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Per Kvaerne: Tibetan Bon religion: c death ritual of the Tibetan Bonpos
(Iconography of Religions, XII, 3. xii, 34 pp., 48 plates. Leiden: E. J Brill, 1985.
Guilders 68

Article  in  Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies · February 1988

DOI: 10.1017/S0041977X00020668

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 Review
Author(s): Tadeusz Skorupski
Review by: Tadeusz Skorupski
Source: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 51,
No. 1 (1988), pp. 160-161
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies
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160 REVIEWS

nowhere else. Each of the collectitons of private fairly new work entitled the Udanavarga. The
papers relevant to the Mutiny i s briefly des- original Sanskrit text of this work was found
cribed. in Turkestan and edited some time ago by
The guide also contains an inttroduction by F. Bernhard (Udanavarga, Gottingen, 1965).
the author in which she surveys the records, The Tibetan version of this work was translated
offers some comments on cerrtain of the into English by W. W. Rockhill (Udanavarga,
materials, especially the Mutiny nlarratives and London, 1883). The Chinese version was
telegrams, and draws attention to the most translated by Ch. Willemen (The Chinese
disappointing feature of the holIdings in the Udanavarga, Bruxelles, 1978). The Udanavarga
British Library and Records, namely, the contains over 1,000 stanzas. It is argued that
virtual absence of material in Indian languages. both the Udanavarga and the GdndhdrT
There is also a brief chronology of events. A Dharmapada may have originally comprised
helpful feature of the guide is tthat it is not some 360 stanzas which are shared with the Pali
confined to the years 1857 and 185>8but extends Dhammapada.
to 1860 in order to capture son le documents The origin and historical development of
which either appeared late in thie records or these various versions of the Dhammapada/
which deal with the post-Mutin)y winding up Dharmapadarepresent a considerable challenge
process. to Buddhist philologists and to historians of
M. E. YAPP Buddhist literature in general. To the names
mentioned above, one may add those of a
number of scholars who have produced serious
.studies regarding this bifurcated work; for
MICHAELBALK: Arbeitsmal terialien A, instance S. Levi, P. K. Mukherjee and others.
Prajnavarman's Uddnc2vargaviva- Further references will be found in Balk's
rana. Transliteration of Jits Tibetan introduction.
version (based on xylo graphs of edition The publication under review represents an
of the Tibetan translation of the
2
Chone/Derge and Pekinig) 2) vI vols. Prajfiavarman's excellent commentary on the
(Indica et Tibetica.) [xx], 554 pp.; Uddnavargaunder the title of Uddnavargaviva-
[v], 555-1088 pp. Bonn: Indica et rana (Ched du brjod pa'i tshoms kyi rnam par
'grelpa). Prajfiavarmans'original Sanskrit text
Tibetica, 1984. is apparently not extant. Hence the surviving
The Pali Dhammapada, a worlk included in Tibetan version, made in the eighth century A.D.
the Khuddaka Nikaya, represent:s a collection and included in the Tanjur,must be regarded as
of 423 verses arranged in 26 va[ggas. Since a a work of great importance and value.
majority of its stanzas occurs in c)ther parts of Prajnavarman's commentary represents a
the Pali canon, one may assume tlhat in general wealth of information which seems to incorpor-
terms it represents an anthology o)f some of the ate the exegetical studies on the Udanavargaby
more popular and edifying themess contained in scholars who preceded him. He does not restrict
the suttas, with some new verses aidded. It was, himself to lexicographical grammatical and
and still remains, one of the nnost popular philological problems and analysis but also
works, having been propagated widely in the quotes frequently from many Buddhist literary
Indian subcontinent and its periplheries. sources.
Apart from the Pali Dhammapada, there This Tibetan translation of Prajinavarman's
survive several other works, consniderablepor- has been edited by M. Balk on the
tions of which correspond to it ir1 content and commentary
basis of three differentTibetan editions, namely,
which may be referred to as diffeirent or modi- the Pekin, Cone and Derge. It is a welcome and
fled versions of the same work. There is an well
a, which was to all prepared edition which will be very useful
incomplete GindhdrTDharmapadt scholars who take an interest in this
restored and edited by J. Broughh from a text particular field of Buddhist literature.
found in Khotan (The Gindhiar Dharmapada, What is most impressive about this publica-
London, 1962). This version mayh iave belonged tion is the fact that Michael Balk, a student of
either to the Dharmaguptakas or or to
o the e Professor Dr. Hahn in Bonn, prepared this
Kasyapiyas. It has been suggesAtedthat the edition of the Tibetan text of Prajiiavarman's
original work contained some 54C) verses in ts commentary as a preliminary study for his
present form it comprises 342 veirses, many of future doctoral thesis on the various recensions
which are fragmentary. N. S. Shulkla some nine of the
Udanavarga. The two volumes together
years ago published a complete version of the contain some 1,088 pages. Can any of our
Dharmapadaof the MahasinighikzSchool (The universities in Britain claim to provide such
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dharmcpada, Patna, solid training for future oriental scholars?
It contains 415 stanzas an( d
the titles f
of
1979).
13 vargas (= Pali vagga) are also found in the TADEUSZ SKORUPSKI
Pali version.
The position of the four differenit translations
of the Dharmapada into Chinese remains diffi- a
cult to ascertain, although the earliest transla- PER KVAERNE:Tibetan Bon religion.
tion of A.D. 244 does have certaiin convincing death ritual of the Tibetan Bonpos.
affinities with the Pali version. (Iconography of Religions, xni, 3.)
It seems that at a certain time at the beginning xii, 34 pp., 48 plates. Leiden: E. J.
of the Christian era, Dha rmatrata, a
Sarvastivada philosopher, realrranged and Brill, 1985. Guilders 68.
enlarged the current version of the Dharmapada The Bonpos (= followers of Bon) have con-
of the Sarvastivada School, thus producing a sistently maintained throughout centuries of

