Early Tibetan Bon

The pre-Buddhist Bon religion was introduced by Shenrab Miwo into Zhang-zhung at about the time of the establishment of this kingdom. Some Bon sources place the founding of both the kingdom and the religion in remote antiquity, 18,000 years ago. Other scholars say Bon came to Zhang-zhung at the time of the first Yarlung king.

Shenrab was born in Olmo Lungring, which constituted a part of Tazig, to the west of Zhang-zhung. He introduced his teachings first into Tazig before propagating them in Zhang-zhung. There is much speculation about the location of Shenrab Miwo’s land of birth. Some Western scholars identify Tazig with Iran, and Olmo with Elam, in southwestern Iran. These scholars would place Shenrab Miwo at the time of the founding of the Achaemenid Dynasty in the late sixth century BCE and make him roughly a contemporary of Cyrus the Great. Based on linguistic evidence from one of Shenrab Miwo’s Tibetan names, one Russian scholar links Shenrab Miwo with Mithra.

These identifications are difficult to prove. The description of Olmo Lungring seems to include features of Mount Kailash, Shambhala, Mount Meru, Vajrasana (Bodh Gaya) and ancient Iranian geography. The only access to it, through its surrounding mountains, is via the “Arrow Path” created by an arrow shot by Shenrab Miwo. As is the case with Shambhala, there may only be an earthly representation for it, and that may be an amalgam of several models. Unlike with Shambhala, however, no guidebooks were ever written for journeying to Olmo Lungring.

Many refugees fled Iran and Sogdia during the waves of Central Asian migrations of the first centuries BCE and CE. They settled in Khotan and northern Tibet. One Russian scholar has suggested that the Iranian beliefs of these refugees may have been one of the sources of early Bon. Zhang-zhung had a great deal of contact with its northern neighbor, Khotan, whose culture was a mixture of Indian, Chinese and Iranian elements. Similarly, Zhang-zhung had a great deal of contact with Gilgit, where there were also early Iranian influences.

Changkya Rolpe Dorje and Tuken Chokyi Nyima, two eighteenth-century Monguor Mongol lamas serving the Qianlong Emperor of Manchu China, identified Shenrab Miwo with Laozi and Bon with Daoism. This has no historical or philosophical basis. It seems to have been a political expedient for convincing the emperor to include Bon monasteries in his persecution of Daoism.

In general, the major Iranian elements in Bon are the names of some of the major deities, and a dualism of good and evil, and light and darkness. This is reflected in the Bon creation myths. There are several versions, but according to one of the more popular ones, in the beginning there was a passive lord of space, Namkhe Gyalpo, and the five elements: space, wind, fire, water and earth. Shenlha Okar, moved by the wish for the world to arise, took the essence of the five elements and created the physical world. In it, arose an egg of light and an egg of darkness. In some versions, there were as many as eighteen primordial eggs.

Shenlha Okar broke open the egg of light, out of which stepped Sangpo Bumtri, the lord of existence and white light. Mebum Nagpo, as a force of evil opposed to Shenlha Okar, broke open the egg of darkness, out of which stepped Munpa Zerden, the lord of non-existence and black light. From a blue egg of light came the goddess Satrig Ersang, who coupled with Sangpo Bumtri. From their offspring came all the gods and humans. From the shadow of Munpa Zerden came the goddess Tongzham Nagmo. From their coupling came the demons and harmful spirits.

A Russian scholar has analyzed the Elamite forms of Iranian names and the early pronunciation of Old Tibetan, particularly in the Old Chinese transliteration that might have been used in the Khotan region. From his linguistic findings, several names of Iranian deities seem to correlate with the names of these Bon figures. Sangpo Bumtri, for instance, corresponds to Ahura Mazda, since both “ahura” and “sangpo” mean “wise,” and “bumtri,” spelled ’bum-khri, was transliterated “ukhari,” similar to “ahura.” In a similar fashion, Satrig Ersang and Astarte-Anahita can be correlated. Also, there are iconographic similarities between several Iranian and Bon deities, for example the wearing of serrated crowns and short skirts.

