Tibetan Buddhism - Tibet - page 579

trolled the complex burial rites of the Yarlung kings. Bön was the state religion of Tibet
until the reign of Songtsen Gampo (r 629-49).
Bön is thought to have its geographical roots in the kingdom of Shang-Shung (which is
located in western Tibet), and its capital at Kyunglung (Valley of the Garuda). Bön's
founding father was Shenrab Miwoche, also known as Tonpa Shenrab, the Teacher of
Knowledge, who was born in the second millennium BC in the mystical land of Olma
Lungring in Tajik (thought to be possibly the Mt Kailash area or even Persia). Buddhists
often claim that Shenrab is merely a carbon copy of Sakyamuni (Sakya Thukpa), and cer-
tainly there are similarities to be found. Biographies state that he was born a royal prince
and ruled for 30 years before becoming an ascetic. His 10 wives bore him 10 children who
formed the core of his religious disciples. Many of the tales of Shenrab Miwoche deal with
his protracted struggles with the demon king Khyabpa Lagring.
Bön was first suppressed by the eighth Yarlung king, Drigum Tsenpo, and subsequently
by King Trisong Detsen. The Bön master Gyerpung Drenpa Namkha (a gyerpung is the
Bön equivalent of a lama or guru) struggled with Trisong Detsen to protect the Bön faith
until the king finally broke Shang-Shung's political power. Following the founding of
Samye Monastery, many Bön priests went into exile or converted to Buddhism, and many
of the Bön texts were hidden.
The modern Bön religion is known as Yungdrung (Eternal Bön). A yungdrung is a
swastika, Bön's most important symbol. (Yungdrungling means 'swastika park' and is a
common name for Bön monasteries.) The Nine Ways of Bön is the religion's major text.
Bönpos still refer to Mt Kailash as Yungdrung Gutseg (Nine-Stacked-Swastika Mountain).
The Bön order, as it survives today, is to all intents and purposes the fifth school of
Tibetan Buddhism. Pockets of Bön exist in the Changtang region of northern Tibet and the
Aba region of northern Sìchuān (Kham).