geshe degree (doctorate). Most of these Geshes did not speak English so they could not readily go overseas to teach or write books in English. While it might seem like a disadvantage not being able to publicize the religion for its expansion, most monks put more emphasis on practicing the religion than going to the west. This principle had taken root through the leadership of Yongzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, and the late 33rd Abbot of Meri Monastery in Dholanji who planted the seed of humility, authenticity, focus on preservation, and the rigorous standards of monastic trainings. The other reason why Bon isn't well known could be explained through the lens of the well known Tibetan historian Tashi Tsering la who has forthrightly pointed out that many western scholars come very biased when it comes to Tibetan religious sects or Bon religion. Sadly the centuries of religious persecution and lies against Bonpos since the 7th century has morphed into intentional underrepresentation or often misrepresentation by western scholars against the Bon religion. Except for a few great human beings like the late Namkai Norbu Rinpoche, Professor Per Kavaener, and Tibetan historian Tashi Tsering la, who had challenged the rest of us to open our minds, most scholars and lamas today still do not take part in publicly acknowledging Bon history and religion as the foundation of Tibetan civilization and religion. When they rarely do mention about Bon religion, they always take try take the deflate it by spreading notions of Black Bon, and White Bon. The Black Bon is supposedly what it originated with (Shamanistic and animistic) and the White Bon is discredited as copy of Tibetan Buddhism. Anyway, thanks if you read this far! Let me say this: Today, religious teachings are served like fast foods. The danger is when people get fed up with fast foods, the true meaning of religion might get tossed in the garbage bin.
I am from Gurung clan of Nepal. We still follow Bon religion, Black bon as you said because we are shaministic and animistic but as a youngster we have less knowledge regarding our religion, how it originated. This helped me a lot to know about my religion. Thank you so much. You can check how we perform our death retuals by typing " Gurung arghum retual" on youtube. Hope it might be the same as you said about Black bon.
Thank you so much for sharing! Maybe Bon wasn’t for the whole world to know. I hope to study this as much as I can, because I never knew Bon existed before yesterday! Thank you again ❤
An interesting part in uttrakhand of India we follow bon religion too.
🙏🌹
Thank you for the Historical information about BON tradition. I had practiced Bon here in Houston Texas with a Lama back in 2018. I won’t say his full name for respect reasons. I hope that BON stays unknown and only for the one seeking for the next step.
There are so few publications on Bon art & iconography. This book, the Per Kvaerne book and the Samten Karmey publication are really the only general works available in English that I can think of.
I've watched an excellent documentary on Bon religion on TH-cam. It tells of the many practitioners today & takes us far back in time when the belief system was followed throughout Tibet & beyond. It describes how Buddhism forcefully overthrew Bon, substituting its own statues, art & monasteries. Present day practitioners are in the documentary. It is extremely well done in my opinion.
My grandparents from my father's side are indigenous to the Himalayas, there's a monastery next to my grandmother's house which has Bon monks reside in it. We even had a Bon shaman in the town and he used to live near the local gravesite.
We are still practicing bon religion
I love your tanka. Im gonna subscribe to you.
never heard of it, thanks for the interesting info!
...thanks for the info/link...
Thanks for the information that you are giving to the world. ❤❤
I need advice regarding specific practices in Bon
because I am not an expert and I know that there are thousands of practitioners :)
I am interested in four areas
1 - It is about cleansing places and people, from negative influences,also "ghosts"
other beings etc
(but also attracting positive energy and beings.)
Also Phowa...for the dying/for us, recently died
2 - Healing - physical body, emotional and mental ailments,
cleansing and unlocking chakras, karma etc.
3 - financial dimension, attraction of prosperity (prosperity can of course be understood more than money but...mainly financial)
4 - something for myself, work with the mind, nature of the mind
Sleep and dreaming / Sleep yoga, practices that allow you to maintain awareness in phase before dreaming
What are the most essential, powerful and possible to perform by Westerners, with a lack of time, practices from these four groups?
parasite
I would also like to know
This video and the comments below are the best examples of how Westerners self isolate and thus develop distorted perceptions of the world. Today in the Xizang Autonomous Region, there are more than 30000 Bon temples, more than 100000 full-time clergy, and hundreds of thousands of Bon believers. I have been to several of the largest Bon temples, which are very magnificent and spectacular. Regarding the history, culture, and teachings of Bon religion, there are countless publications in both Chinese and Tibetan languages. Bon culture flourished, but as a result, Westerners were unaware of it? ha-ha.
We seem to be unaware of most things.
@@rebeccamartin2399 Language barrier. Everything about China is transparent and online. But foreigners can't understand it.
Do they accept non-tibetans(chineses, indians...) as students or they are more ethnicaly inclined? Thanks!
@@anonimo90br As far as I know, Chinese culture has always distinguished between ethnicity and religion. We believe that only those who have the right to choose are called religious freedom. No one is born with a certain religion, and no religion only accepts a certain ethnicity. Many people believe in Bon religion including Han and Tibetans, while among the Tibetan people, there are Muslims and even Christians (oh my god. sounds unbelievable and funny). The traditional Han Chinese religion, the Taoism, have taken many white followers.
@@WarLionsofGesar thanks!
Bon religion is totally mystery. This religion was before Buddhism. There were different sects in this religion like may chos , Chu chos etc
But they were mostly shamans and were living with non human beings. I belong to northern areas of Pakistan .
There are many petroglyphs on rocks
Blessings
Bonpo is fascinating. Samskritam is divine. Tibet modified it in a folksy way.
I can't remember seeing any books on Bon.
there are so many.
Snelgrove, 'Nine Ways of Bon.
Where thou located at?
Bon is a originally a Sanskrit word. As in Bon Maharaj
In that idol the third eye represents lord shiva. Pasupathinath
! OM MATRI MU YE SA LE DU !
Tibetan yoga of dream and sleep
The Tri as in Trident. As in TriMurthi or the three major gods of the Hindus.
The book say's a demoness mated with the compassionate monkey, but it's actually an ogress that mated with the compassionate monkey and is considered to be the progenitor of tibetan people.
Dayana River
❤🧡❤
Buddha become bon in tibet😂
No no it’s animistic way before Buddha
@@Sneaky_007bon and buddhism belive in the core values. They just belive in a way dictated by another buddha but not shakyayumi
No, Bon has it’s own religious founder: Tenpa Sherab and before Buddhism was introduced in Tibet, Bon was the major religion in the Kingdom of Shang Shung..( today’s Guge.)..
@@ogathingo8885 no body can live in land of tibet it's impossible without food and water
@@ogathingo8885 where they get the supply 🤣🤣 from bharat and when 🤣 stupid thinking it's the land of shiva 🕉🕉 not for people
Good bad nasty. Good bad ugly. Good bad EVIL. That's the three phases of our ancients. Its all always in Tri sequences. So, 3,6,9 became a major factor for many societies.
Bon Religion is father for buddhist...buddhist bron from Yung drung Bon
Worshipping dragon like spirits..... ancient shamanism... oh I know about this stuff
🧸
Bon image is copied by Brahmans in India and worshipped as balaji
Rubbish
Everything is rubbish.
@@akshaygilda3647 your existence is rubbish
It’s just a deity bruh chill