Bön Religion – Deasy Corporation

Names: Bön, Yungdrung Bön (“Eternal Bön”).
Scope: Indigenous religion of Tibet, practiced before the arrival of Indian Buddhism (7th–8th c. CE), later absorbing Buddhist elements.
Nature: Polytheistic, animistic, shamanic, with later scholastic developments paralleling Buddhist sutra, tantra, and dzogchen.

Origins: Rooted in pre-Buddhist Tibetan animism and shamanism.
Early Bön: Ritual specialists appeased local gods, spirits, and ancestral beings.
Imperial era (7th–9th c.): Buddhism gradually replaced royal Bön rites but also absorbed them.
10th–11th c.: “Yungdrung Bön” codified as an organized tradition with monastic institutions.
Modern: Survives in Tibet, Nepal, India (Menri Monastery), and diaspora; officially recognized as one of Tibet’s five religious schools.

Supreme deity: Kuntu Zangpo (“All Good”), primordial source of reality.
Other deities:
- Satrig Ersang (Wisdom Mother).
- Local mountain gods, water spirits, sky deities.
Protective spirits: Werma, Sipé Gyalmo (fierce queen deity).
Demons & ghosts: Malevolent forces causing illness, tamed through rituals.
Ancestral spirits: Honored in clan and household ceremonies.

Creation myths: Universe emerges from cosmic egg or primordial waters.
Three worlds: Upper world (deities), middle (humans, animals), lower (underworld spirits).
Sacred geography: Tibet’s mountains, lakes, and valleys inhabited by gods and spirits.
Cyclic view: Similar to Buddhism — endless cycles of rebirth, but framed in indigenous myth.

Shamanic rites: Healing, exorcism, divination, appeasement of spirits.
Offerings: Food, incense, libations to mountain gods and ancestors.
Funerary rites: Sky burial, soul-guiding rituals (phowa).
Monastic practice: Recitation of scriptures, meditation, dzogchen (Great Perfection).
Seasonal festivals: Rites for fertility, rain, and protection.

Shamans/priests (bonpo): Early spirit-mediums and healers.
Monks & abbots: From 10th c. onward, established monasteries and scholasticism.
Oracles: Possessed by protective deities to give guidance.
Household ritualists: Performed domestic and agricultural rites.

Beliefs: Soul journeys through after-death realms; may need guidance to avoid demons.
Texts: Precursor to Bardo Thödol (Tibetan Book of the Dead) exists in Bön.
Funerary rituals: Burning, burial, sky burial, and water offerings.
Reincarnation: Souls reborn based on karma, guided by ancestral and divine forces.

Symbols: Yungdrung (swastika) = eternity; mountain cairns = offerings to gods.
Colors: White (mountain deities), red (fierce gods), black (exorcism).
Performance: Chanting, masked dances (cham), drumming.
Art: Thangkas of Bön deities similar in form but distinct in content from Buddhist iconography.

With Buddhism: Rivalry, then syncretism; Bön incorporated sutra, tantra, dzogchen.
With Chinese & Mongol states: Bön adapted to survive alongside dominant Buddhism.
Suppression: Labeled heretical by Tibetan Buddhists, later persecuted in PRC era.
Revival: Since 1960s, diaspora monasteries (Menri, Dolanji) preserve tradition.
Continuity: Bön today is both ancient shamanic practice and institutional religion, distinct yet intertwined with Tibetan Buddhism.