Although Zoroastrianism and Bon share a basic dualism and the names of certain figures, their creation myths are quite different. In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda is the creator of both light and darkness, good and evil. In its offshoot, Zurvanism, the primordial principle of time creates both. In Bon, however, a dualism is evident from the very beginning.

Unlike Zoroastrianism, Bon does not assert an omnipotent creator. The beings of the world arise through procreation. Furthermore, the Bon version has nothing resembling the Mithraic and Zoroastrian myths involving the dismemberment of a primal bull. Shenlha Okar, however, rides on a bull, but so does the Hindu god Shiva.

Primordial eggs are not found in any Iranian religion. In some of the creation myths found in Vaishnavite Hinduism as presented in the Puranas, there is a single primordial egg, but not multiple ones. Vishnu floats on the heads of a thousand-headed snake in the primeval waters. Out of Vishnu’s navel, grows a lotus on which Brahma is born. Brahma, reciting the four Vedas simultaneously from the mouths of his four faces, creates the “Golden Egg of Brahma” which contains all the worlds. This primordial egg does not get broken, but rather the universe and all its beings exist within it. The Vaishnavite account, thus, is very different from the Bon creation myth, and it is doubtful that there was any influence.

The Bon tradition was not the exclusive source for demons and harmful spirits in Tibetan Buddhism. A large variety of malevolent beings are found shared in common in both Indian Buddhism and Hinduism. India also had a wide assortment of helpful spirits as well. These harmful and benevolent beings in India, however, did not constitute a distinct duality as they did in the Iranian and Bon systems. Indian thought accepts the widest range of beings with a mind. They are neither classified in two categories nor said to originate from two mutually exclusive sources.

With skillful means, Buddhism incorporated the local spirits of Tibet into its array of beings. A similar process took place when Buddhism came to the Tanguts, Mongols and the various shamanic peoples of Central Asia.

There was a strong political rivalry between Zhang-zhung and Yarlung, and later the Tibetan states. The eighth Yarlung King, Drigum Tsenpo, started the first persecution of Bon. When this king was assassinated and through trickery made to cut his light-rope back to the sky, he left his remains on the earth. The king’s son succeeded him and invited the Bon priests back to Yarlung to perform the burial rites. From then until the second persecution in 784 CE, Bon continued to flourish in Tibet.

The form of Bon that continued was primarily its ritualistic side. According to one Bonpo version of the history, when Shenrab Miwo came to Zhang-zhung, he felt that the people were not yet ready for all his teachings. Of the nine doctrines or vehicles of Bon, he taught only the first four, which deal with rituals. These are known as the four causal vehicles. He said he would return in the future to teach the higher practices. According to another version of the history, Shenrab Miwo taught all his methods, but only the four ritual vehicles survived the first persecution. The rest were hidden at that time as treasure teachings to be recovered at more conducive times in the future.

The names of many of the Bon masters of this first and second period are the same, and no treasure teachings were discovered during the second period. Furthermore, at the end of the second period, in 784 CE, again it is said that only the ritual practices remained, while the rest were hidden as treasure texts. For these reasons, some scholars have asserted there was probably only one persecution, in 784 CE.

The most important function of the Bon priests until 784 was the performing of royal funeral rites and subsequent ceremonies at the royal tombs. Even though Buddhism was already present at the Tibetan royal court from the reign of Songtsen Gampo in the mid-seventh century, the Tibetan kings were still buried with Bon ceremonies up until the 784 persecution. Food, clothing and jewelry were offered, and sheep, yaks, horses and sometimes even humans were sacrificed. Although such sacrifices for the dead were not part of ancient Iranian religions, the early Bon beliefs about an afterlife, like its creation myths, reflect a basic Iranian-style dualism.

Bon describes two regions of the dead. One is a land of light and joy where humans and animals continue a life of happiness and abundance. The other is a region of darkness and suffering. Just before the end of the world cycle, those in the realm of light will be resurrected and live once more on this earth.

The journey of the dead to the land of light and joy is full of dangers. Funerary rites, and especially sacrificed animals, can be of great help. There is much scholarly disagreement about the origin and meaning of the word “bon,” but it seems to connote a type of sacrificial offering. The animals act as a ransom substitute or scapegoat for malignant spirits who might otherwise harm the deceased. They can also be ridden during the deceased’s journey and act as guides. Human sacrifices can further act as scapegoats and provide servants and companions. Offerings of food, clothing and jewelry can be used both on the journey and in the joyous land of the dead. Animal sacrifices were also offered as scapegoats and ransom to malevolent spirits causing sickness.

