Manuscripts,

Rituals, and Magic

in the Bon Religion
on March 22–23, 2019

A workshop hosted by
The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures,
University of Hamburg
Introduction
This workshop, entitled “Manuscripts, Rituals, and Magic in the Bon Religion”, is the fourth
event we have devoted to Bon manuscripts. The previous three, entitled Bonpo Manuscript
Culture: Towards a Definition of an Emerging Field (parts 1 and 2), and Bon manuscripts in
Context were oriented to the Bon tradition itself: Bon manuscripts perceived as material
objects and part of heritage, their possible interconnections with Naxi culture, and surveys
of collections from all around the world. In this workshop we would especially like to
explore connections between manuscripts, their function, their form in the context of
the Bon religion and ritual performance, and in general the material forms encapsulating
this entire range of features. We would also like to perceive manuscripts as complex
entities that are an essential component of ritual performance. Along the same lines, we
would like to continue an interdisciplinary discussion that will make it possible to see
Bon manuscripts in the wider perspective of manuscript studies. The participants are
specialists in different academic disciplines including philology, anthropology, art history,
archaeology and codicology, and will present their research on a variety of topics, including
different collections of Bon manuscripts, text and illustrations, writing materials, and the
historical and archaeological context of their places of origin. Thus, this workshop aims to
explore various aspects of Bon written culture, with an emphasis on physical appearance,
including the development of scripts, book culture through time, the layout of original
manuscripts, and the transition from earlier to later traditions.
Programme
Fr i day
10:00 am Welcome
10:10–10:40 Charles Ramble: An illustrated manual for the production of Bonpo
“protective wheels” (srung ’khor)
10:40–11:10 Sam van Schaik: Ritual manuscripts in the households of Amdo Ngakpas
11:10–11:30 Coffee break
11:30–12:00 Henk Blezer: Polemical cartoons about Bon
12:00–12:30 Daniel Berounsky: Bon manuscripts of the lay ritual traditions from
eastern Tibet
12:30–14:30 Lunch
14:30–15:00 Amy Heller: A Bonpo meditation diagram and ritual text: preliminary
remarks
15:00–15:30 Fidel Devkota: Obscure traces of Bon heritage in Dhe village (Sha ri, Lo
Mustang)
15:30–16:00 Agnieszka Helman-Ważny: Preservation of Bon manuscript collections in
remote Himalayan regions
16:00–16:20 Coffee break
16:20–16:50 Dan Martin: The binding elements and the “Cult of the Book — Older Bon
scriptural sources newly found
16:50–17:20 Marc des Jardins: Ritual performance, texts and standardisation under
the institutionalisation of g.Yung drung Bon: Phur ba and the other gSas
mkhar mchog lnga
20:00 Dinner

Satur day
10:00–10:30 Tsering Paldrun: A comparison of seven versions of the gTsang ma klu
’bum
10:30–11:00 Michael Friedrich, Dan Petersen: New results from the study of some Naxi
manuscripts in the John Rylands Library
11:00–11:30 Agnieszka Helman-Ważny, Mengling Cai and Dan Petersen: A look at
Naxi manuscript culture: codicological study of the manuscripts from the
Weltmuseum in Vienna
11:30–11:50 Coffee break
11:50–14:00 Round table discussion
Abstracts
Bon manuscripts of the lay ritual traditions from
eastern Tibet
Daniel Berounsky, Charles University, Prague

Vast corpora of manuscripts related to the lay ritual traditions from the area between
Gansu and Sichuan provinces (Thewo, Zitsha Degu, Dongtrom) have been published in
the last decade in almost a hundred volumes containing reproductions of the original
manuscripts. These texts are labelled mostly as“ancient Bon manuscripts”, but what we
know about their background is almost nothing. Based on my research trips to the area
of Bozo and Phenchu, this paper will attempt to present bits and pieces of information
on the lay ritualists from this area since the second half of 18th century and the changes
the tradition has undergone. The case of a corpus of manuscripts preserved in the Bon
monastery from Khapalung region will be reported, and some information on ritual
practices dealing with the purification of pollution (sil) will be touched upon. It is hoped
that even such partial information can cast some light on the nature and context of the
manuscripts published. 

