Bön honors Shenlha Okar as the "primordial buddha"—before all manifest existence, this white-light pure nature was already present. Tonpa Shenrab too emanates from Shenlha Okar to open the way home for beings. In other words, Shenlha Okar is the source and the founder the stream; praising the primordial buddha is returning to that innate purity.

The priest practices the primordial buddha, seeing white light radiate from Shenlha Okar, washing the dedicatee's karmic dust and infusing purity. For the dead it guides the consciousness from fear with white light; for the living it restores the mind's original brightness.

• **Guides with white light.** The primordial buddha's white light shines everywhere, guiding the dead and purifying the living's mind.
• **Purifies at the source.** Purifying from the source is more thorough than branch-by-branch remedy; obscurations lighten, the mind brightens.
• **Steadies body-mind.** Connecting to the pure source, daily restlessness and rootlessness find a peaceful home.

The primordial-buddha practice proceeds thus:

• **Set the focus.** Provide for whom and why (guide the dead with light / purify your own mind); pay respect to Shenlha Okar before the mandala.
• **Mantra and visualization.** The priest intones the primordial-buddha heart mantra, seeing white light radiate and wash away karmic dust.
• **Source and stream.** Practice per the ritual, connecting the dedicatee to the pure source.
• **Dedicate and settle.** Dedicate all merit solely to the vow—white light bright, karma pure, mind clear.

You need not be present—only revere that white light in your heart; the priest's practice connects you to that pure source.