In India, Buddhism was very strongly against animal sacrifice. In Hinduism, Vishnu appeared as Buddha as his ninth “avatar” (incarnation) specifically to stop this type of practice. In its vows and warnings about Islam, the Kalachakra Tantra especially emphasizes not sacrificing animals. Aside from the possible political threat that Zhang-zhung Bon posed to Buddhist Tibet, the main characterization and objection to Bon by such early Buddhist masters as Milarepa in the late eleventh century was its animal sacrifice.

Bon priests also made sacrifices on the occasion of formal state treaties. Even after the 784 persecution of Bon and the formal adoption of Indian Buddhism in Tibet, this custom persisted. When the oath of peace was taken between the Tibetans and Chinese in 821 CE and a treaty signed establishing the border between the two countries, animals were sacrificed. Official Bon customs disappeared only slowly.

When Bon and the first Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Nyingma, emerged more strongly in Tibet in the eleventh century CE after a period of difficulty, there were many features shared in common. Each asserted that they originated their common practices and that the other borrowed from them. It is impossible to decide one way or the other. As in the case of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain tantra in India, one can merely say that there were certain themes current at a particular time, and each of the religious systems of the period adopted the idiom.

Thus, by the eleventh century, Bon and Nyingma rituals were performed with statuette scapegoats, and offerings were made with sculpted barley dough cakes, “torma” in Tibetan. According to the Bon tradition, there was already a system of “ancient Bon” present in Zhang-zhung when Shenrab Miwo arrived. Animal and human sacrifice were part of this pre-Shenrab system, and it was Shenrab Miwo who taught people to use statuette and barley cake substitutes. The Buddhists borrowed this from Bon.

From the Buddhist point of view, Buddhism taught the use of these substitute scapegoats and offerings as a skillful means for reaching the Tibetan native cultural mentality. Bon adopted it from Buddhism in order to avoid further persecution. Furthermore, the Buddhists explain that torma cakes are a cultural substitute for the more typical Indian style offerings of flowers, rice, fruit and sweets, found not only in Buddhism, but also in Hinduism as “prasad.” These Indian offering substances were not easily available in most of Tibet. Later, the sculpting of torma barley cakes and their decoration with butter sculptures became a distinctively Tibetan form of devotional art.

The early Bon concept of an afterlife in a land of joy, preceded by a long, potentially dangerous journey, is slightly parallel to the Buddhist idea of a rebirth in a divine realm, preceded by an in-between or “bardo” period. But the ancient Bon conception involved a permanent soul, which is not the case in Buddhism. In Indian Mahayana, there was already the custom of performing ceremonies for persons in the seven- to forty-nine-day bardo state in order to help improve their rebirth. With both this and the Bon funerary rituals as antecedents, bardo rituals became very prominent in the Nyingma and Bon of the eleventh century CE.

The offering of paintings of animals or the visualization of them during tantric Buddhist protector ceremonies may also be a skillful means for appealing to a populace used to animal sacrifice. The most commonly offered beasts are stallions, wild yaks, rams, eagles and mastiff dogs. In Tibetan Buddhism, however, the animals take on several levels of symbolism. Horses, for example, naturally race each other due to strong jealousy. Therefore, the horse is a symbol of jealousy and the subtle energy associated with it. By offering horses, one is offering the subtle energy of jealousy to be dissolved so as to reach the subtlest level of consciousness. This level is harnessed in the highest class of tantra for gaining the most efficient realization of voidness.

Ancient Chinese religion also prescribed human and animal blood sacrifices for the burial of kings. Offerings of servants, animals and wealth would be used by the spirits of the royal ancestors, although there is no specific description of a land of the dead. As was the case in early Tibet, these practices were replaced with more humane customs.

