Beyond the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism there is an older tradition — Bön (བོན་, Wylie: *bon*). It claims to be the earliest system of belief on the snowy plateau, originating in the legendary kingdom of Zhangzhung and founded by Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche.

The relationship between Bön and Buddhism is the most complex chapter in the religious history of Tibet: over two thousand years the two influenced and borrowed from each other, and some rites and protector figures resemble one another, yet each has always kept its own scriptures, patriarchs, and view. Today Bön has its own *Kangyur* and *Tengyur*, its own monastic order and scholastic system, and its own Dzogchen transmission — it is an independent religious tradition, not a branch of Buddhism.

The most striking emblem of Bön is the revolving symbol — Yungdrung (གཡུང་དྲུང་, Wylie: *g.yung drung*), the "卍". It signifies eternity, indestructibility, and the unchanging. Bönpos say this symbol was not imported from outside; it is carved into the oldest rocks of this land.

This page begins with Zhangzhung and traces the origins of Bön, its nine-vehicle schema, and how it held its ground even after Buddhism became the mainstream.

To understand Bön, one must first know Zhangzhung.

Zhangzhung was a powerful polity active in the western Tibetan plateau before the 7th century, its core roughly in today's Ngari region of Tibet, its reach once extending to Kashmir, western Nepal, and southern Xinjiang. It had its own distinct language — the Zhangzhung script — its own royal line, and its own capital, traditionally the Khyunglung Ngulkhar (the "Silver Fortress of the Garuda").

The Bön tradition holds that Zhangzhung was the homeland of Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche and the birthplace of Bön. Its mountains and rivers — Mount Kailash above all — remain Bön's most sacred landmarks to this day.

In the 7th century the Tibetan (Tubo) empire rose, and Songtsen Gampo finally conquered Zhangzhung; Zhangzhung disappeared as a political entity. But its culture and faith did not perish — they melted into later Tibetan culture: many Tibetan vocabulary items, the Tibetan calendar and medicine, and even some Buddhist rites bear the imprint of Zhangzhung.

Politically Zhangzhung died; religiously it lived on — perhaps the single most essential sentence about Bön's history.

Bön's most distinctive mark is the Yungdrung (གཡུང་དྲུང་, Wylie: *g.yung drung*) — the "卍"-shaped symbol known in Chinese as *wan*.

In Bön the Yungdrung turns left (counterclockwise), unlike the Buddhist right-turning vajra-卍. This difference in direction is the most direct way to tell Bön and Buddhist images, prayer flags, and mani stones apart.

Its meaning is eternity, steadfastness, the indestructible. Bön scriptures say the Yungdrung represents a teaching that time cannot destroy and no external force can alter. Legend holds that when Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche was born, this symbol was already upon his chest; Mount Kailash is called the "Nine-Storied Yungdrung Mountain" in Bön, its mass believed to bear the natural pattern of the Yungdrung.

This symbol also explains the full name of the tradition: Yungdrung Bön — the eternal Bön.

One note is needed: because of twentieth-century European history, this symbol is often misunderstood in the West. But the use of the Yungdrung in Asia reaches back thousands of years to Neolithic pottery, appearing in the ancient civilizations of India, China, and Central Asia. It is a symbol far older than modern politics, signifying eternity and auspiciousness.

The founder of Bön is Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche (meaning "the supreme teacher Shenrab among men").

According to Bön tradition he was born in Olmo Lungring in Zhangzhung — a legendary land said to lie west of Mount Kailash, described as a fertile, luminous pure land free of suffering. Born of royal lineage, he married, had children, taught throughout his life, and finally transmitted the full body of teachings.

Bön scriptures record his Twelve Deeds — from birth, renunciation, subduing demons, teaching, marriage, offspring, to his final display of parinirvāṇa — forming a complete hagiography. These Twelve Deeds are the most common subject of Bön thangkas and murals.

In Bön's own positioning, Tönpa Shenrab stands parallel to the Buddha Śākyamuni — he is another teacher who manifested enlightenment in this aeon, not a bodhisattva or emanation within the Buddhist system. This is the core of Bön's self-identity: it is not a branch of Buddhism, but another independent path.

As for his dates, Bön's own chronology and scholarly estimates differ enormously, ranging from eighteen thousand years ago to a few thousand. Such differences are not unusual in religious traditions; it is best to read the devotional narrative and the historical scholarship in separate layers.

