Strictly speaking, the Bon religion maintains impressive regional and ethical cultural features. This is attributed to the fact that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Tibetan residents there have not cast off the atmosphere of religious culture since ancient times. Secular culture has always mingled with religious culture without a distinct separation.
Archaeological findings indicate that the forefathers of the Tibetan people worked and lived in today’s Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as the “Roof of the World”, as early as the Paleolithic age. The Tibetan people believed in a traditional and venerable religion with close ties to their daily life. This is the religion that eventually emerged as the Bon. It is a lengthy historical course for the origination and development of the Bon, which is also closely related to all aspects of Tibetan society and the geographical environment. Therefore, it is necessary to have a rough understanding of Tibetan society.
The Kangrinboqe Mountain.
According to the ancient Tibetan historical book The History under Pillars, “the Tung, Dang, Sai and Mo were the four major patriarchal clans that appeared earliest in the snow-covered Tibet.’’ They are known as the “Four Surnames” in a more accurate mode, as many Tibetans continue to carry these surnames to this today. This shows that the four surnames or clans are the origin of the Tibetan people.
After a prolonged period, the history of Tibet gradually took clearer shape:“thereafter, it was ruled in succession by Nine Masang Brothers, 25 small principalities,12 small principalities or 40 small principalities.’’① The frequent change of rulers and the social structure that kept on splitting and merging underscore the historical evolution or basic characteristics of ancient Tibet society and indicate that Tibet was a primitive society then.
The classic scriptures of Bon Religion.
As Tibetan society developed, concepts of spirits and deities emerged and numerous gods appeared such as those 1inked to mountains, water, the 1and and the heavens, and more. According to relevant Tibetan historical literature, the worship of spirits and deities can be traced back to the late years of the primitive society, but the details are vague and unverifiable. However, the concepts on spirits and deities gradually took shape with the progress of ancient Tibetan society. Animism enabled the forefathers of Tibetans to piously kneel down before various spirits and deities who were believed to have power. They presented affordable sacrificial offerings in worship, gratitude or atonement and prayed for blessings.
The History under Pillars notes：“The twelve sages including Bonpo Sai, Bonpo Mar, Bonpo Tung and Bonpo Ao offered sacrifices to the spirits and deities.” This occurred around the 4th century BC. The twelve sages were actually twelve Bonpos of the Bon religion. Here the word “Bonpo’’ means “sorcerer” or “priest” and the words after it are their surnames. Noteworthily, it was from the title Bonpo that the name of the Bon religion came from. According to numerous Tibetan historical records, the twelve Bonpos were special personalities, being both the priests in charge of all spiritual and cultural activities and the administrative chiefs of the twelve small principalities. Similar to people serving as both priests and kings in different ancient periods, the Bonpos were characterized as being half human beings and half deities. This situation of sorcerers serving as kings and kings practising sorcery is regarded as a social cultural phenomenon in a particular historical evolution period.
The rock art paintings of Bon Religion in Jinchuan county, Aba prefecture, Sichuan province.
According to the written records, with the further development of Tibetan society, the first kingdom and its Tsenpo (king) appeared around the 4th century BC It marked an epoch-making change in ancient Tibetan society: the old primitive society disintegrated and a new united slave society started to emerge. However, with this qualitative change of the social forms, the sorcerers serving as tribal chiefs gradually lost power to rule, marking both the next step in historical development and a separation of religious and political power. From then on, deprived of their positions as tribal chiefs. these sorcerers dedicated themselves to their religion. It is likely that the Bon religion, the traditional faith of Tibetans, sprouted around this time. Despite its apparent initial immaturity, the Bon religion won over the common people, perhaps in reaction to the mythical exaggeration of sorcerers and the Practice of extremely mysterious rituals.
To sum up, the Bon religion originated in ancient Tibetan society and experienced a historical evolution and development. It evolved into a complex religion with relatively developed scriptures and systematic teachings and rituals based on an initial spontaneous religion with worship of natural elements such as the heaven, the land, the sun, the moon, stars, thunder and lightning, mountains and rivers, etc. The historical evolution, formation and development of the Bon religion can be roughly divided into three periods: the Dor-Bonism, the Cha-Bonism and the Jo-Bonism.
Note:
① Tsalpa Kunga Dorje, Red Annals, annotated by Dungkal Losang Trinley, translated by Chen Qingying and Zhou Runnian, Lhasa: Tibet People’s Publishing House, 1988, P. 29