Polemical cartoons about Bon

Henk Blezer, Leiden University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Prof. dr Andries Hummel,1 A retired professor in radiation chemistry, started collecting

Tibetan ritual cards or tsa ka li and other small Tibetan artefacts approximately a decade
ago. As he started collecting early, when tsa ka li were still fairly affordable, he was able to
build a sizable collection that by now runs into hundreds of cards, partly in sets (but, as
usual, not all sets are complete and there are many stray and individual cards). Together
with these tsa ka li, he also acquired various tangential other materials, such as srung ‘khor-
style diagrams; small objects, such as amulets; and illustrated texts, also often incomplete.
The bulk of the material seems to hail from Mongolia.2 Among the additional acquisitions
there also are some pages (two folios)3 of an intriguing-looking, illustrated block-print,
acquired as part of a bundle, which I should like to discuss at our meeting.

It turns out to be a vitriolic polemical text that crudely vilifies purported Bon ritual
practices (pressing an old sore spot: the trope that bon po-s (have) entertain(ed) blood
sacrifices, dmar mchod). That allegation and stereotype is nothing new, of course, but what
for our purposes looks to be novel about this text is that it partly drives its points home via
the use of illustrations, more or less in the way of a modern-day ‘cartoon’. The extant pages
depict both the practices that are criticised and the dire consequences of performing such
sinful rituals (usually a bad rebirth). The phrasing is quite abrasive and polemical, and in

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any case offensive to bon po-s—and probably intentionally so, as it strives to deprecate
their practices and deities.

These folios also seem to be of Mongolian provenance, which is borne out by an occasional
Mongolian word. The title in the margin reads: Legs nyes kyi rgyu ‘bras bstan pa’i mdo (las
byung ba).4 Judging by the repeated numbering (of folio ‘one’) this may not be the complete
text.5

As said, these folios were acquired as part of a larger bundle of what look to be somewhat
related and equally fragmentary materials. The other set features similar-looking pictorial
representations, and has the title Ke’u tshang bca’ yig (las byung ba). Again only two folios
were included in the purchase: one page has a title-like phrase (Ke’u tshang sprul sku’i
bca’ yig ‘gro kun phan bde’i gzhi bsrung (las)); followed by three very short narratives; and,
finally, the narratives also appear in pictorial form.6

These cautionary or edifying bca’ yig cartoons seem to be thematically related to the
former: they also are about bad things that will befall you if you do not behave properly
(in these cases all are about proper behaviour toward the sangha, particularly concerning
offerings and ‘generosity’). But these do not deal with bon po-s specifically. This second set
does recommend, however, that it would make sense to look at bca’ yig-type texts for these
kinds of cautionary and edifying tales.

For my paper, I should like to present and discuss the illustrated polemical text about Bon
ritual; reflect on its possible origins; and consult the audience on possible other sightings.

1 This is a name with resonance in Tibetology, but Andries Hummel appears unrelated to
Siegbert Hummel.
2 He bought these from various Chinese and Mongolian sellers and through the Internet, but
this geographical centre of gravity may partly also simply reflect the lie of the land of on-line
trade at the time.
3 These may be part of a larger text with at least two more folios; in any case the text is probably
incomplete as it is.
4 There probably are quite a few texts with such edifying content and title: there is one in the
bKa’ ‘gyur and also one attributed to ‘Jig rten mgon po. (But those seem unrelated.)
5 The collector occasionally scanned the last page first (with a fifty-fifty chance, as he does not
read Tibetan).
6 The order of the illustrations in the latter set does not match the listing at all (neither as
scanned nor as glued together). Here too the order of scanning occasionally seems to be off
(again 50-50) and the numbering is off too (e.g., ‘four’ opposite ‘one’). The pages may even have
been glued together in the wrong order. The 67th dGa’ ldan khri pa, a sPrul sku by the name
of Ke’u tshang (1750–1814), produced a bca’ yig (v. BDRC).
Obscure traces of Bon heritage in Dhe billage (Sha ri,
Lo Mustang)
Fidel Devkota, Berlin

