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WHAT IS BON?

From a teaching by Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche, Yeru Bon Center, Los Angeles, January 2000 ©

Tonpa Shenrab and Buddhahood

Bön is known as a native religion of Tibet. It was founded and taught by Buddha Tonpa Shenrab who completely achieved Buddhahood himself and practiced this teaching. He left the message behind so that even today we have a chance to practice it. So we also can follow the pathway which he has shown us to achieve liberation or Buddhahood, our own state of purity.

According to our individual understanding and knowledge capacity, Buddha Tonpa Shenrab has taught nine levels or vehicles or stages of the Bön teaching, the so- called “Nine Ways of Bön.” So, these nine ways of Bön at the very beginning were being taught in Olmo Lungring, which is a spiritual or enlightened state of the world where the Buddha Tonpa Shenrab has taken a birthplace. He was born there in Olmo Lungring. Geographically it has not been identified or discovered so far, and I think it will not be discovered or reached by the physical eye and physical body in this life or any life. But that does not mean that it is not existing there. There is a spiritual world where everything-- each and every object-- is pure. Each and every being's knowledge is complete and totally full of wisdom and of compassion and love. That state can only be reached by those who have achieved those qualities. So in order for us to reach that state or be in that world is why we are trying to practice. We are trying to involve ourselves in practice to achieve Buddhahood.

The state of Buddahood is nothing special as to independent form. There is no independent form that you will achieve or you will obtain, but there are some ways to identify the state. There are ways to achieve those qualities: by practicing, by searching your own state of mind, and by realizing those very qualities as your own state of mind.

Compassion and Love

Buddha's qualities of compassion and wisdom are always within us, but the only thing is that we are not enough able to see them with our human eye or our deluded human thought. In order to see the naked form of the pure state of mind or the state of Buddhahood, we need to see from a "wisdom eye". We need a base of compassion and love for our behavior. We need a deeper knowledge and wisdom -- much deeper than we have now.

So that is why in the very basic teachings of the Bön we find compassion and love. Buddha Tonpa Shenrab has practiced teaching in the same way. He has left the message to us. In Olmo Lungring there is a state of purity so the gradual way of teaching was not simply focused on those people and on those beings, but also it is being focused on the sentient beings of this age like us. We people have different levels of understanding. Even though the Buddha or the teacher speaks one word with a particular meaning, individuals who have different capacities will have different ways of understanding.

That is the reason to teach the “Nine Ways” or “Nine Levels”. Each level is focused to try to purify our inner state -- to try to show our inner eye, to realize with our inner wisdom eye -- trying to live the cornerstone of our practice, those qualities of compassion and love. But how much we understand -- that is depending upon the individual.

Nine Ways of Bon

The nine ways are divided into three major subjects. They are sutra, tantra, and dzogchen, the highest teaching. The sutra method of the teaching is more focused on the physical level of the practice. Of course there are many moralities related with your mind and your inner wisdom, but mainly the Sutra method is focused on physical training. The aim is the same, but the corrections are on the physical level.

Tantra is more connected through the channels, to the chakras, to the more esoteric point of view – more visions, more deities – more transformation

And, dzogchen is more related with our mind. Dzogchen is explaining more the quality of the nature of the mind – energy of the mind – manifestation aspect of the mind, that is, quality of the mind. So we talk about the mind even when we are totally strongly grasping and attached on ourselves. We call ourselves “I”, but we are not quite sure what “I” is. We have not quite yet understood who we are and in what form we are thinking about ourselves as “I”.

The Self and “I”

I am not quite sure you have understood, but we have a strong reaction to “I” and the perception of catching and holding toward “I”, because if someone says very good words and praises us in public we will react. We will smile, we will be happy, we will be charming. And if someone says mistakenly, or maybe purposefully, or maybe if they use some negative words towards us, we may react very badly. We change the color of our face -- our cheeks become very red like an apple, a fresh apple, or a tomato.

And our physical inner energy is busy and takes form in the actions of the physical body. In that way you react and you show it – you manifest that reaction without saying a single word, but we can look to people’s faces to see whether that reaction is positive or negative. It is not necessary to mention by your words, so that is some kind of inner sign of ourselves how much we are sort of grasping the “I” or self. Whether you identified it or not, there is a sense of feeling, sense of grasping that you consider yourself as very caring and loving, but still no matter how much you love and care yourself still you are far from yourself. Do you understand what I mean? Does it make any sense or not?

Importance of Practice

To see clearly and completely these qualities, practice is important. That is the purpose of the practice of the Bön teaching from the very beginning level until the very highest level of the teaching. They are all related and their aim is the same, realizing our true nature. All sutra, tantra and dzogchen teachings aim to achieve our true self: Buddhahood -- to generate, to manifest the true state of mind through rigpa or awareness of yourself.

But there are different methods or means to purify your obstructions and obscurations. Obstacles are a result of the negative karma that we have cultivated long ago. Not necessarily in this life only. We are not understanding ourselves and we are not remembering ourselves how many times we have been born. We are coming and going, we are coming and going, but still we are not achieving that certain state because of lack of practice and our lack of knowledge. So that is why we have a different state of understanding.

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