- Introduction
Bonism
is the native religion of Xizang (Tibet). It is a sect of animistic
shamanism, a pantheistic cult embracing the belief that all beings in
the universe have souls. It prevailed in Xizang (Tibet) before the introduction
of Buddhism in the 8th century. After that the Tibetan Buddhism had
absorbed some beliefs and rituals of Bonism, as the dependence on oracle,
astrology, pantheism. For instance, the selections of tulkus/living
Buddhas began with oracle, astrology and the observations of mirages
of holy lakes and if there were several candidates, then sometimes the
service of an oracle-priest was called. On the other hand, Bonism was
modified according to the model of Buddhism to become a branch of Tibetan
Buddism, the black sect.
At the present, Bonism, although having lost its prominent position,
nevertheless has followers in many Tibetan tribes and some isolated
areas. The rituals and the beliefs of Bonism were an integral part of
the Tibetan culture.
- Stages
of Bonism
- Original Bonism
According to the legend of Bonism, the Bonism was created by Tenpa
Sherab, a contemporary of Buddha, in a mystic country known as `Tag-gzig'
somewhere in Ali (upper Shangshung).
The ancient country Shangshung was populated by Turko-Mongols according
to some theory. What is now Ali (the present West Tibet) was the
Upper Shangshung, what is now Chamdo was the lower Shangshung, and
the present North Xizang (Tibet) was the Middle Shangshung. The written language
of Shangshung had been preserved to the present day, and what we
know about it can be explained in Jiang's (a semi-Tibetan race lives
in Qinghai) linguistic data. Shangshung was a stronghold of Bonism.
The Bonism believed that at the very beginning of the creation,
there were two eggs, one white and one black. The two eggs burst,
and from the white one came out deities, human, etc, from the black
one came out parasites, demons, etc. The southern Tibetan had another
theory of a Monkey and a female rock-demon as the common ancestors
of Tibetan.
Bonism spread to many tribes. The 8th King of Yarlung kingdom, Tze-gum
(Dri-gum) accidentally cut off his `sky-rope' and was buried in
a tomb. A Bonism priest performed the ritual of `disciplining corpse'
to prevent the ghost to come back to harm the living ones (in this
case, the ghost came back to his household to have sex-intercourse
with a female to produce a son). From then on the Bonism priests
were involved in constructing tombs and spreading the Bonism funeral
rituals. In the funerals for kings, human sacrifices were used,
large amount of treasures, weapons were entombed. In its modified
form, the Bonism funeral service had lasted to the present day.
The Bonist priests also engaged in the rites of calling on good
fortune and increase of wealth, putting up thread structures intended
to capture demons and dispersed the causes of error, and fortune-telling.
They claimed the capabilities of riding drums to soar to the sky
to become rainbows.
- Yungdrung Bonism
According to most Tibetologists, the emblem Yungdrung (Nazi swastika
which is the reserved Buddhist emblem) was introduced into Xizang
(Tibet) along with Buddhism in the 7th century. However some Tibetans
believed that it was the evolutionary result of the pictograph for
`sun' by studying some cave-paintings in Xizang (Tibet). Yungdrung
Bonism adopted this emblem as the sign of Bonism, and systemized
the doctrines which included the way to pray for fortune, medicine,
victory in warfare, and how to arrange the proper funeral ritual,
and the magic methods to tell truth form false, to tell the guilty
from the innocent.
The stronghold of Shangshung was crushed by the 5th king, Khri-srong-de-tsan,
of the Tubo dynasty. The last king of Shangshung, Lepung Gyapo,
made Lake Thongpots his kingdom's sacred lake where he would go
on pilgrimage every year on the fifteenth day of the first month.
Khri-srong-de-tsan sent a man to Shangshung to conspire with the
youngest wife of the King to murder him during the annual sacrificial
ritual at the lake. The assassination accomplished, the youngest
wife of King Lepung Gyapo became a concubine of Khri-srong-de-tsan.
After the crushing of Shangshung kingdom, Bonism persisted and further
spread in Tubo dynasty. The Bonism priesthood gradually moved upward
in politics, interfering the justice system and eventually became
prime-ministers several times in the Tubo dynasty. The kings sometimes
felt threatened by them, and ordered the prohibitions of Bonism.
The most important Tibetan military strategies were ambush and surprising
attack. To prevent treacheries, the partners, king and generals
etc, would have convention annually (sometimes every three years,
or semi-annually) to be `oath-bound' in front of deities according
to the Bonism ritual. Bonist priesthood became the trustee of national
politics. There were live-sacrifices in these conventions. In one
of the `oath-bound' gatherings, a monkey was first with legs broken
and butchered, and then all people took turns to take oaths with
the fate of the monkey as a reminder of bad faith. According to
Tang Annals, Bonism dominated the 'oath-taking' procedures, and
Buddhism subordinated to Bonism.
