Revealing the secrets of Tibetan Bon religion

 

Revealing the secrets of Tibetan Bon religion

 

Two hundred million years ago, the Tibet area was originally a vast ocean. More than 20 million years ago, it began to rise significantly during the ancient Himalayan orogeny, forming today's plateau landform. Tibet is the main part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau covers an area of about 2.5 million square kilometers and has an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters above sea level. It is the highest and largest plateau in the world and is known as the "Roof of the World".

During this trip to Tibet, the wise man Agudengba and the caravan leader Lacuo traveled along southern Tibet to the foot of the Gonggar Snow Mountain. The conversation between the two turned to their knowledge of Tibet.

Agudengba said to Lacuo:

To understand Tibet, you must first understand Tibetan religious beliefs. To understand Tibetan religious beliefs, you must first understand Bon religion.

Bon is a native religion in Tibet, evolved from Tibet's primitive shamanistic beliefs, and is also the earliest religion in Tibetan history.

Bon religion originated from Tibetan prehistoric primitive worship. Before the influx of Buddhist culture into Tibet, Bon religion had always been present in all aspects of Tibetan society, whether in production or folk beliefs.

The objects of Bon worship include various natural objects such as heaven, earth, sun and moon, thunder, lightning, hail, rocks, grass and animals, as well as gods and ghosts of nature. It is said that the highest god of Bon religion is Ye Xian. Bon religion was originally an animist religion that worshiped natural phenomena such as heaven, earth, sun, moon, stars, thunder and lightning, mountains and rivers. After a long period of development, it has formed many philosophical scriptures and systematic canons. Rituals are man-made religions.

Bon believers wear black scarves on their heads, so they are called "black sect" by Tibetan Buddhist believers. Bon believers believe that "Black Sect" is a hostile term, because in Tibetan the word "Black Sect" is called "True Dharma" compared to Buddhism, and it means "evil religion". ​

Bon believers divide its history into the early primitive Bon religion and the later Yongzhong Bon religion. Primitive Bon religion is actually an animistic shamanic belief. Yongzhong Bon religion was founded by Prince Xinraomiwo of Xiangxiong after reforming primitive Bon religion and formed its own unique theoretical system.

Agudengba said to Lacuo again:

We already know that the symbol of the Nazi Party is the "swastika", which is related to the Nazi Party's inspection of Tibet. The symbol of Tibetan Bon religion is "Yong Zhong Qia Xin", which is a symbol formed by two left-handed "卍" characters connected; its symbol is in the opposite direction to the "卐" character.

The core idea of Bon religion is "ben". According to the interpretation of Bon believers, the original meaning of the word "ben" is "chanting" or "reading chants", which is a free translation from the word "ji" in Xiangxiong.

"Ben" has eight major categories. "Ben" in Bon religion has roughly the same meaning as "Dharma" in Chinese Buddhism. It means "truth", "reality" and "true teachings", including everything and everything. "benzene".

The teachings of Bon today are very similar to those of Tibetan Buddhism. Like Buddhism, Bon views the world as a place of suffering and seeks spiritual liberation. Their teachings include karma, reincarnation, and the six realms. Bon monks play a similar role to Tibetan Buddhist lamas, and Bon gods and rituals are often similar to those of Buddhism, although names and statues differ.

Lacuo asked: What is the difference between Bon religion and Tibetan Buddhism?

Agudemba said:

The main difference between Bon and Tibetan Buddhism is that the source of religious authority for Bon is not the Indian Buddhist tradition, but the original Bon religion derived from Shang Shung.

There were initially many sects in Zhangzhong, now the Ngari area of Tibet. Later, the Yongzhong Bon religion founded by Xinraomiwo gradually took over and spread widely. ​

The primitive Bon period, also known as the Duoben period by Tibetan Buddhist scholars, generally started from the founder of Bon, Xinraomiwo, to the eighth Tibetan king Zhigong Tsampu. Some studies believe that primitive Bon was influenced by Zoroastrianism. For example, primitive Bon religion has the tradition of worshiping fire and light, and many religious rituals are also quite similar to Zoroastrianism. For example, Bon’s funeral customs-sky burial is similar to Zoroastrianism. ​

Primitive Bon religion personified all things in nature and used the concept of animism to explain the existence and changes of all things and phenomena. At this time, the objects of Bon belief were very many and complex, including "magic ben", "zan ben", "bath ben", "luck ben", "divination ben", "dragon ben", and "spirit ben". , "Calendar Benz" and dozens of other Bon religions.

In the sacrificial ceremony, the Bon religion slaughters cattle, sheep and other animals to sacrifice to the gods, burns grains to simmer mulberry for the gods, kowtows to show respect to the gods, and kneels down to show piety to the gods; Buddhism that was later introduced to Tibetan areas absorbed the original Benzene in form. The religious form of Tibetan Buddhism has become one of the important features of Tibetan Buddhism.

