IOverview
Yungdrung Bön, Eternal Bön, is the name the main tradition of Bön uses for itself. Yungdrung means indestructible, neither arising nor ceasing. Its followers take refuge in Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche, the Buddha they believe taught in the land of Olmo Lungring in the distant past, and regard their faith as teachings passed down without break through Zhangzhung in the west of the plateau.
When people speak of Bön today they almost always mean this tradition: a canon of some three hundred volumes, monasteries and ordained monks, a curriculum leading to the geshe degree, and the Dzogchen system of meditation. The oral Dzogchen lineages and the Bön centres in the West all belong within Yungdrung Bön. The library sets the tradition's own account alongside what historians can establish.
IIHistory
According to Bön tradition, Tonpa Shenrab was born in 16017 BCE by the standard Bön reckoning. The teachings were kept in Zhangzhung, spread into central Tibet, and declined when Buddhism won royal patronage in the 8th century. Many texts were hidden for later generations and rediscovered from the 10th century onward.
Historians have no independent evidence for Tonpa Shenrab. Yungdrung Bön as a tradition with a canon, lineage families and monasteries is clearly attested from the 10th and 11th centuries. Scholars still debate its relation to the pre-Buddhist religion of the plateau and to Tibetan Buddhism, as the library's main article on Bön explains.
- About 1017Shenchen Luga's discoveriesRegarded as the start of the Bön revival. The lineage families that later kept the faith trace themselves to him.
- 1072Yeru Wensakha MonasteryFounded in Tsang and run by the Dru family, it was the centre of learning for over three centuries.
- 1405Menri MonasteryFounded by Nyame Sherab Gyaltsen after a flood destroyed Yeru Wensakha in 1386.
- 1967Menri re-established at DolanjiBuilt in Himachal Pradesh, India, by Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, the 33rd Menri Trizin, and Lopön Tenzin Namdak.
- 1979Representation in DharamsalaAccording to Wikipedia, the Dalai Lama advised the Tibetan government in exile to accept Bön representatives and later came to regard Bön as Tibet's fifth religious tradition.
- 1987Triten Norbutse MonasteryFounded by Lopön Tenzin Namdak on the western edge of the Kathmandu valley.
- 2018The 34th Menri TrizinAfter the 33rd died on 14 September 2017, Dawa Dhargye Rinpoche was selected and enthroned, according to Tibetan Review on 10 September 2018.
IIITeachings and Distinctives
Yungdrung Bön shares much of its framework with Tibetan Buddhism: rebirth, karma, awakening, compassion and emptiness. What sets it apart is its founder, its vocabulary and the way it arranges the teachings. Bön orders its whole body of teaching into Nine Ways. The first four deal with divination, protective ritual, averting harm and funerals, and the next five run from lay vows and monastic vows through two levels of tantra to Dzogchen at the summit. Another arrangement is the Four Portals and the Treasury as the Fifth.
At the highest level Bön teaches kunzhi, the ground of all, pure from the beginning. The awareness that recognises itself within that ground is rigpa. Liberation, as Bön masters put it, is not going somewhere else but recognising what is already there. Kuntu Zangpo symbolises the dharmakaya, the formless ground of awakening.
As Bönpos understand it, Yungdrung Bön is not a school of Tibetan Buddhism. They take refuge in a different Buddha, keep their own canon and circumambulate counterclockwise. Some scholars regard Bön as a heterodox form of Buddhism, others as a distinct tradition. The library uses the name Bönpos use for themselves.
IVPractice, Ritual and Daily Life
Lay Bönpos make prostrations, circle stupas and sacred mountains counterclockwise, recite the eight syllable Matri mantra, offer juniper smoke, hang prayer flags and invite lamas to perform protective and funeral rites drawn from the first Ways. Monks chant morning and evening, study logic, debate and go into retreat. The geshe curriculum lasts many years and covers logic, monastic discipline, emptiness, tantra and Dzogchen, along with medicine and astrology. The ritual year follows the Tibetan calendar, with Losar and anniversaries in the life of Tonpa Shenrab.
Alongside monks, Bön keeps a tradition of lay tantric practitioners who pass their craft down through families. After the 11th century the tradition was carried largely by lineage families such as the Dru, Zhu, Pa and Meu.