Confucian ancestor worship substituted for actual objects funerary paper money and drawings on paper of material wealth. These were ceremoniously burned as an offering to the dead. Many Chinese Buddhists also continue this custom. Cinnabar, a red mercury compound, was substituted for blood. In Daoist yoga, cinnabar became one of the chief ingredients used in alchemy to prepare the elixir of immortality. Just as sacrificed blood would sustain the lives of departed royal ancestors, transmuted cinnabar was thought to have the power to prolong life.

The concept of a life-spirit, “la” (bla) in Tibetan, is prominent in Bon. As there is no clear equivalent for it in Indian Buddhism, it was probably adopted into Tibetan Buddhism as a skillful means Central Asian Turkic idea of qut, the spirit of a mountain. Whoever ruled the area around a certain sacred mountain was the Khan, the ruler of the Turks and later of the Mongols. The king was the person who embodied this qut or life spirit. It conferred charisma on him, enabling him to rule. The only source in which the Tibetan word “la” occurs is the Kalachakra Tantra, where it translates “white bodhichitta” as a spark of subtle energy that cycles around the body in coordination with the phases of the moon.

According to Bon, the life-spirit is mobile and leaves the body when one exercises the imagination or memory. It is also the organizing principle of life. Sickness is sometimes caused by one’s life-spirit having been stolen by malevolent spirits. Ceremonies involving the use of scapegoats and ransoms made of sculpted barley dough are employed in both Bon and Tibetan Buddhism to hook back in the stolen life-spirit and thus restore a patient’s health.

The life-spirit can be housed in a stone. Parallel beliefs were seen among the Tanguts. In Bon marriage ceremonies, the bride is given a turquoise to wear around her neck as her life-spirit stone. The groom is given a piece of gold with the same function.

Similar to the life-spirit is the prosperity-spirit. If many good quality horses or livestock of a family mysteriously die, this is attributed to a harmful force stealing the prosperity-spirit of the family. Rituals with barley cake scapegoats and ransoms are also performed to hook it back in. In Amdo, northeastern Tibet, when a horse is sold, often a piece of the hair from its mane will be kept and tied to the enclosure where the horses are kept. This is to retain the prosperity-spirit.

The Tibetan word for prosperity-spirit is “yang” (g.yang), which is a homonym for the Chinese word for sheep. Although no parallel folk belief seems to be found among the Chinese, nevertheless the sheep is associated among the Tibetans with the prosperity-spirit. At Tibetan New Year, Tibetans traditionally eat the head of a sheep, possibly reflecting an earlier sacrificial rite. A sheep’s head is also sculpted out of either barley dough or butter and displayed during the new year celebration. This is to gain prosperity for the year.

One of the more common types of being that might steal a life-spirit is a naga. Naga rituals are found in Bon and all forms of Tibetan Buddhism.

Nagas are half-human, half-snake-like creatures. They may possess great wealth. The natural environment is their domain. They live in or under bodies of water, under trees and under hearths. If people are respectful of them and their habitats, nagas will protect them. Nagas can also be guardians of the teachings. Buddha entrusted the Prajnaparamita Sutras to the nagas, who safeguarded them beneath the lake that had filled Kathmandu Valley. They kept them there until Nagarjuna retrieved them. If people pollute the environment, particularly bodies of water, and indiscriminately chop down trees, the nagas can cause harm. Skin diseases and leprosy are often explained in this way. 

Naga rituals are also found in Hinduism. In general, Hindus venerate snakes. Snakes are mostly associated with Shiva. There was an extremely venomous thousand-headed serpent that was poisoning the ocean. Shiva drank the poison from the ocean and removed it. This caused his body to turn blue. To symbolize this feat, Shiva is usually depicted with a snake coiled around his neck and another on the crown of his head. Snakes are thus worshipped as a symbol of Shiva. Since Vishnu tamed this thousand-headed snake, he is often depicted as sitting on its heads in the middle of the ocean.

In Hinduism, a naga is a snake born from a human mother. Unlike nagas in Buddhism and Bon who often have human upper torsos, these nagas do not have any human qualities. They are raised by their human mothers but then are chased away from villages by the frightened people. The nagas go to a natural spot, often by a waterfall or fast-moving stream, and disappear beneath the ground. The people then build a temple to them on this site. Offerings are presented to the nagas at these temples, and rituals performed in order to seek their good graces.

