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Bon:
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Bon was the indigenous religion of Tibet that, when partly absorbed by
the Buddhist traditions introduced from India in the 8th century, gave
Tibetan Buddhism much of its distinctive character.

Little was known to the outside world of this once flourishing religion
until recently due to the fact that its followers were subject to severe
persecution. With the growth in the popularity of Tibet as a tourist
destination and an increasing interest in the region's history, studies
have been carried out into the traditions of Bon.

Shamanistic in nature, in as much as it is based on the concept of a
world pervaded by good and evil spirits, it is believed to have
originated in the land of Olmo Lungring. It was introduced into the
ancient Kingdom of Shang Shung, which once covered much of today's
Tibetan territory by Tonpa Shenrab Miwo. He was born a prince and had
experiences similar to those of Sakyamuni, his Buddhist counterpart and
was said to have subdued a number of demons. A fundamental belief of the
followers of Bon was that in their heaven, to which they referred as
'Sridpa Yesang', there were three deities who controlled the world. These
were Dagpa, Salba and Shepa, one of whom controlled the past, another the
present and the third controlled the future. It was they who held the key
to Bon doctrines and Tonpa Shenrab Miwo claimed to be their earthly
incarnation endowed with the power to control the current time. In the
eighth century, Songtsen Gampo conquered Shang Shung and established a
unified Tibet, introducing Buddhism as the chosen religion. As the Bon
priests tried to exercise influence in royal and political affairs by
claiming supernatural powers, the ruling Tubo family encouraged Buddhism
while banning the practice of Bon. It was during the reign of Lang Darma
that the followers of Bon endeavoured to eradicate Buddhism but this was
to fail following the assassination of Lang Darma. Buddhism rose in
popularity while Bon went into decline.

In order that their faith should not be entirely wiped out, the followers
of the Bon doctrines introduced reforms and adopted aspects of Buddhism.
Despite its suppression, Bon traditions survived under difficult
conditions and continued to develop aspects of metaphysics, cosmology,
philosophy and an extensive written canon. In 1998 a Tibetan Tibetologist
produced statistics which showed that some 90 monasteries in the Tibet
Autonomous Region, the majority being in Dengchen (a county in Chambo)
had a population of some 3000 monks, about 90 reincarnated high monks and
over 130 thousand Bon followers. In the main, there are now three Bon
sects, these being the Old Bon, The Yungdrung Bon and the New Bon.

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