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 REVIEWS
Tibetan history that their religion, which is
called Bon, originated in the land of 'Ol-mo
lung-ring which constituted a part of a larger
dominion named rTa-gzigz (probably Persia) to
the west of Tibet. The central axis of 'Ol-mo
lung-ring was surmounted by Mt. g-Yung-
drung dgu-brtsegs ('Pyramid of Nine
Svastikas'). To the south of this mountain
stood a palace in which the founder of Bon
religion, gShen-rab Mi-bo, or sTon-pa gShen-
rab, was born. It is said that during his lifetime,
he visited Tibet briefly on one occasion, leaving
behind him some religious exhortations.
The first serious propagation of Bon in
Zhang-zhung (= Western Tibet) had begun
with the six disciples of Mu-cho ldem-drug, who
was the successor of sTon-pa gShen-rab. The six
disciples brought with them their Bon scriptures
which were eventually translated, first into the
Zhang-zhung language and later into Tibetan.
The Bonpo canonical works as we now know
them are written in Tibetan language and script,
with a number of titles and some scattered
passages preserved in the Zhang-zhung langu-
age and script.
Eventually the land of Zhang-zhung was con-
quered and made a part of Tibet. With the
formal introduction of Buddhism to Tibet in the
seventh century A.D., Bon religion continued to
be practised but gradually it began to encounter
serious opposition from the followers of Buddh-
ism. The Bonpo historians record that in the
eighth century A.D. they endured terrible per-
secution. They were dispersed and many leading
Bonpo priests left Central Tibet, having first
concealed their scriptures for future genera-
tions; some even became overtly Buddhist in
order to preserve Bon in secret.
From the eighth to the beginning of the
eleventh centuries A.D. we have practically no
information about the activities and religious
life of the Bonpos. However, in the early
decades of the eleventh century A.D., they began
to re-emerge as an organized religious system.
They continued to develop their doctrines, pro-
ducing new writings, and building monasteries
right up to modern times. However, the doc-
trines and practices of the Bonpos as they are
known to us represent a sort of religious and
cultural enigma.
The Bonpos do not claim to be Buddhist, but
followers of Bon; Tibetan Buddhists have
always looked upon the Bonpos with contempt
or fear, regarding them as masters of black
magic. Yet, when we read the Bonpo scriptures,
observe their monastic or lay life, or when we
study their doctrines, it becomes apparent that
the bulk of Bon religion can be paralleled with
the Tibetan form of Buddhism. What then
happened to the primitive form of Bon? What
has been preserved of its ancient lore in the
body of Bon religion as we know it nowadays?
Finally, how and why did it come about that
Bon now appears to represent a heterodox form
of Tibetan Buddhism? These are the perennial
problems which confront scholars concerned
with Tibetan religions. Much material has been
produced during the past decades to unravel
these problems and Professor Kvaerne's book is
a further contribution to research in this field.
The publication under review deals with one
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161
Bonpo funeral ceremony, and clearly the
ceremony itself is very similar to many Buddhist
funeral ceremonies of this kind. However, the
author sets himself the task of rediscovering the
original funerary practices as performed by the
Bonpo priest in pre-Buddhist and early Buddh-
ist periods in Tibet. He succeeds admirably in
demonstrating, through references to certain
early Bonpo writings and to other Tibetan
historical sources, that in the ancient period the
Bonpo funerary rites involved animal and even
human sacrifices. Further, he demonstrates con-
vincingly that despite the presence and recog-
nition of Buddhism in Tibet, the Bonpo priests
were viewed and treated as experts on funerals.
They were used, as the records demonstrate, to
perform funerary rites for members of the royal
family up to the ninth century A.D. However, as
Buddhism gradually began to prevail in all
spheres of life, Bonpo funeral rites inevitably
assumed a new form, developed on the pattern
of Buddhist doctrines and rituals.
The ritual described in this publication
portrays a spiritual drama which begins with a
formal summoning of the consciousness of the
departed person. It is given food and instruc-
tions, and then led step by step from out of the
depths of various inferior spheres of rebirth.
Finally it is guided towards pursuit of the path
of spiritual perfection that culminates in the
state of final emancipation from the bonds of
this world.
The ritual itself involves a complex set of
offerings, both real and symbolic, and reci-
tations to and invocations of Bonpo deities.
Apart from translating sizeable and essential
portions of the ritual itself, the author has
provided a valuable scholarly commentary to
enable the reader to grasp the body of symbol-
ism and actual drama of this ritual. Such
explanatory passages are vital for an under-
standing of Tibetan rituals which are imbued
with a symbolism and mystery which make
them difficult to grasp without this background
knowledge. The iconographic representations
of Bonpo deities and other pictorial elements of
a symbolic nature that are employed in this
ritual have been reproduced separately and are
described in the final part of the book.
Finally, it may be helpful to draw the reader's
attention to a Bonpo work which throws further
light on the ritual dealt with in this book and its
ample references to funeral rites in a number of
sources. A whole range of rituals devised for
and related to funeral ceremonies is to be found
in a 2-volume work, entitled Kun-rig las bzhi
rgyun-Inga'i sbyin-sreg, published by the
Tibetan Bonpo Monastic Centre, Dolanji, 1972.
This is a rather late compilation but it will
nevertheless be of interest to those who may
wish to pursue the study of this subject further.
Professor Kvaerne has drawn upon very much
older and far more important sources.
In summary, this is one of the best works of
its kind, in which particular ritual is studied
within the context of its own literary and oral
traditions, and then interpretedwithin the wider
scope of Tibetan culture, with reference to
general religious concepts on the subject.
TADEUSZ SKORUPSKI