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The
scriptures of the Bön religion
The
scriptures are traditionally divided into two sections:The
Kanjur contains the words of the Buddha Tonpa Shenrab, the founder
of the Bön-religion. The
Katen contains the ”Commentaries” of the succeeding masters.
The
Kanjur: This collection is divided into four sections,
and in the catalog by the great scholar Abbot Nyima Tenzin, these
sections are presented as follows:
- The
Class of Sutra: This section comprises Sutras as well as texts dealing with the
monastic discipline. The three versions of biographies of Buddha-Tönpa
Shenrab are also found in this section. According to this catalog
it consists of 62 volumes.
- The
Class of Bum: “The Hundred Thousand” This section contains
the Prajana Paramita texts, and it consists of 102 volumes.
- The
Class of Tantras: This section contains the basic tantric
texts of Bön. There are eighteen volumes in this section.
- The
Class of Treasury: The works in this section expound the
system of Dzogchen, the “Great Perfection”, which contains the
highest philosophical doctrines and meditation practices of Bön.
The most important text in this section is the Zhangzhung Nyengyu,
the “Oral Transmission of Zhangzhung”. There are four volumes
in this section.
The
Katen contains the “Commentaries of all kinds that
rely on the Buddha’s Words” of the succeeding masters, volumes
of texts on meditation, philosophy, rituals and their narratives,
and works connected with arts, logic, medicine, astrology and so
on. According to the present version of the Katen that was published
in 1998 in Lhasa, there are over 300 volumes.
Today
several Asian, American and European universities and other institutions
have these text collections, and several international academic
networks have cooperated to preserve the scriptures of the Tibetan
Bön religion by catalogization, digitalization, and translation.
The
purpose of the scriptures
H.E.
Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, principal teacher and
highest spiritual authority of the Bön religion, describes the purpose
of the Bön scriptures in The Condensed Meaning of an Explanation
of the Teachings of Yungdrung Bön:
“As for the essence of the teachings, having relied upon proper
conduct and practice, there will arise qualities of a virtuous aspect
and these will become the means for exhausting the obscurations
which afflict the individual.”
Like
good medicine, the Bön scriptures offer a cure for all sufferings.
Ignorance
and Enlightenment
All
sufferings are caused by ignorance which, obscuring the natural
state of mind, leads to negative emotions such as hatred, desire,
jealousy and so forth.
The
central motivation of followers of Bön, known as Bönpos,
is the “Pure and Perfect Mind” (changchub Sem), the wish to eliminate
the suffering of all living beings. Buddha Tonpa Shenrab taught
that Enlightenment is possible for all because the very Buddha-Nature
is present within all beings.
Just
as darkness fades away when the light of the sun penetrates space,
so the obscurations of the mind dissolve when clear “awareness”
(rigpa), which dwells in the endless expanse of the natural state
of mind, is realized.
The
Wheel of Existence: the ways of samsara
The
ways of Samsara all lead to obscurations and suffering. As a result
of our actions every one of us continuously transmigrates through
countless reincarnations experiencing the pain of birth, old age,
illness, and death.
Tonpa Shenrab teaches that the apparent “beginning” of every
new life is merely a configuration of the karmic traces (bagchag)
from preceding lives, and thus it is nothing but the tangible result
of the positive and negative imprints which earlier acts have made
upon the mind.
An understanding of the “law of karma” (le-dre) – explaining that
all acts are causes which will have effects - is therefore the real
gateway to all the ways of Bön, which provide effective, positive
remedies against suffering.
The
Wheel of the Teaching: The Nine Ways of Bön
Tonpa
Shenrab gave many teachings on different levels according to the
capacity of beings. All these teachings are transmitted in nine
successive “Ways of Bön” which are divided into two sections,
the Bön of Causality and the Bön of Fruition. Together
they encapsulate the full range of secular and spiritual knowledge,
the living expression of Tibetan religion and culture.
