"Personal Instructions from My Totally Excellent Guru."

October 24, 2020 3:43 PM

Bön is a Tibetan religion followed by about 10% of Tibetans within Tibet and internationally, similar to Tibetan Buddhism yet usually seen as a pre-Buddhist indigenous religion originating within the Zhang Zhung region in what is now Western Tibet. That area is filled with a number of abandoned caves and other historic sites, many of which are adorned with rock art and rock art paintings (pdfs). Many early Bön texts have been found in a walled off cave called the Library Cave, closed up around the 11th century and re-opened and accessed in the early 1900s. The International Dunhuang Project is attempting to provide one central place to access many of the documents from that cave which were given away or sold. [previously]
posted by jessamyn (3 comments total)

Thanks. Some Buddhist teachers (like my teacher's teacher, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche), are considered to be in the Rimé tradition, which indicates allegiance to multiple lineages, including Bön, which has similarities to indigenous teachings from many different continents.
posted by kozad at 6:03 PM on October 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

Bön literally medans 'prayer' in Swedish.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 4:02 AM on October 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this post, Jessamyn! My parents studied under teachers of several Tibetan lineages including those that taught practices of the Bonpo, though I hadn't realized all the political intrigue and cultural influences over the centuries.
posted by turtlegirl at 9:56 AM on October 25, 2020 [2 favorites]