Nine Ways of Bon: Excerpts from Gzi-Brjid. Ed and Tr by David L. Snellgrove. Repr of Ed. Pub 1967 Issued As V. 18 of London Oriental Series

336 Pages·1980·19.467 MB·English

by  Gzi Brjid. English. Selections, David L. Snellgrove

THE NINE WAYS OF BON
View southwards up the Shes gorge (Sibu Khola) and towards the great pass to
Phug-gsum-mdo (Phoksumdo)-from the main comer shrine (mchod-rten) at the bonpo
monastery of Samling in Dolpo. (DLS 1961)
THE NINE WAYS
OF BON
Excerpts from gZi-brjid.
Edited and Translated
by
DAVID L. SNELLGROVE
Professor of Tibetan
in the University of London
PRAJNA PRESS
BOULDER 1980
PRAJNA PRESS
Great Eastern Book Company
P.O. Box 27I
Boulder, Colorado .80306
® 1967 Oxford University Press
ISBN 0-87773-739-8
This reprint has been authorized by the Oxford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Gzi, brjid. English. Selections.
The nine ways of bon.
Reprint of the ed. published by Oxford University Press,
London, New York, which was issued as v. 18 of London
oriental series.
Includes bibliographical references.
I. Snellgrove, David L. II. Title. III. Series: London
oriental series; v. I8
BLI94J.B6G92I3 I978 299'·54 78-130IO
ISBN 0-87773-739-8
PREFACE
MY first interest in BON dates from 1956, when in the course of a long
journey on foot through the remote Tibetan speaking regions ofn orth-west
Nepal, I discovered the old bon monastery of Samling in Dolpo. I spent a
month in the monastery on that first occasion and collected with the help
of the head lama Shes-rab a number of interesting manuscripts. Although
quite unknown to the non-Tibetan world, Samling was. well known to
Tibetan bonpos, and thus on a return visit to Dolpo in 1960, I met in Tarap
the Abbot of g Yun-drun-glin and Geshey Sangye Tenzin J ongdong on their
way back from Samling with several loads of books that they had borrowed
from the nephew of Lama Shes-rab. Now that Tibet· is occupied by Chinese
Communist forces, Samling has become the main source of books for the
few knowledgeable bonpo monks who are living as exiles in India.
In 1961 the Rockefeller Foundation kindly offered funds to those
universities in Europe, the U.S.A., and Japan which already had a develop
ing interest in Tibetan studies, so as to enable them to invite for a three
year period a few selected scholars from among the many Tibetan refugees
in India and Nepal. I took advantage of this opportunity to invite three
qualified bonpo monks to England, Lopon Tenzin Namdak, formerly of
sMan-ri Monastery, and Geshey Sangye Tenzin Jongdong and Geshey
Samten Gyaltsen Karmay of gYun-drun-glin. (Both these monasteries are
I
a few days' journey west from Shigatse in Tsang Province.)
Working in ·conjunction with contemporary bonpos, I have readily ac
cepted (with certain reservations) their own interpretation of their religion,
and the present work is an attempt to provide a survey of the whole range
of their teachings, as formulated certainly not later than the twelfth century
and may be even two or three centuries earlier. It has been our intention
at this stage to let the texts speak for themselves as much as possible, so
that there may be no risk of others accusing us of putting forward exag
gerated ideas of what BON is all about.
The present work represents the first attempt to let the bonpos them
selves give some account of their own religion. Lop on Tenzin N amdak was
mainly responsible for the selection of the extracts, and he and I worked on
them side by side, resolving textual difficulties as well as we could. The
English translation has been entirely my responsibility, for works such as
these require a type of English vocabulary with which no Tibetan, however
intelligent, is yet sufficiently familiar. Since Tenzin Namdak returned to
India in September 1964, where he has been busily reprinting bonpo works,
I have checked through the whole Tibetan text again with Samten Gyaltsen
vi PREFACE
Karmay arid ·added a few extra excerpts. I would like to express my thanks
publicly to these two knowledgeable bonpo monks, who have played so
large a part in. making this pioneering work a sufficiently safe venture.
Likewise I acknowledge with thanks the great assistance that I have re
c~ived from Professor Walter Simon, who has looked through this whole
work for me and patiently checked the terms listed in the glossary. In the
long and laboriouswork of preparing the glossary for publication I have
had the continual assistance of Samten Gyaltsen Karmay, and I owe him
very special thanks for this.
Thanks are due also to the Trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation who
made it possible for me to invite these monks to England. Finally thanks
are due (as always) to the School of Oriental and African Studies in the
University of London, which continues to make possible my own journeys
to India and Nepal in the search of new materials, and which has now by
a generous subvention made possible the publication of this present work.
Berkhamsted DAVID L. SNELLGROVE
21 September 1966
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION I
I. THE WAY OF THE SHEN OF PREDICTION 24
II. THE WAY OF THE SHEN OF THE VISUAL WORLD 42
III. THE WAY OF THE SHEN OF ILLUSION g8
IV. THE WAY OF THE SHEN. OF EXISTENCE u6
V. THE WAY OF THE VIRTUOUS ADHERERS 124
VI. THE WAY OF THE GREAT ASCETICS 136
VII. THE WAY OF PURE SOUND 170
VIII. THE WAY OF THE PRIMEVAL SHEN xgo
IX. THE SUPREME WAY 226
NOTES 256
DIAGRAMS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 269
GLOSSARY 289