Dhe is predominantly a Nyingmapa (rNying ma pa) village and its rituals and ceremonies
are guided by it. Nyingmapa ngapas (sngags pa) from the village perform most of the
village rituals, except the death ritual (Lo. Shinchos), which is officiated by Drukpa Kagyu
(’Brug pa bka’ brgyud) monks from nearby Luri Gompa. Further, sacred texts such as the
Prajnāpāramitā sūtra (Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa), Kangyur (bKa’ ’gyur), and Tengyur
(bsTan ’gyur) recitations and a few other ceremonies are performed by Ngor Sakyapa (Ngor
sa skya pa) monks from Tsarang Monastery. Dhe also has a strong Bon heritage and the
traces of it are still visible in numerous rituals and ceremonies performed in the village
today. The presence of Bon related caves, manuscripts, artworks, myths, and folklore in the
village also highlight the strong influence of Bon tradition in the past. This paper briefly
focuses on some of this obscure and vanishing traces of Bon heritage of Dhe Village to
initiate measures to ‘safeguard’ it for the future generation.

Ritual performance, texts and standardisation under

the institutionalisation of gYung drung Bon: Phur ba
and the other gSas mkhar mchog lnga
Marc Des Jardins

Sometime between the founding of sMan ri monastery in 1405 and his passing in 1415,
mNyam med Shes rab rgyal mtshan (b. 1356) wrote a commentary on the root tantra
entitled “The precious gathering of all, the net of sun rays.” The latter text, attributed to the
9th century Tibetan sage Dran pa nam mkha,¹ is a synopsis of the Tantric Path. The rgyud
in Bon are expositions of ritual systems for the propitiation of the various spiritual heads.
These beings demonstrate a variety of possible sources. Some appear to be indigenous to
Tibet, many not without influence from India, and others clearly point to adoptions and
adaptations. What may have been different unrelated ritualistic trends in the early days of
the Tibetan Empire became part of a growing effort of Tibetan lamas to create an organized
religion able to compete with Buddhism. Shes rab rgyal mtshan was a proponent of this
movement and after founding sMan ri began writing feverishly the lore he learned at gYas
ru dBen sa kha Monastery (destroyed in 1386). His seminal treatise on rgyud may have
been the source guideline used for later codification and standardisation of Bonpo ritual
texts, in particular the Phur ba cycle particularly central to the sMan ri institution. This
paper examines these guidelines in view of the standard sMan ri phur ba ritual compendia
and that of the other members of the gSas mkhar mchog lnga pantheon.

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A Bonpo Meditation Diagram and Ritual text,
Preliminary remarks
Amy Heller, University of Bern, Institute of Religious Studies and Central
Asia

In 1998, Samten Karmay published the volume entitled The Little Luminous Boy, which
he described as «A detailed exposition of the Bon secret oral tradition from Zhang-Zhung
in western Tibet, and its transmission by recognized masters up till the present.» This
volume was richly illustrated with exquisite details from two Tibetan thangka paintings,
one of which was analyzed as an 18th century thangka attributed to the Shar khog region
of Khams. Karmay provided full translation and iconographic analysis of this thangka.
Subsequently, the present writer identified another thangka of this same ritual now
conserved in a private collection and Charles Ramble has photographed a third thangka,
now conserved in Samling monastery, Dolpo. This presentation will study the three
thangka and their diagrams to compare the texts and the iconographic representation of
the text entitled the sGron ma drug (Six Lamps) as well as a subtext of this called the ’Khor
lo bzhi sbrags.

