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The Bon Po Traditions of Dzogchen
The Bon Po and Nyingmapa Traditions of Dzogchen
In general, the Dzogchen teachings are found only in the old unreformed Tibetan schools. of the Buddhist Nyingmapas and the non-Buddhist Bon Po's. In both cases, these teachings are substantially the same in meaning and tenninology, and both traditions claim to have an unbroken lineage coming down to the present time from the eighth century and even before. Both of these schools assert that Dzogchen did not originate in Tibet itself, but had a Central Asian origin and was subsequently brought to Central Tibet by certain masters known as Mahasiddhas or great adepts. There thus would appear to exist two ancient and authentic lineages for the Dzogchen teachings, the Buddhist and the Bon Po. As I have previously discussed the Nyingmapa Buddhist tradition of the origin of Dzogchen in my book. The Golden Letters, here I shall present a preliminary survey of the Bon Po tradition of Dzogchen known as the ZhangZhung Nyan-gyud. This Bon Po tradition is especially important for research into the historical origins of Dzogchen because it claims to represent a continuous oral tradition (snyan-rgyud) from the earliest times coming from Zhang-Zhung in Western Tibet. [1]
Vajranatha
Although some medieval and modem Tibetan histories written by cloistered Buddhist monks portray the ancient pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet called Bon as a nefarious mixture of sorcery, black magic, shamanism, and bloody sacrifices, this appears to be just so much anti-Bon Po propaganda providing a melodramatic effect. The principal aim of these Buddhist historians was to glorify the role of Indian Mahayana Buddhism in Tibetan history, suggesting that there was no culture nor civilization in Tibet before the coming of Indian Buddhism to Central Tibet in the seventh century of our era. India, the birthplace of the Lord Shakyamuni Buddha, was looked upon, not only as the source of all genuine religion and spirituality, but as the source of civilized culture generally, and even the lineage of Tibetan kings was traced back to an Indian origin by such native Tibetan historians as Go Lotsawa, Buton, and others. [2]
Another problem is that the Tibetan term bon, probably deriving from the old verb fonn 'bondpa, meaning "to invoke the gods," [3] has two different cultural referants. In the first usage, Bon does indeed refer to the indigenous pre-Buddhist shamanistic and animistic culture of Tibet, a culture that possessed many characteristics in common with other shamanistic tribal cultures of
Copyright Acknowledgement - Author, John Myrdhin Reyndds 'Vajranatha. Printed by Permission. Original Source Bon Tradition of Dzogchen, Vajra Publications, 1992.
Ref. Vol. XVI Ch. 125 B Pg. 7374-7396
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The Bon Po Traditions of Dzogchen