The center of the Hindu naga cult is in Himachal Pradesh, northwestern India, particularly in Kangra district where His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama currently lives in exile. The Bhagsu Nag Temple (“nag” is Hindi for “naga”) in Dharamsala is one of the most famous Hindu naga temples.

According to Buddhism and Bon, nagas are not the only type of being that can cause illnesses. Other malevolent spirits may be involved. Bon uses many techniques to determine the cause and appropriate treatment of sickness. Aspects of these ritual procedures are also found in all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Again, it is difficult to say whether these practices originated in Bon or in Buddhism. Let us describe them in Bon.

When someone is ill, a master is first consulted for a pro­gnostication using the Tibetan mo system. In early Bon, this was performed by reading certain features from knots. The prognostication indicates whether the disease is caused by a harmful spirit, and if so, identifies the type of spirit and the specific rituals to be performed. Bon, like Buddhism, accepts karma. But it as­serts that one’s previous actions only account for half of the ex­planation of what befalls someone. Equally re­sponsible are the influences from outside forces, such as malevolent spir­its. In curing someone, it is necessary to placate these spir­its and the external environment.

In Tibetan Buddhism, prognostication is made with either three dice or counting off the beads of a rosary. One visualizes oneself in the form of a Buddha-figure and usually invokes either Palden Lhamo or Tara. These are two female Buddha-figures, the former forceful and the latter peaceful. There is also a system using Manjushri, a male Buddha-figure embodying the wisdom and clarity of mind of all the Buddhas. In order to invoke any of them, it is necessary to have completed an intensive meditational retreat focused on them, repeating their mantra several hundred thousand times.

After obtaining a prognostication, one next consults a Bon astrologer who checks if there have been adverse astrological influences involved. Space-harmonizing webs woven of colored string and determined by the patient’s astrological data may be advised. Such webs harmonize and neutralize the external forces involved with one’s chart. Each string in the web is one of five colors, correlated with the five elements. The astrologer will also recommend the most auspicious time for performing other rituals indicated from the prognostication.

Thirdly, the patient would consult a physician. As in Buddhism, both medicine and astrology form an integral part of Bon. It is difficult to isolate from general Tibetan herbal medicine the originally Bon components. There are several Zhang-zhung names and terms, however, in the Tibetan Buddhist medical texts. The most outstanding example is the name of the most powerful medicinal plant, “arura,” used in a large variety of preparations.

The actual rituals performed for the sick may also be done for purifying any obstacles or pollutions. Again, many of their component elements are found in both Bon and all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. For instance, a ritual master may sprinkle specially consecrated water mixed with medicinal substances. In ancient Bon, this was done with the flick of a white grouse feather or a twig of a juniper tree. In Buddhism, a peacock feather or twig of a fruit tree is most often used. In the Buddhist tradition, the peacock is noted for thriving on a diet of poisonous plants. Therefore, it is often a symbol of the purification of poisonous forces, as well as poisonous, disturbing states of mind, such as anger and clinging attachment. Later Bon also uses peacock feathers for sprinkling consecrated water.

The second characteristic feature of these Bon/Buddhist rituals is the offering of smoke. The ritual master burns the branches and leaves of the juniper tree, with powdered medicines poured on top. This offering of juniper smoke, “sang” in Tibetan, is also performed on mountain passes for placating local spirits, at the new year to ward off malevolent forces and on the roadside when greeting or seeing off a spiritual master.

The Kalachakra Tantra gives the ingredients for making medicinal incense and recommends the inhaling of various fumes for treating different illnesses. The juniper smoke ritual, however, seems to be specifically Tibetan in origin.

Protection cords may also be given to ward off harm. These are usually in the form of a red string with a specially tied knot in the middle. The Bon or Tibetan Buddhist master who gives such a cord blows on the knot after having said many mantras. The cord is then tied around one’s neck. 

Red protection cords with a knot are not exclusively a Tibetan phenomenon. They are also given by brahmin priests in Hinduism. Such cords are tied around the wrist, however, and not the neck. During Buddhist tantric empowerments, similar cords are tied around the upper arm to protect against interference.

Although ancient Bon was not the same as the shamanism of Central Asia, they have certain aspects in common. Some of these common aspects also influenced Tibetan Buddhism. For example, the Tibetan customs of tying prayer flags to trees and offering rituals to the spirit protectors of mountain passes are found in both Bon and shamanism.

