The world of Bön's implements holds the oldest layer of memory on the high plateau.

Many of these objects can also be seen in other schools — drum, bell, torma, mala, prayer flags. But look closely and the forms and uses differ: Bön's drum is a flat, round, single-headed drum with a crisp, chime-like ring; the ritual bell (shang) is flat, unlike the Vajra bell of Tibetan Buddhism; the Yungdrung 卍 is carved on nearly every implement, turned to the left.

Bön claims these implements descend from the Zhangzhung era. Scholars point out that many took shape later, through exchange with Buddhism. Yet whatever their origin, together they form a complete ritual language — a language for conversing with mountains, waters, deities, and the dead.

This page begins with Bön's most emblematic drum and bell, explaining one by one what each is, what it is for, and the meaning behind it.

If one implement could represent Bön above all others, it would be the drum.

Bön's drum (རྔ་, Wylie: *rnga*) has a distinctive form: flat and round, single- or double-headed, usually over a foot across, paired with a curved drumstick. A monk holds the drum in one hand and the stick in the other; its low, full tone carries far.

It differs from the great fixed drums common in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries: Bön's drum is handheld, played while walking, suited to rites in mountains, charnel grounds, and open country.

The drum serves three purposes in Bön:

• Invocation — the sound is believed to reach the abodes of deities and the dead, summoning the yidam, protectors, and local gods.
• Rhythm — scripture recitation, rites, and the cham dance are all paced by the drumbeat.
• Symbol — the drum sound represents the spreading of the teaching, and also wakefulness: calling the scattered mind back.

Bön texts often say Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche subdued the hosts of demons with the sound of the drum. This image — facing a hostile force with a sound, not a weapon — is an entry point to the Bön view of implements.

Bön's ritual bell is called "shang" (གཤང་, Wylie: *g.shang*), and its form clearly differs from the Buddhist Vajra bell:

It is not the usual bell-shaped handle bell, but flat and disc-like, flaring outward at the rim, domed in the center, usually with a wooden handle. Shaken, it gives a clear, long-sustaining tone closer to a chime or cymbal than to the dense high pitch of the Vajra bell.

In Bön, "shang" stands alongside "Yungdrung" as one of the two most core symbols: Yungdrung is form, shang is sound; one is seen by the eye, the other heard by the ear.

Its function resembles the drum's: invocation, consecration of space, pacing, and symbolizing the spread of the teaching. In Bön rites the drum and shang are often used together — one low, one high; one deep, one bright — forming the basic soundscape of the ritual.

For visitors, the sound of a Bön monastery differs slightly from a Buddhist one: less of the Vajra bell's density, more of the drum's weight and the shang's lingering resonance. Perhaps this also mirrors the two temperaments: one more discursive, the other more ancient.

On almost every Bön implement appears that left-turning symbol — the Yungdrung (གཡུང་དྲུང་, Wylie: *g.yung drung*).

It appears on: the four corners of thangkas, the center of prayer flags, the faces of drums and the handles of shangs, the carving on mani stones, the bodies of stupas, even the monks' cushions and the lintels of monasteries.

The Yungdrung means eternity, steadfastness, the indestructible. Bön scriptures say all conditioned things perish, but the truth-body signified by the Yungdrung does not. It is Bön's most condensed expression of self-identity, and its most direct mark distinguishing it from other traditions.

Worth noting is its direction: Bön's Yungdrung turns left (counterclockwise). Circumambulating stupas, turning the symbol, all follow this direction. This is not merely formal difference but part of Bön's cosmology — it represents this school's understanding of the direction the world turns.

For the general reader, this one point suffices: when you see a left-turning 卍, it is most likely Bön.

Bön's relation to the natural environment is more direct than any Buddhist school's. This shows most clearly in three kinds of objects:

Prayer flags (དར་ལྕོག་, Wylie: *dar lcog*) — five-colored cloth banners (blue, white, red, green, yellow, corresponding to sky, cloud, fire, water, earth), printed with scripture and the Yungdrung, hung at mountain passes, rooftops, and bridgeheads. Each pass of the wind equals one recitation of the scripture.

Wind-horses (རླུང་རྟ་, Wylie: *rlung rta*) — small squares of paper printed with a treasure-bearing steed, scattered at mountain passes to drift on the wind. They symbolize the transmission of fortune and blessing, and the entrusting of prayers to the wind.

Sang (བསང་, Wylie: *bsang*) — a smoke offering burning juniper branches, roasted barley, and fragrant herbs. The rising smoke is seen as an offering to mountain and sky gods, and a way to purify the environment.

What these three share is that they all rely on natural媒介 — wind, fire, smoke, the mountain pass. Bön holds that deities dwell among the mountains and waters, and that humans commune with them through these intermediaries between heaven and earth.

This also explains a deep temper of Bön: it does not speak to gods inside a church, but at the mountain pass, the lakeshore, the rooftop — addressing heaven and earth.

Torma (གཏོར་མ་, Wylie: *gtor ma*) is an offering molded from barley flour and butter; all schools have it, but Bön's torma differs markedly in form from Buddhism's — mostly slender cones or spirals, often adorned with the Yungdrung and sun-moon, rather than the lotus and tiered sculpting common in Buddhist torma.

