Bön

Tibet’s indigenous religion, shaped by and shaping Tibetan Buddhism.

c. 300 BCE → · Tibet · Dharmic

Bön is the native religious tradition of Tibet, originally a body of shamanic and ritual practices concerned with local deities, healing, and the fate of the dead. After Buddhism arrived it reorganized itself with its own founder, canon, and monasteries, developing in close parallel to Tibetan Buddhism while keeping distinct rites such as counter-clockwise circumambulation. The two traditions deeply influenced one another over the centuries.

Key figures

• Tonpa Shenrab (legendary founder)

Texts

• The Bön canon (Kangyur and Tengyur)

Beliefs

• Harmony with local gods and land spirits
• Liberation through wisdom and ritual
• A path developing alongside Tibetan Buddhism

Rituals

• Mantra, ritual, and pilgrimage
• Counter-clockwise circumambulation
• Veneration of mountains and sky

Grew from

• Animism & Shamanism

Connections in the atlas

• Klu (lu)
• Tibetan astrology (Kālacakra)
• Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar
• The pilgrimage to Kailash
• The Tibetan Kangyur
• Padmasambhava
• ? Where does shamanism come from?
• Mandala and yantra
• The Mountain at the Centre of the World
• ▶ How Buddhism crossed Asia
• Yeti
• Buddhism over the Himalaya