Like the Nyingma, Bön classifies its teachings into nine vehicles, but its structure differs from Nyingma's:

The Four Causal Vehicles (རྒྱུའི་ཐེག་པ་, the vehicles of cause) — dealing with worldly matters:

The Five Fruit Vehicles (འབྲས་བུའི་ཐེག་པ་, the transcendent vehicles) — leading to liberation:

The key to this structure: the first four vehicles do not reject worldly needs. Bön never shies away from people's needs for safety, healing, and transference of the dead; it folds those needs into the system, then leads from there toward liberation.

This is also why Bön took such deep root among the Tibetan people: it cares for the next life, and the present one too.

Bön's Dzogchen has its own transmission, called the Zhangzhung Nyengyud ("the ear-whispered transmission of Zhangzhung"), passed down by Tapihritsa, sharing a common source with Nyingma Dzogchen yet following a different stream.

Bön's two thousand years passed through three critical turning points:

First: the suppression under Tubo. In the 7th–8th centuries the Tubo empire promoted Buddhism, and Bön was for a time pressured. Legend has it that during the reign of Trisong Detsen a debate was held between Bön and Buddhism; Bön lost, was expelled from court, and many scriptures had to be hidden or rewritten. In this period Bön went underground, surviving in villages and mountains.

Second: the revival after Langdarma's persecution of Buddhism. In the mid-9th century Langdarma suppressed Buddhism, which was dealt a heavy blow; Bön, already deeply rooted among the people, caught its breath and reorganized. Thereafter the two borrowed from each other: Bön began compiling systematic scriptures, while Buddhism absorbed Bön's protectors, rites, and astrology.

Third: the systematization of the later propagation. After the 11th century Bön began large-scale scriptural compilation, editing the *Bön Kangyur* and *Bön Tengyur*, establishing a monastic system and scholastic curriculum, forming an organized church. In 1405 Menri Monastery was completed, becoming Bön's mother monastery and academic center.

These three turning points shaped Bön as we see it today: it has both the oldest substratum and a later-formed upper structure. Scholars often call Bön "a later organization of an ancient tradition" — a slight simplification, but broadly correct.

Today Bön, though far smaller than the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, remains active:

Distribution — Bön monasteries are concentrated in the Nagqu, Chamdo, and Ngari regions of Tibet (especially Dengchen, Bachen, and Nagqu); it is also found in Tibetan areas of Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan. In Nepal, Mustang and Dolpo have preserved Bön faith most completely.

Mother monastery — historically the mother monastery was Menri (built 1405) in Tsang. Today the highest leader of Bön, the Menri Trizin, resides at the rebuilt Menri Monastery (Dolanji) in Himachal Pradesh, India, which is the contemporary academic and religious center of Bön.

Scholarship — Bön monasteries likewise have a complete curriculum; monks study Bön's exoteric and esoteric canon, logic, and astrology, and can earn the degree of Geshe.

Cultural influence — Bön's contribution to Tibetan culture, especially in astrology, medicine, ritual, and funerary custom, is still visible in daily Tibetan life. Many algorithms of the Tibetan calendar, the procedure of sky burial, and the customs of sang offering and wind-horse prayer all have Bön roots.

For many researchers, the value of Bön lies in the layer of high-plateau memory it preserves — older than Buddhism: how the people of this land understood the world before the Buddha's teaching arrived.

Q: Is Bon a branch of Buddhism?

A: No. Bon has its own independent canon (the Bonpo Kangyur and Tengyur), its own founder (Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche), and its own lineage system—an independent religious tradition. The two have long influenced each other, but are not in a subordinate relation.

Q: How does Bon's swastika differ from Buddhism's?

A: Bon's yungdrung swastika turns counterclockwise (leftward), whereas the Buddhist vajra-swastika is mostly clockwise. This is the most direct way to tell Bon and Buddhist images and prayer flags apart.

Q: Does Bon also teach Dzogchen?

A: It does. Bon has its own Dzogchen lineage, called the Zhangzhung Nyengyüd ('the Ear-Whispered Transmission of Zhangzhung'), transmitted by Drenpa Namkha; it shares a source with Nyingma Dzogchen yet flows differently, with its own terminology and practice system.

Q: Why do Bon practitioners circumambulate in the opposite direction?

A: In Bon tradition, the direction of circumambulating sacred sites and turning prayer wheels is counterclockwise (what Bon calls the 'yungdrung direction'), the reverse of Buddhism's clockwise. Visitors to Bon monasteries or when circling Mount Kailash should note this.

• Yang Drung Bon Monastery.jpg · Prof Ranga Sai / CC BY-SA 4.0
• 15th century Bön initiation card.jpg · Unknown painter, card from 15th century Tibet / Public domain
• 2 Locations of the Bon religion in the East Tibet.jpg · Unknown authorUnknown author / Public domain