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Chapter 08
Bon Po Religion
independent kingdom of Zhang-Zhung before it was forcibly incorporated into the expanding Tibetan empire in the eighth century. This "Buddhism", known as gyer in the Zhang-Zhung language and as bon in the Tibetan, was not particularly monastic, but more Tantric in nature and its diffusion was stimulated by the presence of various Mahasiddhas in the region such as the illustrious Tapihritsa and his predecessors dwelling in caves about Mount Kailash and about the lakes to the east in Northern Tibet. Even into this century, Kailash remained an important site of pilgrimage drawing Hindu sadhus and yogis from India. [44] Such a mixed "Buddhist" culture, being both Tantric and shamanic, was suppressed in the eighth century when, at the instigation of the Tibetan king Trisong Detsan, the last king of independent Zhang Zhung, Ligmigya, was ambushed and assassinated when he left his castle of Khyung-dzong on the Dang-ra lake in Northern Tibet. Zhang-Zhung and its people were absorbed into the Tibetan empire and disappeared as an independent entity. The ZhangZhungpas were pressed into the service of the Tibetan army as it expanded westward into Ladakh and Baltistan. [45] Today the Zhang-Zhung-pas survive as the nomad people of Western and Northern Tibet, often possessing the same ancient clan names. But having been converted to the Drigung Kagyudpa school of Buddhism, they have forgotten their ancient heritage. The old caves, once the dwelling places of the Bon Po Mahasiddhas, are now thought to be the domain of ghosts, places to be shunned and avoided. Yet ancient ruins, believed to antedate the Tibetan empire, are still to be seen at Khyung-Iung (Khyung-Iung dngul-mkhar) west of Kailash and on the shores of the Dang-ra lake to the east in Northern Tibet. [46] In response to the urgings of the Indian Buddhist monk-scholar Bodhisattva, who thoroughly rejected these Bon Po heretics, [47] and failing to recognize the ties of doctrine and practice between the "Buddhism" of Zhang Zhung known as Gyer or Bon, with the monastic Buddhism recently imported from India into Central Tibet, the Tibetan government actively suppressed the indiginous religious culture of Zhang-Zhung. Moreover, the persecution of the Bon Po's by the Tibetan king Trisong Detsan may have had a political motive and not just a religious one. At that time, the Bon Po's in Tibet were certainly not organized into a rival church or sect that could effectively oppose the Indian monks financially supported by the Tibetan government. This picture was a later anachronism created in the accounts of the medieval Buddhist historians. Rather than a conflict of rival religious doctrines, a parallel might be the suppression and subsequent annihilation of the Druids by the Romans in Gaul and Britain, where the Druids represented an ever-present source for Celtic nationalism and rallying point for resistance against Roman rule. In the same way, the Bon Po's may also have been suppressed because they represented a possible source of Zhang-Zhung-pa rebellion against the rule of the Yarlung dynasty of Tibet. Just as the Druids were accused of making human sacrifices and the Romans used this accusation as an excuse to exterminate them, so the Bon Po's were accused of making blood sacrifices and this represented another excuse for expelling them from Tibet.
The Three Traditions of Bon Po Dzogchen In general, within the Bon tradition, there exist different lines of transmission for the Dzogchen teachings which are collectively known as A rdzogs snyan gsum. The first two of them represent Terma traditions based on rediscovered treasure texts, whereas the third is an oral tradition
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The Bon Po Traditions of Dzogchen
