Bon

Biography & Overview

Bon or Bön (Tibetan: བོན་, Wylie: bon, ZWPY: Pön, Lhasa dialect: [pʰø̃̀]), also known as Yungdrung Bon (Tibetan: གཡུང་དྲུང་བོན་, Wylie: gyung drung bon, ZWPY: Yungchung Pön, lit. 'eternal Bon'), is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism but retains elements from earlier Tibetan religious traditions. Bon is a significant minority religion in Tibet, especially in the east, as well as in the surrounding Himalayan regions.
The relationship between Bon and Tibetan Buddhism has been a subject of debate. According to the modern scholar Geoffrey Samuel, while Bon is "essentially a variant of Tibetan Buddhism" with many resemblances to Nyingma, it also preserves some genuinely ancient pre-Buddhist elements. David Snellgrove likewise sees Bon as a form of Buddhism, albeit a heterodox kind. Similarly, John Powers writes that "historical evidence indicates that Bön only developed as a self-conscious religious system under the influenc...