Bön's torma has very wide use:

• Offerings to the yidam and protectors.
• Food cakes (gtor ma) given to spirits and intermediate-state beings.
• Substitute torma — in healing and ransom rites, afflictions are transferred onto the torma, which is then sent away or burned.

The third type best reveals Bön's character: it confronts people's need "to send away sickness and misfortune," and folds that need into a rite with symbolic structure.

Bön also has a unique ransom rite (glud), using a substitute effigy, food, and goods as "ransom" to buy the safety of the sick or the dead. Such rites fall under the "Srid gshen" and "vPhrul gshen" of the Four Causal Vehicles.

To outside observers these practices may seem ancient, even plain. But to participants their meaning is direct: when one meets inexplicable misfortune, there must be something to do.

Original uploader was George Orwell III at en.wikisource / Public domain

The mala (ཕྲེང་བ་, Wylie: *phreng ba*) is also common in Bön, the standard 108 beads, mainly of bodhi seed, wood, or bone. Bön malas often have a counter attached with a Yungdrung-shaped pendant — one detail distinguishing them from Buddhist malas.

The prayer wheel (མ་ཎི་འཁོར་ལོ་, Wylie: *ma ṇi 'khor lo*) is also shared across schools, but it turns in the opposite direction: Bön turns counterclockwise (the Yungdrung direction). This matters greatly in Bön monasteries and on the circumambulation paths — turn it the wrong way and it counts as not turning.

The mantra Bön most often recites is "Om Ma Tri Mu Ye Sa Le Du" (Wylie: *om ma tri mu ye sa le du*), called the six-syllable mantra of Bön, corresponding to the Buddhist "Om mani padme hum." Recited with the mala for counting, it is the most everyday practice.

These implements are highly similar in form to Buddhist ones, yet keep their difference in direction and mantra — which is precisely Bön's overall situation: it uses many of the same tools as its neighbors, yet always holds to its own direction.

Bön has long played a special role on the plateau: specialist in astrology and divination.

Astrology (རྩིས་, Wylie: *rtsis*) — many algorithms of the Tibetan calendar, the choice of auspicious and inauspicious days, and the calculation of eclipses owe to Bön. Monasteries often run dedicated astrology study; monks must master astronomy and mathematics.

Divination — in the Four Causal Vehicles, "Phya gshen" specializes in divination and ransom. Common methods include mala divination, dice divination, dream divination, and mirror divination.

Masks and cham dance — Bön's cham (འཆམ་, Wylie: *'cham*) preserves many very ancient themes; the masks are mostly of mountain gods, animal gods, and protectors, roughly hewn, unlike the wrathful-deity masks of Buddhist cham.

These arts show Bön's practical function in Tibetan society: it is not only "faith," but a technology for handling life's uncertainties. When to sow, when to travel, what rite a patient needs — historically such questions were answered by Bön practitioners.

This is also why Bön took root among the people for a thousand years: it has always answered the questions people truly ask.

For the general reader who wishes to keep one or two implements at home, a few points deserve attention:

Direction: Bön implements (prayer flags, mani stones, prayer wheels) take counterclockwise as the Yungdrung direction, opposite to Buddhism. Learn the direction before acquiring or using them, lest you use them reversed.

Placement: implements belong in a clean, high place. Drums and shangs, unless used for practice, are mostly decorative; keep them from damp and dust.

Material: Bön tradition likewise does not stress preciousness, but values "fitness for use" and "purity."

Attitude: an implement is a reminder, not an amulet. Prayer flags move with the wind, sang scatters with the smoke — they remind one of the relation between human and nature, not some transaction of blessing.

Propriety: Bön's esoteric methods (A dkar, Ye gshen, the Supreme Vehicle) require a qualified teacher and the appropriate initiation. The general reader may freely recite the six-syllable mantra "Om Ma Tri Mu Ye Sa Le Du" or join public sang and blessing rites, with no such restriction.

The true value of a Bön implement may lie in the layer of memory it preserves: how the people of this land spoke to heaven and earth before the Buddha's teaching arrived.

Q: Why does Bon circumambulate counterclockwise?

A: Bon takes counterclockwise as the 'yungdrung direction,' consistent with its left-turning swastika, expressing this school's understanding of the world's direction of movement. At Bon monasteries and prayer-walkways, one should circle in this direction.

Q: What is Bon's six-syllable mantra?

A: "Om Ma Tri Mu Ye Sa Le Du"—the most frequently recited Bon mantra, corresponding to Buddhism's "Om Mani Padme Hum."

Q: How does Bon's drum differ from other schools'?

A: Bon's drum is a flat, round handheld drum, single- or double-skinned, played with a curved stick, and can be struck while walking, with a deep sound. This differs in form and use from the large fixed hanging drums in Buddhist monasteries.

Q: What is sang (the smoke offering)?

A: A smoke offering of burning juniper branches, tsampa, and aromatic herbs. The rising smoke is seen as an offering to the mountain and sky gods, and also a way to purify the environment. This custom originated in Bon and was later widely absorbed by all schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

• Buddhist criticism on a Bon funeral ritual.jpeg · Unknown authorUnknown author / CC0
• Famous female Buddhist lama, Machig Labdrön's hut and memorial stupa, high in the mountains of Bhutan (3291848787).jpg · Wonderlane from Seattle, USA / CC BY 2.0
• Library of Congress Classification Outline.djvu · Library of Congress.

Original uploader was George Orwell III at en.wikisource / Public domain