During this period, Bon religion had not yet formed its own systematic theoretical system. It was scattered, independent and unconnected with each other. It also had some primitive witchcraft qualities and was dominated by the worship of ghosts and gods.

Bon shamans held a high status in the Tubo royal court and played an extremely important role. There is a "Guxin" in the Tubo royal court, whose status is equivalent to the position of national teacher, and is held by Bon wizards. Every Zanpu who ascends the throne must be certified by "Gu Xin" and build a temple called "Saikang" for "Gu Xin" as an offering. Every time Zanpu makes a decision, "Gu Xin" will decide whether it can be implemented through divination.

Yongzhong Bon Religion was founded by Xinrao Miwo. This period was the mature and final stage of Bon Religion, which can be further divided into the early and late stages. The later stage influenced each other with Tibetan Buddhism and became today's Bon Religion. Tibetan Buddhist scholars call them the Qiaben period and the Juben period respectively.

The early period of Yongzhong Bon religion was called "Qiaben" by Tibetan Buddhism. This period was the mature stage of Bon religion, which roughly lasted from Zhigong Zanpu to Songtsen Gampo. During the Zhigong Zanpu period, the power of the Bon religious group in the royal court was large enough to threaten Zanpu's royal power. In order to safeguard its own interests, Zhigong Zampu invited three specialized Bon shamans from Kashmir, Shangshung and Burud in an attempt to suppress the Bon community. Finally, Zhigong Zanpu was killed by his minister Luoang Dazi in a competition. Drigong Tsampu's body was thrown into the Brahmaputra River, and his two sons were exiled. Later, Zhigong Zanpu's son killed his enemy and regained the throne. He hired a Bon wizard from Zhangzhong, built the first Zanpu mausoleum, and inherited the throne in a religious ceremony from Zhangzhong's Bon teacher.

The culture of the Douban period had become a bad habit at that time, and the backward parts of it tended to die out. Qiaben abolished and merged various and complicated objects of worship, and created the Yongzhong Bon religion that believed in the "Three Realms". It divided the world into heaven, earth and underground, and worshiped the god "Zan", the earth god "Nian" and the dragon god "Lu". ". At this stage, Zanpu was no longer regarded as the son of the god. Xinraomiwo, the founder of Bon religion, was regarded as the leader. Zanpu, ministers and people began to offer sacrifices to the gods and leader, and it began to be institutionalized.

Lacuo asked: What exactly are the beliefs of Bon religion?

Agudemba said:

The original Bon religion believed that all things were animistic and worshiped the sun, moon, mountains and rivers. Many Tibetan customs and lifestyles today, such as turning to sacred mountains, worshiping sacred lakes, planting wind and horse flags, doing divination, fortune telling, and praying, etc., all originated from the early Bon religion. teach. But Bon religion has a common problem common to all primitive religions, which is blood and cruelty.

In primitive religion, believers like to put their likes and dislikes above gods. People like to be served by others, so there are living sacrifices with "human animals" as the main body. Human beings are the first of all living things, and their bodies are It is also sacred. Under this religious view, the mind-numbing human skin thangkas, human skin drums, and leg bone trombones also emerged.

Songtsen Gampo introduced Buddhism from the Tang Dynasty and Nepal, which can be considered as the dividing line between the early and late Yongzhong Bon religion. The Yongzhong Bon religion during this period was called "Ju Bon" by Tibetan Buddhism. At this stage, Bon religion introduced a large number of doctrines from Buddhism, enriched its own theory, and became a set of established religious systems.

Lacuo asked: Some people praise Songtsen Gampo, but others say he is very cruel.

Agudemba said:

Yes, you are right.

Buddhism was introduced to Tibet during the reign of Songtsen Gampo. Songtsen Gampo himself did not believe in Buddhism. The harsh laws he enacted included amputating limbs, cutting off tongues, gouging out eyes, skinning and other tortures that were completely contrary to Buddhist teachings, which fully confirmed this. However, at that time, Tibet was controlled by the "three major lords", and the whole territory was filled with dozens of torture methods such as cutting off tongues, cutting off noses, wearing stone hats, cutting off hands and feet, gouging out eyes, cramping, skinning, drowning, and even being thrown into scorpion holes. .

Due to the influence of the Bon religion and the deliberate distortion of Buddhist teachings by interested people, early Tibetan Buddhism was full of double body practices (double cultivation), human skin sacrificial vessels, and all kinds of esoteric teachings that killed people as sacrifices to ghosts and refined corpses into gold. Spells. At that time, Tibetan Buddhism, which combined lust and cruelty, was essentially a primitive religion under the guise of Buddhism, with the Hindu Shaktism and the native Bon religion as its essence.