A look at Naxi ritual manuscripts: a codicological

study of the manuscripts from the Weltmuseum in
Vienna
Agnieszka Helman-Ważny, Mengling Cai and Dan Petersen (Centre for the
Study of Manuscript Cultures, University of Hamburg)

Despite significant collections of Naxi written heritage preserved in China, America and
Europe, these pictographic manuscripts have not yet been systematically studied as
material objects, and we know very little about the history of Naxi (Dongba) manuscripts
and paper made in Yunnan Province. The studied collection of Naxi manuscripts from the
Weltmuseum in Vienna was donated to the museum by K. Anton Gebauer, Heinrich Handel-
Mazzetti, Joseph Francis Charles Rock, and Rene Nebesky-Wojkowitz. The comparative
codicological study of sixteen manuscripts allowed us to learn about their form, technology
and materials. Various raw materials detected by microscopic examination may signal
regional patterns, production habits related to local plant resources or cultural habits used
by Naxi communities in various geographical locations in Southwest China. It is possible
that other codicological features of these manuscripts – for example format, leaf shapes
and sizes, specific paper used for particular ritual texts, scribal traits, and so forth – may
have been consciously applied and preserved in this context. However, further research on
a much larger corpus of the Naxi manuscripts is necessary to better define and understand
these manuscripts as a corpus.

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Preservation of Bon manuscripts collections in
remote Himalayan regions
Agnieszka Helman-Ważny

This presentation will give an overview of the current situation in the preservation of Bon
manuscripts in Mustang, Nepal. This includes discussion on issues such as the physical
condition of Bon manuscripts, their locations, access, as well as possible measures to
support local communities in preservation of cultural heritage. I will also discuss the
importance of systematic collection of data, templates, and metadata on the material
objects for Special Collections cataloging, as well as the development of methodologies and
tools for both digitization and conservation of Tibetan rare books in remote Himalayan
regions.

The binding elements and the “Cult of the Book” —

older Bon scriptural sources newly found
Dan Martin, Jerusalem

Not always but sometimes, what looks like a cul-de-sac goes on to open a new and
unexpected boulevard of thinking. I had planned to look into the as-yet unexplored post-
Mongol era Tibetan treatises on consecration (zhal-sro or rab-gnas). However, I found to
my disappointment that overall they just repeat and copy material from the pre-Mongol
era texts that I already made use of in our last two meetings. Along the way I did find
one lead on a very evidently scriptural text that is quoted in one early and again in one
later consecration text. Thanks to help from Jean-Luc Achard, I was able to make use of
an incomplete but searchable Bon scriptural canon or Kanjur. Performing word-searches
through it, I was unable to find (and, sorry to say, still haven’t identified the source for) that
text I was looking for. Still, what I did find along the way surprised me. Three different-
length versions of the Khams-brgyad scripture contain a passage that speaks of the binding
elements (two of them are practically identical, while the other looks like an abbreviated
version of the same). All three of these scriptures belong to the 1017 CE revelations of
Shenchen Luga (Gshen-chen Klu-dga’), and thus would appear to be the earliest datable
pieces of written textual evidence on Tibetan binding practices. And there is yet another
treatment of the subject in a scripture that must have been revealed by ‘Go-lde ‘Phags-
pa in the mid- or late-13th century. This quite different passage is nested within a larger
discussion of Speech Receptacles (gsung rten) that is worthwhile to notice.

After looking into these passages, working to overcome difficulties in the readings and
interpretations, we might achieve a sense of closure by imagining or re-imagining a
traditional Bon way of understanding the book as holy object, as object of worship.
Inevitably, comparisons are going to be made with the Buddhist cult of the book in the
Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, as well as the well-known Mahāyāna Buddhist idea—apparently in
large part derived from that same scripture—of the “Ten Practices [that focus on] Dharma

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[scriptures]” (chos spyod bcu). This numeric concept is known to have its roots in a work
of Maitreya or Asan.ga dating to the fourth or fifth centuries CE. Research always means
looking again at what we thought we knew, and never needing to say we’re sorry.