VOrganisation and Distribution
Yungdrung Bön has no central church with authority over doctrine. The abbot of Menri, the Menri Trizin, is widely regarded as its spiritual head. The two main centres for geshe training outside the plateau are Menri at Dolanji and Triten Norbutse in Kathmandu. Lopön Tenzin Namdak, founder of Triten Norbutse and one of the tradition's greatest masters, died in Kathmandu on 12 June 2025, aged nearly one hundred, according to the monastery.
On the plateau many Bön monasteries remain active, most of them in the east. In Nepal there are long established Bön villages in Dolpo and Mustang. There is no count of followers. The most cited figure is up to about 400,000 on the plateau, a 2019 scholarly estimate cited by Wikipedia, and it covers Bön as a whole.
VIIn Vietnam
The library has found no organisation or place of worship of Yungdrung Bön in Vietnam. According to the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, Bön is not among the 16 religions recognised in the country. Vietnamese readers know the tradition mostly through books on Tibetan Buddhism, pilgrimages to Mount Kailash and translated books on Dzogchen by Bön teachers.
VIISymbol of the Branch
Mount Yungdrung Gutseg
གཡུང་དྲུང་དགུ་བརྩེགས་
VIIISub-branches
- Menri Monastery, founded 1405, re-established at Dolanji in 1967
- Triten Norbutse Monastery, Kathmandu, founded 1987
- Bön monasteries on the plateau such as Yungdrung Ling and Kharna
IXOther Branches of Bön
Yungdrung Bönགཡུང་དྲུང་བོན་ g.yung drung bonThe main living tradition, tracing its teachings to Tonpa Shenrab through Zhangzhung, with its own canon, monasteries and Nine Ways.
Zhangzhung Nyengyudཞང་ཞུང་སྙན་རྒྱུད་ zhang zhung snyan rgyudOne of the three Bön Dzogchen lineages, held to be an unbroken oral transmission, including the master Tapihritsa.Uses the common symbol of the path
A-triཨ་ཁྲིད་ a khridOne of the three Bön Dzogchen lineages, meaning instruction on the letter A, codified by Meu Gongdzo (1038 to 1096).Dzogchen Yangtse Longchenརྫོགས་ཆེན་ཡང་རྩེ་ཀློང་ཆེན་ rdzogs chen yang rtse klong chenThe third Bön Dzogchen lineage, based on a treasure text said to have been discovered in 1080.Uses the common symbol of the pathNew Bönབོན་གསར་ bon gsarA movement from the 14th century centred on Drenpa Namkha, Tsewang Rigdzin and Padmasambhava, blending Eternal Bön with Tibetan Buddhist elements.Uses the common symbol of the pathOld Bönབོན་རྙིང་ bon rnying, also གདོད་མའི་བོན་ gdod ma'i bonThe pre-Buddhist religion of the Tibetan plateau, linked to the early kings.Uses the common symbol of the pathBön Centres in the WestNo shared original name. Centre names: Ligmincha, Shenten Dargye LingSince the late 20th century Bön teachers have founded centres in Europe and the Americas, notably Ligmincha (founded 1992 by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche) and Shenten Dargye Ling in France.Uses the common symbol of the pathXSources
The library cross-checks the sources below. Where they disagree, the page gives both.
- Treasury of Lives, Bön (Jean-Luc Achard, 2010)
- Wikipedia, Bon
- Triten Norbutse, About the monastery
- Triten Norbutse, The Passing of His Eminence Yongdzin Rinpoche (1926 to 2025)
- Tibetan Review, Grand ceremony held to enthrone new head of Tibet's Bon religion, 10/9/2018
- Shambhala Publications, Tibetan Dzogchen Bön tradition
?Quick Questions
How does Yungdrung Bön differ from Old Bön?
Old Bön was the pre-Buddhist religion of the plateau, about which historians know little and which no community claims today. Yungdrung Bön is a tradition with a canon, monasteries and monks, clearly attested from the 10th and 11th centuries. Bönpos themselves see the two as one continuous stream.
Who is the Menri Trizin?
The abbot of Menri Monastery, regarded as the spiritual head of Yungdrung Bön. The 34th is Dawa Dhargye Rinpoche, enthroned in 2018.
Which way do Bönpos circumambulate?
Counterclockwise, the opposite of Tibetan Buddhists. Bön prayer wheels also turn in the opposite direction.