Bon

soulive1112420

Recently I have started studying a lot about Bon and ancient Tibetan medicine. I have found it to be fascinating. I was wondering what you all thought about Tibetan Bon Practice.

compassionate_warrior

. I was wondering what you all thought about Tibetan Bon Practice.

Tell us about it.
And how is "ancient Tibetan Medicine" different from contemporary Tibetan medicine?

SherabDorje

Give a reference so we're all discussing the same thing?

compassionate_warrior

I've come across references that say Dzogchen originated with Bon.

zidangus

Here is a wiki article on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bön

Metta to all sentient beings

Dakini

Recently I have started studying a lot about Bon and ancient Tibetan medicine. I have found it to be fascinating. I was wondering what you all thought about Tibetan Bon Practice.

Could you provide some direction to this discussion, maybe some specific questions or points that interest you? We need something to get the ball rolling, here.

Dakini

Besides, I'm going to have to read up on this more. I have a book on Bon. From what I gather, though, it's not synonymous with shamanism, though it contains elements of it.

soulive1112420

wow i completly forgot about this sorry. Really busy with HS sports and wor. Recently iv been reading a lot of books on tibetan bon and dzochen. Bon is an Anicent spirtual tradtition that supposedly was founded 17,000 years ago in tibet.
Prevalent all across Tibet for centuries, but its popularity faded around 9th century when Buddhism began to become popular.Went underground and was suppressed for a few hundred years. It seems like bon predates Buddhism and shares many of the same concepts and beliefs. Some (not all) of the books i have read about Tibetan history talk about bon as if it was some sort of shamistic and mystical primitive tradition but i don't agree with that at all. Why do you think bon was prohibited in Tibet for centrueis?

soulive1112420

dzogchen*

Dakini

Experts disagree as to how Bon is defined. Some define it as a blend of "pre-Bon" traditions (animism, shamanism) with Buddhism. Others define it as early pre-Bhuddhist inner-asian shamanism and nature worship. That definitely existed, and still exists to some extend among Tibetans, Mongols, and Tuvans (Turkic people). So you need to tell us which definition of Bon you're working from, soulive.

It was probably prohibited because Buddhists disapprove mightily of shamanism. For a view of traditional shamanic traditions, see the film by Mystic Fire Video, "Oracles of Ladakh".