An illustrated manual for the production of Bonpo

“protective wheels” (srung ’khor)
Charles Ramble (EPHE - PSL, CRCAO, Paris)

As is well known, scriptural works are revered by Tibetans not only for their content
but also for their inherent sanctity as sacred objects. In many communities, canonical
works are removed from the shelves on which they are stored far less often to be read
than to be paraded around fields to protect crops from hail and parasites, or to bestow
blessings by contact with the bared heads of devout villagers. While such apotropaic or
benedictive functions are incidental to the purpose for which the texts were created, there
is a wide range of blockprints or manuscripts – or often a combination of the two – that
are produced precisely with a view to ensuring protection. Perhaps the most important of
these devices are the srung ’khor, literally “protective wheels”, that are a common sight in
Tibetan villages, where they are often pasted to the doors of houses and stables to ward off
afflictions such as disease and malicious gossip. Less visibly, but even more widely, they are
used as personal protectors, folded up into small squares and stitched into cloth envelopes
that are worn around the neck. Since the sixteenth century such devices have usually been
made from blockprints that may be embellished with handwritten formulae (Jeff Watt,
personal communication). Discoveries in caves and in private collections in villages have
revealed hand-drawn and hand-painted examples that probably date from earlier than
the time when the use of blockprints became widespread. While protective wheels are
usually described in terms of the types of protection they offer, they may also be classified
according to the tutelary divinities with whom they are associated. This paper will present
a rare manual, photographed in a temple in Dolpo, Nepal, that gives instructions for
creating such wheels as part of the ritual cycles of a dozen major divinities of the Bon
religion. In addition to detailed descriptions of the amulets, the text specifies how they are
to be used, the categories of persons who are likely to derive the greatest benefit from their
use, and the precise types of protection they will ensure. Most strikingly, each description
is accompanied by a miniature painting that reproduces exactly the intended appearance
of each amulet.

Ritual manuscripts in the households of Amdo

Ngakpas
Sam van Schaik, The British Library

This paper is a reflection on the manuscripts documented in EAP727, a project to document

the manuscript collections in the households of Ngakpa families in Amdo carried out by

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Valentina Punzi and funded by the Endangered Archives Programme IN 2015. The project
documented 184 books from five households and the collection of the Qinghai Province
Buddhist Culture Research Centre in Xining. The digital photographs and catalogue data
was deposited at the Research Centre, as well as TBRC and the British Library where
they are available on the EAP website (https://eap.bl.uk/project/EAP727). These are pecha
format books that show signs of heavy use and wear and tear; several were hidden in walls
or buried underground during the Cultural Revolution. The contents of the books include
divination, medicine, rainmaking, and other worldly rituals, as well as tantric sadhanas.
In this paper I introduce these collections and some of the considerations they raise in
terms of assessing the agency of manuscripts in Tibetan worldly rituals, and the question
of whether manuscripts of this type can be definitively categorised as either Buddhist or
Bonpo.

A comparison of seven versions of the gTsang ma klu

’bum
Tsering Paldrun, EPHE - PSL, CRCAO (UMR 8155), Paris

A few years ago the Bonpo scholar Khri bde mchog gave a conference presentation in
which he offered an overview of five recensions of the gTsang ma klu ’bum dkar po/ nag
po/ khra bo, with lists of the chapter titles of each set. However, he did not compare the
actual content of the different versions. In the past two years I have been able to undertake
a comparison of these five recensions: Rtag brtan phun tshogs gling, Dga’ ldan phun
tshogs gling, Sde dge par khang, Sman ri, and Bon Canon, as well as two further versions
from Mustang that were made available to me by Charles Ramble and Agnieszka Helman-
Wazny. Taking the first of these collections – Rtag brtan phun tshogs gling – as the base
text, I will present a summary of the contents and draw comparisons of certain features,
such as vocabulary and sentence structure, in order to suggest how these seven versions
may be related.