370 sven bretfeld
While Western Tibetology strictly discriminates between the later
Bon tradition and the indigenous Tibetan religion for good reasons,
Tibetans themselves (Bon-pos and Buddhists) con ate them. However, a
systemised religious tradition calling itself Bon appears in the late tenth
century at the earliest. Bon texts are believed by their followers to have
been translated from originals written in the language of Zhang-zhung.
Most of them are said to have been hidden as gter-mas during the Bon
persecution of Khri-srong-lde-btsan and to have been recovered from
the early eleventh century onwards. Bon soon became the object of Bud-
dhist polemics,^61 aiming mainly at the great similarity of Bon doctrine
and symbols to their Buddhist counterparts. Indeed, many aspects of
Bon theory and practice are strikingly similar to Buddhism, especially
to the rNying-ma-pa traditions (in polemics rNying-ma-pas were often
accused of being Bon-pos in a Buddhist disguise, while Bon-pos were
attacked as plagiarists). There is no simple answer to the question of
who in uenced whom, as we have to deal with a complex dialectical
process. P. Kvaerne puts it into words:
By the eleventh century, however, an organized religious tradition, styling
itself Bon and claiming continuity with the earlier, pre-Buddhist religion,
appeared in central Tibet. It is this religion of Bon that has persisted to our
own times, absorbing doctrines from the dominant Buddhist religion but
always adapting what it learned to its own needs and its own perspectives.
This is... not just plagiarism, but a dynamic and exible strategy that has
ensured the survival, indeed the validity, of a religious minority.^62From the late eleventh century Bon-pos developed a monastic system
similar to Buddhist monasticism. The rst monastery was founded in
gTsang by Bru-chen g.yung-drung bla-ma, while Menri, founded in
1405 in gTsang, is regarded as the main Bon monastery of Central
Tibet. Next to monasticism, Bon religious specialists are often found
to lead the lives of roaming yogins.
- Politics and Canonisation
The “later spread”, as a phase characterised by the import of Buddhist
traditions from India and commonly viewed by later tradition as a
revival movement of Tibetan Buddhism, can be said to have come to
(^61) Cf. Martin 2001.
(^62) Kvaerne 1987, p. 277.