- Jo-Bonism
The 5th king, Khri-srong-de-tsan, of the Tubo dynasty spread Buddhism
in Xizang (Tibet) and was the public enemy of Bonism. According to some later
books of Bonism, that caused the collapse of the Tubo dynasty. In
the whole period of Tubo dynasty, although sometimes Bonism was
disfavored by the court, it assumed the most prominent position
in Xizang (Tibet) usually. In the meantime Buddhism was under heavy pressure
in India. There was a revitalization of Hinduism internally, and
a spreading of Islamism from Persian. Hinduism eventually destroyed
Buddhism by proclaiming Buddha as one of many reincarnation of the
Hindu supreme god Krisnar.
Tibetan Buddhists, as led by Padmasambhava, proclaimed the Bonist
deities as the minor deities of Buddhism, adopted Bonist beliefs
and rituals, and permitted meat-eating. Therefore, Tibetan Buddhism
absorbed and damaged Bonism. After the downfall of Tubo dynasty,
the Bonists did the similar thing, when Bonism was badly damaged,
by taking over the whole deity system of Tibetan Buddhism while
replacing the Indian names with Bonist ones (Sakyamuni became Tenpa
Shakya Tubpa) and further proclaiming Buddhist sutras were identical
with Bonist sutras except the names of deities. In this way, Bonism
had survived. Bonism had her 'nine vehicles' like Buddhism, her
monasteries, meditations, Living Buddhas/Tulkus. Sometimes, Bon
priests had become synonymous with 'Tantric magicians'. From then
on, the distinction between Tibetan Buddism and Bonism was `neither
any too obvious nor any too ambiguous'. The distinctions were mainly
different emphases.
- Basic
Beliefs of Bonism
As we pointed out previously, there was no basic difference between
Tibetan Buddhism and Bonism, we could only say that Bonism emphasized
more, Tibetan Buddhism emphasized less, on the following points.
- Pantheism
Bonism believed that all beings in the universe had souls. In the
rituals, all objects would be blessed. The most obvious objects
to be worshiped were mountains and lakes. The mountains and ranges
were usually considered to be male deities and lakes female deities.
Mt Yarlha Shampo (where the first Tibetan KIng descended) was the
main mountain deity of Bonism. Almost all mountains and lakes were
deities. For instance, about 100 kilometres north of Lhasa, there
was the snow-crested `Nianqing (i.e. God almighty) Tanggula' Range.
This mountain was one of Tibet's most famous sacred mountains. Not
too far from it was the celestial lake Namtso, Tibet's largest lake,
which was said to be the wife of Mt Nianqing Tanggula. The sacred
Mount Nianqing Tanggula was an endearing mixture of kindness and
compassion, his human-like pettiness and jealousies notwithstanding.
By his side lied a lower mountain, his son. When he saw the boy
growing taller and taller, he jealously roared, "I'll see to it
that you'll never tower over me," and gave him a hard slap, thus
stunting the boy's growth.
For the important matters, war, harvest etc, the people would gather
to pray to the mountain deities.
There were deities and demons living on the high mountains. Therefore
it was dangerous to travel there. At the mountain passages, there
should be special rituals to safe-guard against the demons. They
put up heaps of stones which were known as 'warriors' castles' (dpa-mkhar)
or 'laptse' explained as 'a toll on the roads and passes'. This
was the origin of the `mani piles' of the `prayer's flags' at these
passages.
- Smoke
Similar to Taoists of Han people, Bonists believe that the smoke
produced by pine twigs, Tibetan joss-sticks or tsamba (cakes of
barley flour) they burn will open the `sky gate' and will carry
their prayers to the deities. This belief is shared by Tibetan Buddhists.
- Ritual
For any important events, Tibetan would go through four steps; (1)
oracle (2) astrology (3) ritual (4) action. For instance, if a person
was sick, an oracle-priest would be called to determine if it was
caused by some demons, then an astrologist would be called to determine
if the `birth-stars' of the sick person were operating normally.
Then the rituals to exorcise would be performed if necessary. Only
then the sick person would be sent to see a doctor. In a marriage,
an oracle-priest and an astrologist would be called to determine
if the union would be a good one. Then a fixed ritual of proposition
would be followed. Only then the marriage would happen. The Bonist
rite consistes of sacrificing sheep, yaks, goats, horses (the above
blood-sacrifices will not be used in Buddhist rite), precious stones,
precious metals as ransom (`glud') to please demons. To cure a sick
man, the rite will call back the protectors, `country-god' (`yul-lha'),
`warior god' (`dgra-lha') (which are parts of `soul', the visitor
will notice the similarity between these and Taoist beliefs), in
other words, the rite will `call back the soul'.
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