Bön's lineage of masters begins with one person: Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche.

In Bön's understanding, he is not an emanation of a bodhisattva, not a receiver of some foreign system, but a teacher who independently manifested enlightenment in this aeon — parallel to the Buddha Śākyamuni. Born in Zhangzhung, he transmitted the full body of teachings, taught throughout his life, and finally displayed parinirvāṇa. Bön scriptures record his Twelve Deeds, from birth to parinirvāṇa, forming a complete hagiography.

After him, the Bön lineage passed through the translators and great siddhas of Zhangzhung; the key figure is Tapihritsa — the revealer of Bön's Dzogchen, the "Zhangzhung Nyengyud." Thereafter, through the suppression under Tubo, the hiding of scriptures, and the reorganization of the later propagation, the lineage continues to this day.

Each figure on this lineage has a dedicated article of its own.

Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche is the founder of Bön, honored as "Lord of the Yungdrung."

According to Bön tradition he was born in Olmo Lungring in Zhangzhung, of royal lineage. His life was not that of an ascetic — legend has him marrying, having children, governing a kingdom, subduing demons, teaching and liberating beings, and finally displaying parinirvāṇa.

This figure resembles the life of Buddhism's founder in places, yet forms its own complete system in the details. Bön emphasizes: he is not any buddha or bodhisattva within the Buddhist tradition, but another teacher.

Bön scriptures record his Twelve Deeds, including: birth, teaching, subduing demons, marriage, offspring, renunciation, asceticism, awakening, turning the wheel of Dharma, displaying miracles, prophecy, and parinirvāṇa. These twelve are the core subject of Bön thangkas and murals, and the entry point to understanding Bön doctrine.

As for his dates, Bön's own chronology and scholarly estimates differ enormously. Such differences are not unusual in religious traditions; it is best to read the devotional narrative and the historical scholarship in separate layers. This figure has a dedicated article.

Open any entry for a complete illustrated article:

On Bön's lineage of masters, Tapihritsa (also rendered Tapiritza) stands second only to Tönpa Shenrab.

He was a great siddha of the Zhangzhung period, regarded as the key revealer of Dzogchen (Wylie: *rdzogs chen*) in Bön's "Zhangzhung Nyengyud" ("the ear-whispered transmission of Zhangzhung"). This teaching shares a common source with Nyingma Dzogchen yet follows a different stream, with its own distinctive terminology and practice system, and forms the core content of the highest of Bön's nine vehicles.

Legend has it that Tapihritsa practiced in the mountains of Zhangzhung and received the complete instructions from a teaching in the sky (or "ear-whispered transmission"), then passed them to human disciples. This transmission was later transcribed into Tibetan by several translators and preserved to this day.

The concept of "ear-whispered transmission" deserves note — it means not only "from mouth to ear," but emphasizes the teacher's immediate, direct pointing: the Dharma is not in words, but in the moment of face-to-face transmission between master and disciple. This closely resembles the expressions of Nyingma Dzogchen and Kagyu Mahamudra, showing that the contemplative traditions on both sides of the Himalayas meet at the highest point.

Tapihritsa's significance lies in his proof: Bön has not only rites and ransom practices, but also the highest teaching that directly points to the nature of mind.

Bön scriptures record the Twelve Deeds (མཛད་པ་བཅུ་གཉིས་, Wylie: *mdzad pa bcu gnyis*) of Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche; these twelve form Bön's core narrative:

The structure of these twelve clearly parallels the Buddha's biography (the twelve deeds of a buddha). Scholars mostly hold this took shape through long Buddhist–Bön exchange; Bön itself holds that the deeds of a sage are naturally similar, because the path of the awakened is one and the same.

For Bönpos, the Twelve Deeds are both content of faith and a model of ethics: they show how a person may walk a complete life between householder and renunciant, between worldly and transcendent.

Bön's history was not smooth. After Buddhism rose in the Tubo period, Bön was for a time pressured, its scriptures destroyed or forced into rewrite.

Bönpos of this period did as the Nyingma did: they hid.

They sealed large numbers of scriptures into rock walls, stupas, and the earth, to be retrieved when conditions matured in later ages. Thus Bön, too, has a tertön (གཏེར་སྟོན་, Wylie: *gter ston*, "treasure-revealer") tradition akin to the Nyingma terma. After the 11th century, when Bön entered its age of large-scale scriptural organization, it was precisely these buried texts, re-emerged, that allowed the complete teaching system to be rebuilt.

At the same time, a group of translators (ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་, Wylie: *lo tsā ba*) rendered Bön scriptures from Zhangzhung script into Tibetan, giving this tradition — originally oral and Zhangzhung-script in parallel — a standardized vessel.

The Bön Kangyur (Wylie: *bon bka' 'gyur*) and Bön Tengyur (Wylie: *bon bka' 'gyur 'grel*) we see today are the fruit of this period's organizing work, collecting Tönpa Shenrab's teachings, commentaries, and various rites.

This history shows one thing: the most fragile moment of a tradition is often its most critical. Those who sealed the scriptures into rock walls under pressure did not know whether anyone would come for them centuries later. They simply did the best they could at the time.

Organizationally, unlike the Gelug with its reincarnation system, Bön's highest leader is the Menri Trizin (meaning "the throne-holder of Menri Monastery").

The office is held by one of learning and virtue; it is neither hereditary nor reincarnate, similar to the Gelug's Ganden Tripa. Menri Monastery (Wylie: *smon ri*) was originally built in Tsang, founded in 1405, and was Bön's historical mother monastery and academic center.

Today Bön's highest leader resides at the rebuilt Menri Monastery (Dolanji) in Himachal Pradesh, India. Rebuilt in the late 20th century, it houses a complete monastic college and is the contemporary academic and religious center of Bön, and a gathering place for Bön researchers from around the world.

Besides Menri, important Bön monasteries in the Tibetan region include Yungdrung Ling (Namling, Shigatse), Tsezhig (Dengchen, Chamdo), and Ségyé (Wylie: *bsad brgyad*), each with its own transmission.

The existence of the Menri Trizin shows that although small, Bön has a complete institution and a clear line of transmission — it is not a surviving ancient belief, but a living, organized tradition.

Q: Who founded Bon?

A: Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche. Bon holds that he is the teacher who, in this aeon, independently manifested awakening—parallel to Buddhism's Śākyamuni, not a bodhisattva or emanation within the Buddhist system.

Q: Was Tönpa Shenrab a real historical figure?

A: Bon scriptures and followers regard him as a historical figure; scholarship holds differing views on his dating and life, lacking independent external sources. It is best to read the devotional narrative and historical criticism in separate layers.

Q: Does Bon have terma (treasure teachings) too?

A: Yes. When Bon was suppressed during the Tubo period, many scriptures were concealed; from the eleventh century onward they were retrieved by treasure-revealers (tertöns) and became an important source for compiling the Bonpo Kangyur.

Q: Where is Menri Monastery?

A: The original monastery stood in Tsang (western Tibet), founded in 1405, and was Bon's principal monastery historically. Today the highest leader of Bon resides at the rebuilt Menri Monastery in Dolanji, Himachal Pradesh, India.

• Tonpa Shenrab - Life Story 19th century, Collection of Rubin Museum of Art..jpg · AnonymousUnknown author / Public domain
• Homeland of Tonpa Shenrab Miwo Olmo Lungring. Tibet, 19th century, Rubin Museum of Art.jpg · AnonymousUnknown author / Public domain
• Tonpa Shenrab - Life Story 19th century Collection of Rubin Museum of Art.jpg · AnonymousUnknown author / Public domain