Agudemba continued:

Since Bon is a native religion in Tibet, it had an absolutely dominant position in the early days and had the right to participate in and discuss government affairs. It was very powerful and had many believers. When the Tubo army went on an expedition, Bon shamans often accompanied the army to improve the morale of the Tubo army through witchcraft.

In order to consolidate his power, Songtsen Gampo tried to restrain the Bon forces that were powerful enough to threaten the king's power by supporting the forces of Buddhism. However, due to geographical restrictions and resistance from the Bon culture, Buddhism has never been able to spread widely.

During Trisong Detsen's reign, in order to maintain the authority of Zampu, he began to vigorously support Buddhism and invited many Buddhist monks from Nalanda Temple in India to promote Buddhism. Later, Trisong Detsen established Buddhism as the state religion and suppressed Bonism through debates between Buddhism and Bon. Trisong Detsen's policy was resisted by many ministers, but they all ended in failure.

After Trisong Detsen established Buddhism as the state religion, several generations of Tsangpu continued this policy. During the reigns of Trisong Detsen and Trisong Detsen, the position of "monk prime minister" was established above the nine ministers of government affairs. Putting the status of Buddhist monks above secular nobility. The monks and ministers forced the promotion of Tibetan Buddhism, and the crackdown on Bon Religion became even more severe.

Bon lost its battle with Buddhism because of its unformed teachings. Agudemba continued:

However, the Bon believers were unwilling to fail. They referred to Buddhist methods, compiled and translated Bon classics, and gradually established their own complete theoretical system. However, Trisong Detsen considered it a blasphemy against the state religion, banned the spread of Bon religion, and massacred and exiled Bon believers. Many Bon believers fled to remote areas such as Ngari, Amdo, and Kham. From then on, Bon religious activities began to move underground and to remote areas. Bon religion was later introduced to Gannan and Yunnan regions.

In order for the Bon religion to survive, the Bon religion was fully Buddhistized. The Bon religion enshrined the Buddha, Bodhisattva, Vajra, and King Ming of Buddhism. They gave up their previous black religious uniforms and changed them to red and yellow cassocks. They no longer wore long hair and shawls, just like Buddhist monks. Hair shaving has become a branch of Tibetan Buddhism, but some doctrines and ritual rules have been retained. For example, it is done in a counterclockwise direction when approaching the pagoda, while most Buddhists do it in a clockwise direction.

However, Tibetan Buddhism is also deeply influenced by Bon. For example, most of Tibetan Buddhism’s deities, protectors, rituals, ritual objects, offerings, costumes and even symbols are inherited from Bon. ​

When Langdama destroyed the Buddha, Bon religion revived again. After the collapse of the Tubo Empire, the Bon religion rose again. Around the same time as the later spread of Tibetan Buddhism, Bon took advantage of the opportunity of academic freedom to fully establish its own religious theory. Many Bon classics were compiled during this period.

Agudenba said:

Bon culture was severely damaged during the Tibetan land reform movement and the Cultural Revolution. Many temples were demolished, and important temples such as Tashi Meiri Temple, Rela Yongzhonglin Temple, Sejie Temple, and Seguocham Temple were severely damaged. Even completely destroyed, many monks and believers fled to India, Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal and other places to rebuild Bon temples. After the reform and opening up, Bon temples across Tibet have been restored one after another. The central temple of Bon Religion is Tashi Meiri Temple, located in Nanmulin County, Shigatse Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region.

The concept of the three realms of gods in Tibetan Bon culture, whether it originated from the local Bon culture in Tibet or from surrounding Central Asian civilizations, has profoundly affected the spiritual world and belief habits of the Tibetan people to this day.

Lacuo said nothing more.

Agudengba sang an impromptu song "The Gods of the Three Realms":

 

In ancient times before the establishment of Yongzhong Bon religion,

Tibet was still in the period of primitive shamanism.

There is no system yet for the gods we believe in;

Just animistic pantheism.

 

Changes occurred after the establishment of Bon religion.

People began to believe in the gods of the three realms,

The sky is the realm of gods and the middle is the realm of praise.

The level below is called the Dragon Realm.

 

The founder of Bon religion and the nine creation gods,

Living on the top of Mount Sumeru in the heavenly realm,

The wizard wears five-color ribbons on his body.

It is intended that the spirit will fly up to the sky on a rainbow.

 

The middle world is a world of wandering souls.

After death, a person will become a kind of demon,

Neither going to hell nor ascending to heaven,

The soul only wanders in the middle world.

 

The lower realm of the universe is the world of dragons,

Dragons live underwater in seas, lakes and rivers,

And all the places on earth, mountains and forests,

The belief in dragons is due to frogs.

 

The frog is an offering given by the wizard to the dragon;

Tibetans also worship fish, snakes and scorpions.

The gods of the three realms leave no doubt to the Tibetan people;

Penetrate into religious folk culture.