A Bon Religion Village

BY LI LUYANG

The world used to be composed of five particles known today as a kind of oval. They evolved into dew and raindrops, which accumulated and eventually formed the oceans.

One of the oval-related bubbles exploded and out jumped a blue woman. Without lowering her head to touch the nose of Dharma Master Sangpo Pentri, she was able to give birth to lots of beasts, animals and birds. When she touched the master’s nose, she was able to give birth to nine boys and nine girls. They formed families and gave birth to 18 children, who became the precursors of the Bon religion.

This is a story told in a sutra of the Bon religion called Shiba Zholpu in Tibetan, which is as important as the Tripitaka of Tibetan Buddhism.

I was told the story in the summer of 1994 when I got a chance to follow Xie Xiaojing, Director of the Beijing Film College, into northern Tibet filming documentaries on local folklore. During our stay, we were introduced to Webu Village in Nyema County. Lying some 250 km from the county seat, the ancient village of the Bon religion, still makes my heart beat fast whenever I recall my days there.

HIGHLIGHTS

No historian knows when the Zhangzhung originated and how it fell into oblivion, beyond the fact that this occurred during the expansion of Tubo Kingdom.

And no historian knows where the Arabian and Mar languages prevalent in the ancient tribe came from, only that it was older than the old Tibetan language.

Many scholars are seeking Zhangzhung culture, so far without result; it remains a mystery.

During our stay in Wenbu, we interviewed Dianjim Namgyi, a widely acknowledged scholar in the village. He was tonsured to a monastery at the age of 11, and is now a monk with Wenbu Monastery.

"I went to worship Buddha when young and reached the village by chance," said the 69-year-old man, who is also a master painter.

"Attracted by what I saw, I decided to settle down."

He has a family. As we arrived at his house, the old monk was reciting morning sutras. We discussed the origin of the Zhangzhung language.

Zhangzhung Language

“The sutra was translated into Tibetan from Zhangzhung language in the ancient times,” said our guide.

According to him, the ancient tribe of Zhangzhung, which held sway in the western and eastern areas of present-day Tibet, fell apart in the 17th century as the Tubo Kingdom expanded irresistibly.

No historian knows when the Zhangzhung originated and how it fell into oblivion, beyond the fact that this occurred during the expansion of Tubo Kingdom.

And no historian knows where the Arabian and Dakse languages prevalent in the ancient tribe came from, only that it was older than the old Tibetan language.

Many scholars are seeking Zhangzhung culture, so far without result; it remains a mystery.

During our stay in Wenbu, we interviewed Dianjim Namgyi, a widely acknowledged scholar in the village. He was tonsured to a monastery at the age of 11, and is now a monk with Wenbu Monastery.

“I went to worship Buddha when young and reached the village by chance,” said the 69-year-old man, who is also a master painter.

“Attracted by what I saw, I decided to settle down.”

He has a family. As we arrived at his house, the old monk was reciting morning sutras. We discussed the origin of the Zhangzhung language.

“Before its creation, there was an older script in use,” the old monk said, adding that it was the Mar language.

Later when I returned to Beijing, I sought advice from Cerangtai, an expert in the Bon religion with the China National Center for Tibetan Studies.

“People worshipping the Bon religion believe the language they use was created by Tunba Sinrao,” he explained.

“In the beginning, the language was composed of some 40 letters which evolved into an Arabian script called Dakse in Tibetan.

“This was divided into Bamqen and Bamqoin scripts, and from them developed the Mar language.

“This was also composed of two kinds of scripts, Marqen and Marqoin, which formed the origin of the Zhangzhung language.”

Housing Style

Housing in Wenbu Village reminds me of the siheyuan or rectangular courtyard in Beijing. Amazingly, however, the architectural art of the village is 1,000-odd years older!

All the houses in Wenbu were built of stone along the main street. While houses on the left side of the street sit on a volcanic mountain, those to its right spread along the Tangra Yumco Lake. All the houses are in good order, with each row complete with a lane paved with stones.

The village sits by an active volcanic mountain and is exposed to repeated earthquakes.

“However, we have not suffered from any devastating disaster,” they said.

“Even if a house did partially collapse during a quake, that where people sleep would never fall.”

Because of this luck, the villagers tend to believe in the magical power of Dargo Holy Mountain and the lake. And because of this belief, they rebuilt their damaged houses and never ventured to move to a safer place.

