Mr.
Hodgson Also Pronounces A Collection Of Drawings Of Bonpo Divinities,
Which Were Made For Him By A Mendicant Friar
Of the sect from the
neighbourhood of Tachindu, or Ta-t'sien-lu, to be saturated with Sakta
attributes, i.e.
With the spirit of the Tantrika worship, a worship which
he tersely defines as "a mixture of lust, ferocity, and mummery," and
which he believes to have originated in an incorporation with the Indian
religions of the rude superstitions of the primitive Turanians. Mr.
Hodgson was told that the Bonpo sect still possessed numerous and wealthy
Vihars (or abbeys) in Tibet. But from the information of the Catholic
missionaries in Eastern Tibet, who have come into closest contact with the
sect, it appears to be now in a state of great decadence, "oppressed by
the Lamas of other sects, the Peunbo (Bonpo) think only of shaking off
the yoke, and getting deliverance from the vexations which the smallness
of their number forces them to endure." In June, 1863, apparently from
such despairing motives, the Lamas of Tsodam, a Bonpo convent in the
vicinity of the mission settlement of Bonga in E. Tibet, invited the Rev.
Gabriel Durand to come and instruct them. "In this temple," he writes,
"are the monstrous idols of the sect of Peunbo; horrid figures, whose
features only Satan could have inspired. They are disposed about the
enclosure according to their power and their seniority. Above the pagoda
is a loft, the nooks of which are crammed with all kinds of diabolical
trumpery; little idols of wood or copper, hideous masques of men and
animals, superstitious Lama vestments, drums, trumpets of human bones,
sacrificial vessels, in short, all the utensils with which the devil's
servants in Tibet honour their master. And what will become of it all? The
Great River, whose waves roll to Martaban (the Lu-kiang or Salwen), is not
more than 200 or 300 paces distant.... Besides the infernal paintings on
the walls, eight or nine monstrous idols, seated at the inner end of the
pagoda, were calculated by their size and aspect to inspire awe. In the
middle was Tamba-Shi-Rob, the great doctor of the sect of the Peunbo,
squatted with his right arm outside his red scarf, and holding in his left
the vase of knowledge.... On his right hand sat Keumta-Zon-bo, 'the All-
Good,' ... with ten hands and three heads, one over the other.... At his
right is Dreuma, the most celebrated goddess of the sect. On the left of
Tamba-Shi-Rob was another goddess, whose name they never could tell me. On
the left again of this anonymous goddess appeared Tam-pla-mi-ber,... a
monstrous dwarf environed by flames and his head garnished with a diadem
of skulls. He trod with one foot on the head of Shakia-tupa [Shakya
Thubba, i.e. 'the Mighty Shakya,' the usual Tibetan appellation of Sakya
Buddha himself].... The idols are made of a coarse composition of mud and
stalks kneaded together, on which they put first a coat of plaster and
then various colours, or even silver or gold.... Four oxen would scarcely
have been able to draw one of the idols." Mr. Emilius Schlagintweit, in a
paper on the subject of this sect, has explained some of the names used by
the missionary. Tamba-Shi-Rob is "bstanpa gShen-rabs," i.e. the
doctrine of Shen-rabs, who is regarded as the founder of the Bon religion.
[Cf. Grenard, II. 407. - H. C.] Keun-tu-zon-bo is "Kun-tu-bzang-po,"
"the All Best."
[Bon-po seems to be (according to Grenard, II. 410) a "coarse naturism
combined with ancestral worship" resembling Taoism. It has, however,
borrowed a good deal from Buddhism. "I noticed," says Mr. Rockhill
(Journey, 86), "a couple of grimy volumes of Boenbo sacred literature.
One of them I examined; it was a funeral service, and was in the usual
Boenbo jargon, three-fourths Buddhistic in its nomenclature." The Bon-po
Lamas are above all sorcerers and necromancers, and are very similar to
the kam of the Northern Turks, the bo of the Mongols, and lastly to
the Shamans. During their operations, they wear a tall pointed black
hat, surmounted by the feather of a peacock, or of a cock, and a human
skull. Their principal divinities are the White God of Heaven, the Black
Goddess of Earth, the Red Tiger and the Dragon; they worship an idol
called Kye'-p'ang formed of a mere block of wood covered with garments.
Their sacred symbol is the svastika turned from right to left [Symbol].
The most important of their monasteries is Zo-chen gum-pa, in the
north-east of Tibet, where they print most of their books. The Bonpos Lamas
"are very popular with the agricultural Tibetans, but not so much so with
the pastoral tribes, who nearly all belong to the Gelupa sect of the
orthodox Buddhist Church." A. K. says, "Buddhism is the religion of the
country; there are two sects, one named Mangba and the other Chiba or
Baimbu." Explorations made by A - - K - - , 34. Mangba means "Esoteric,"
Chiba (p'yi-ba), "Exoteric," and Baimbu is Boenbo. Rockhill,
Journey, 289, et passim.; Land of the Lamas, 217-218; Grenard, Mission
Scientifique, II. 407 seqq. - H. C.]
There is an indication in Koeppen's references that the followers of the
Bon doctrine are sometimes called in Tibet Nag-choi, or "Black Sect,"
as the old and the reformed Lamas are called respectively the "Red" and
the "Yellow." If so, it is reasonable to conclude that the first
appellation, like the two last, has a reference to the colour of clothing
affected by the priesthood.
The Rev. Mr. Jaeschke writes from Lahaul: "There are no Bonpos in our part
of the country, and as far as we know there cannot be many of them in the
whole of Western Tibet, i.e. in Ladak, Spiti, and all the non-Chinese
provinces together; we know, therefore, not much more of them than has
been made known to the European public by different writers on Buddhism in
Tibet, and lately collected by Emil de Schlagintweit.... Whether they can
be with certainty identified with the Chinese Taosse I cannot decide, as
I don't know if anything like historical evidence about their Chinese
origin has been detected anywhere, or if it is merely a conclusion from
the similarity of their doctrines and practices.... But the Chinese author
of the Wei-tsang-tu-Shi, translated by Klaproth, under the title of
Description du Tubet (Paris, 1831), renders Bonpo by Taosse.
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