Tibetan prayer flags, both Bon and Buddhist, have mantras and prayers printed on them, and often a horse of fortune in the center. The Tibetan word “horse of fortune,” or more fully, “horse of the valley of fortune,” is frequently spelled in a different way, meaning “wind-horse.” In Old Tibetan, another spelling gives “postal-stage horse.” As with ancient Chinese postal customs, there were stages along the road at which postal carriers would change their horses for fresh mounts. A fresh horse traveling like the wind became the Tibetan symbol for the carrier of good fortune. The wind carries the mantras and prayers on the flags to the various spirits, both benevolent and harmful.

Prayer flags are hung not only to prevent harm from mountain spirits, but also to placate malevolent forces causing sickness. They are also hung at new year and marriages to ward off obstacles. Each flag is in one of the five colors of the five elements. As with space-harmonizing webs, the specific colors chosen sometimes have astrological significance.

Some people believe that the use of oracles in Tibetan Buddhism and Bon is of shamanic origin. But actually, shamans and oracles are quite different. In the classic shamanism of Siberia and Central Asia, the shaman goes into trance during which his or her mind leaves the body and travels to realms either above or below the earth. There, the shaman contacts various spirits and propitiates them in order to bring about the health and welfare of various people who have requested this help.

An oracle, on the other hand, is a highly developed being, sometimes from one of the divine realms, who takes possession of a medium in trance and speaks through him or her. The oracle, himself or herself, then gives advice and answers questions about the future. The mind of the medium does not leave his or her body and make contact with anyone. On the contrary, the medium is totally unconscious throughout the possession and retains no memory of what has passed.

Oracles are found in both Bon and all Tibetan Buddhist traditions. This is not exclusively a Tibetan phenomenon. Oracles in a Buddhist context are found also in India, throughout the Himalayas, Central Asia and in Southeast Asia as well. They are also prominent in Hinduism and Islam throughout this entire area. In fact, oracles are commonly found all over the world, in almost all cultures. The Buddha himself did not teach the practice of oracles. This is another example of Buddhism’s adapting to local customs.

Shamans, on the other hand, are not found in either Bon or Tibetan Buddhism. Nevertheless, there are a few features held in common between Central Asian and Siberian shamanism and Bon. One of the most noteworthy is the division of the world into three regions: above the earth, on its surface and beneath the ground. The Buddhist three planes of existence are classified according to the minds of the beings inhabiting them, and not by their location. There are the planes of those preoccupied with desire for sensory objects, those enthralled by ethereal objects with form and those who are formless. Occasionally, Tibetan Buddhism skillfully makes reference to the Bon threefold scheme.

The Tibetan and Central Asian mediums for oracles wear special costumes, often with a mirror hung on their chest. Many tap the mirror with a thumb-ring. These characteristics are reminiscent of the customs of Central Asian and Siberian shamans with their drums. Indian and Southeast Asian oracle mediums do not wear any special costumes.

When a Tibetan Buddhist or Bon medium goes into trance, assistants chant a ritual text inviting the oracle to take possession. In the case of Indian and Southeast Asian Hindu and Buddhist mediums, there are usually no assistants. Possession is brought on by the will or chanting of the medium.

It is difficult to distill out the ancient pre-Buddhist Bon practices and beliefs from later Bon. The Bon religion has always been eclectic, combining and modifying features from many traditions, such as Iran, ancient Zhang-zhung, Gilgit, Khotan and, later, Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. This feature can be seen from the earliest times.

The earliest strands of Bon seem to combine certain Iranian concepts of dualism and deities with a Zhang-zhung and Tibetan sacrificial burial cult. Elements common to Buddhism are also present, but they do not necessarily need to have come from the Tibetan form of Buddhism. Some scholars have postulated early influence from Khotanese and Gilgit Buddhism, and one cannot rule out Parthian and Sogdian Buddhist sources as well.

During the course of Tibetan history, parallel developments have emerged in Bon and Buddhism. Both seem to have been responding with skillful means to their current milieu. We shall explore this phenomenon while discussing the development of Buddhism in Tibet.