What is different is the doors to the homes. They are low enough for people to have to bend their waist to enter or leave. Local people said they build low-lying doors mainly to prevent corpses from easily breaking into the building.

According to our guide, when one dies the corpse will move into house in three to seven days. When the corpse does so, its face would swell and the corpse takes on a purplish black color; its hair stands upright and bristles crop up all over the body. At this point, the corpse would open its eyes and sit up. This is followed by the corpse raising its hand and moving ahead. However, the corpse will not speak and bend its waist; nor will it turn around. Local people believe when the corpse touches the forehead of someone, the person will die immediately. To prevent from the corpse from entering the house, the villagers build low-lying doors and when the corpse touches the low door, it falls as it is not in a position to bend its waist.

Holy Lake and Holy Mountain

Wenbu villagers show no fear of either earthquakes or active volcanic mountain. In the eyes of the villagers, Wenbu is the paradise most suitable for them to multiply.

Located in north Tibet, Wenbu is not cold in winter at all. When we were there, we did not wear the heavy coat necessary in other parts of northern Tibet. In that part of the world, we found qingke barley wine thriving. This is unusual in northern Tibet, whose fierce climate makes growing the barley almost impossible. The villagers told us the per-hectare yield reaches 3,000 kg.

When asked to explain, the villagers told us a story:

Long, long ago, people living here did not grow qingke barley. To eke out a living, they drove sheep fully loaded with salt to the remote farming areas to exchange for barley. Given the long distance involved, they still could not get enough to eat.

One couple—Dargo Mountain and Tangra Yumco Lake—were uneasy about seeing this tragedy. The husband—holy mountain of Dargo went on an expedition and seized a bag of qingke barley from Quxui. As he fought his way back, his bag of barley was hit by an arrow. The qingke barley spilled out from the hole made by the arrow. When he met his wife—Tangra Yumco Lake, only a handful of barley were left, so he scattered this by the lake, and his wife watered the field with her milk. This produced the thriving fields of barley in the village.

As a token of gratitude for the couple, Wenbu people have since ancient times been worshipping the holy mountain and holy lake by offering sacrifices to them before spring plowing and autumn harvesting. Sacrifices offered include wine brewed with local barley.

Spinning Sutra Wheel Leftward

At the entrance of Wenbu Village we found a Sutra Wheel Spinning House furnished with a giant sutra tube for worshippers to spin.

When we first got there, an elderly blind lady was spinning the tube. Unlike those in other parts of Tibet, she turned the tube leftward in silence. In the ensuing days, she was found to do so endlessly.

“Worshippers of the Bon religion spin sutra wheels or tubes leftward,” explained our guide.

“In Tibetan, Bon means substance, implying that the Bon religion is a religion for all in the universe. It is hence the oldest religion in the world.”

Songs relating to the leftward spinning of sutra wheels or tubes unique to the Bon religion coincides with the movement of the earth around the sun. Such logic is found also in rock paintings found in Ritog. Thus, it would seem to have much to do with the movement of the solar system, but no one can find clearly explain it today.

Legend has it that the Bon religion, founded by Tunba Sinrao, has 108 volumes of Gangyur and 280 volumes of Dangyur. Gangyur that include the teachings of the Bon religious founder on the origin of the universe, biographies of worshippers, prayer words and rules. Dangyur includes religious rituals, explanations to teachings by Bon religious founders, and contents related to logics, medicine and industrial arts.

The Bon religion has been passed down through history orally or by hiding a considerable amount of sutras in mountain caves or rock cracks in central, southern and northern Tibet.

According to our guide, when an eminent monk of the Bon religion practiced divination in a mountain close to Wenbu, he saw a vision of the founder who orally passed him the Dangla Garcha, a Bon sutra,

Dangla Garcha refers to A Laud to Dangla, which depicts a goddess riding a white lion and donned in the best dresses in the world. Accompanied by many heavenly maids she descended from the heaven to Tangra Yumco Lake. As she reached the lake, the vast skies were irradiated with colorful rays. And when the goddess reached the bottom of the lake, a fantastic city appeared.

To bless the world, the goddess invited heavenly treasures to be buried in various parts of Tibet….

The eminent monk recorded all he was told and his records turned out to be a much favored sutra book of the Bon religion.

Selected from: China's Tibet