The
Bön of Causality mainly addresses secular human welfare
with teachings on healing, astrology, divination, and rites for
the benefit of the deceased. These methods for attaining temporally
happiness are divided into four branches: teachings on the field
of medicine in the broadest sense; ways to maintain harmony between
species; mechanisms which protect the community, and funerary
rites. Traditionally they are known as:
-
Chashen
Thegpa, “The Way of Prediction”. This includes the teachings
of divination, astrology, misfortune-adverting rituals, and
medical practices. According to Bön, these are transformed into
a spiritual path to enlightenment, if practiced on the basis
of the compassion towards all beings and the aspiration to attain
enlightenment for their sake. Medicine is viewed as being inseparable
from the religious path and should also include practices such
as veneration of the healing deities.
- Nangshen Thegpa, “The Way of the Visual World”.
This expounds the origin and nature of gods and demons living
in this world and their inter-species relations as well as various
methods of exorcism and offerings of symbolic ransoms. It also
includes rituals for element and environment purification and
prosperity.
- Trulshen Thegpa, “The Way of Miraculous Transformation”.
This teaches mechanisms of community defense, explains rites for
disposing of adverse power, use of mantras, mudras (ritual hand
gestures) and meditation on wrathful deities to subjugate, repel,
or transform malicious forces and negative energies.
- Sishen
Tegpa, “The Way of Existence”. Rites for the welfare of
the deceased cover practices that are to be performed at death,
including an explanation of how to identify which of the eighty-one
kinds of deaths has occurred, so that one can perform the appropriate
practices and funerary.
The
Bon of Fruition contains profound, essential practices
leading to the ultimate liberation, the achievement of Buddhahood.
The teachings in this sphere are subdivided into five branches
or vehicles: religious observances for lay people; religious observances
for monks; Lower Tantra; Higher Tantric wisdom teachings, and
teachings on the Supreme Realization, Dzog-chen. These are traditionally
known as:
-
Genyen
Thegpa, “The Way of Virtuous Lay Practitioners”. This
teaches the code of the Ten Virtuous Actions of body, speech
and mind, such as avoiding killing, stealing and sexual misconduct,
and the practice of meritorious activities, such as generosity
and loving kindness, helping sick and dying people, prayer and
so on.
- Drangsong
Thegpa, “The Way of Sages”. Drangsong, “ Sage”, is the
Bön term for a fully ordained monk, and so this section deals
with monastic discipline. This also includes teachings on emptiness,
developing Jangchub Sem, the “Pure and Perfect Mind”, practicing
the Ten Perfections, the Five Paths and Ten Spiritual Satges.
- Akar
Thegpa, “The Way of the Primordial Letter White A”. This consists
of the Mother Tantra, which teaches the techniques for attaining
enlightenment. It emphasizes on the teaching of Kye-rim, the Stage
of Generation, the practice of visualizing oneself as a tantric
deity in the center of a mandala.
- Yeshen
Thegpa, “The Primordial Vehicle”. This emphasizes on the teachings
of Dzog-rim, the Stage of Completion, practices that are based
upon tsa, lung and thig-le, a spiritual anatomy of internal channels,
winds and drops. It also expounds the teachings on the master-disciple
relationship, and on devotion as the method for attaining enlightenment.
- Lame
Thegpa, “The Supreme Way”. This highest level of teachings
is known as Dzogchen, The Great Perfection, which neither renounces
nor transforms samsara, but lets the obscurations liberate themselves
by correct insight into their original nature. This teaching emphasizes
exploring and experiencing the natural state of the mind in order
to liberate delusions, miseries and suffering. Here the disciple
receives the direct introduction to the ultimate nature of the
mind. On the basis of that experience there are advanced and esoteric
practices known as Trek-choe and Thoe-gal. The Bon tradition is
particularly important for research into the historical origins
of Dzogchen because it represents a continuous transmission from
the earliest time. There are three lineages of Dzogchen within
the Bon tradition: the A-Tri, the Dzogchen and the Zhangzhung
Nyengyu
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