hala or to hidden valleys, untouched by man, in the secret
recesses of the Himalayas.
Summing up, Tibetan popular religion may perhaps be
characterized as an infinitely varied attempt to circumvent,
or at least mitigate, the mechanism of the law of moral cau-
sality. According to orthodox Buddhist doctrine, this law is
inexorable and its justice cannot be avoided; however, since
one cannot know what acts one has committed in the past
for which one may have to suffer in the future, the intolera-
ble rigor of the law of cause and effect is in practice modified
by a religious worldview in which the destiny of the individu-
al also depends on ritual acts and on spiritual beings—
benevolent as well as malevolent—who may at least be ap-
proached and at best be manipulated.
BON. It has already been noted that a class of ritual experts
in the pre-Buddhist religion were known as bon pos and that
certain early sources indicate that their religion was known
as Bon. In any case, the later sources all agree that the pre-
Buddhist religion was in fact known as Bon, and these
sources tend to describe the struggle between Bon and Bud-
dhism in dramatic terms. This is true not only of the later
Buddhist sources but also of texts emanating from a religious
tradition, explicitly styling itself Bon, that emerged in the
eleventh century, if not before.
While virtually indistinguishable from Buddhism in
such aspects as philosophy, monastic life, ritual, and icono-
graphical conventions, this “later” Bon has always insisted
that it represents the religion that prevailed in Tibet before
the coming of Buddhism. In spite of occasional syncretic ef-
forts on both sides, the Buddhists have tended to regard Bon
as heretical, and not infrequently the term bonpo has been
used in the sense of “heretic,” “black magician,” and so forth.
Two points about Bon must be made. First, the histori-
cal background of the Bon religion that emerged in the elev-
enth century is far from clear. There is a significant element
of continuity with the pre-Buddhist religion, but nothing ap-
proaching identity. Second, it is seriously misleading to iden-
tify Bon with popular religion in general. On the level of
popular religion, followers of Bon and Buddhism alike share
the same beliefs and perform, to a very large extent, the same
rituals, although details may differ (for example, the Bonpos
spin their prayer wheels and perform circumambulations in
the opposite direction than the Buddhists do, i.e., counter-
clockwise; they worship different deities and hence use other
mantras, and so forth). These correspondences do not repre-
sent a case of “perversion,” “contradiction,” or the like (as
has been too hastily suggested), for Bon and Buddhism share
the same religious ideals and goals, and they approach them
by essentially similar means.
TIBETAN RELIGION TODAY. An overview of Tibetan religion
would be incomplete without an attempt to take stock of the
situation in the early years of the twenty-first century. The
most significant single fact is the downfall of monastic reli-
gion. Starting in the 1950s and culminating in the period of
the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, the Chinese
unleashed a violent antireligious campaign in Tibet that re-
sulted in the total destruction of monastic life. A large num-
ber of monks were killed, and the rest were, without excep-
tion, defrocked. Most monasteries were razed to the ground,
and others were converted into secular buildings such as gra-
naries or army barracks. Vast libraries were destroyed, and
ritual objects, Buddha images, and relics were systematically
profaned. At the height of the campaign, even the most insig-
nificant expression of religious faith would be severely pun-
ished by Chinese soldiers or Red Guards.
The new and more pragmatic policy in China began to
take effect in Tibet around 1980. A number of buildings, of-
ficially regarded as historical monuments, were carefully re-
stored; a limited number of monks were installed in a num-
ber of the largest monasteries: EBras-spungs (Drepung) near
Lhasa, Bkra shis lhun po (Tashilhunpo) outside Gshis ka rtse
(Shigatse), and Bla brang (Labrang) and Sku Dbum (Kum-
bum) in eastern Tibet; a few temples were reopened for wor-
ship; and hundreds of other monasteries were reconstructed
on a voluntary basis by the Tibetans themselves. On the
whole, religious activity seems to be tolerated as long as it
does not interfere with government policies. Tibet has in fact
seen a remarkable resurgence of religious fervor that finds
outlet, among other things, in the reconstruction of
monasteries and the traditional practices of the popular reli-
gion, including extended pilgrimages to sacred mountains
and other sites throughout Tibet. Within the limits set by
the political and economic conditions imposed on Tibet, it
is clear that religious belief and practice remain a fundamen-
tal factor in the overall situation in the Land of Snow.
Among the Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal, reli-
gious life flourishes, to a large extent along traditional lines.
There is a tendency to emphasize monastic life together with
those aspects of Buddhism that are common to all Buddhists.
In the West, many Tibetan lamas have become highly suc-
cessful “gurus,” and numerous Tibetan Buddhist centers
have been established, generally focusing on the teachings of
one particular order and emphasizing meditation and ritual
rather than conventional, scholastic studies. In exile, the
fourteenth Dalai Lama, Bstan Ddzin rgya mtsho (Tenzin
Gyatsho; b. 1935), has become an internationally respected
Buddhist figure, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1989 and
a guide to the Buddhist way to human happiness and world
peace through the development of insight and compassion.SEE ALSO Avalokite ́svara; Dalai Lama; Gesar; Kingship, arti-
cle on Kingship in East Asia; Merit, article on Buddhist
Concepts; Pilgrimage, article on Tibetan Pilgrimage; Wor-
ship and Devotional Life, article on Buddhist Devotional
Life in East Asia; Yinyang Wuxing.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tibetan religion is a field in which quasi-esoteric literature
abounds. However, there are also many works of serious
scholarship available to the general reader. The following sur-
vey lists titles that are easily available.9186 TIBETAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW