In the previous century and millennium, I have been working on a good deal of facsimiles of Bon Manuscripts from Dolanji (mostly from the PL480 publications), together with several bonpo Geshes and... Show moreIn the previous century and millennium, I have been working on a good deal of facsimiles of Bon Manuscripts from Dolanji (mostly from the PL480 publications), together with several bonpo Geshes and monks. Many of the publications were reproductions of manuscripts from the library bSam gling Monastery in Dol po, Nepal, on loan in Dolanji (some made it back to Nepal, some apparently didn{\textquoteright}t). The exact possible earlier migratory routes and provenance of the original manuscripts is yet to be established clearly and comprehensively.While working on these manuscripts, I couldn{\textquoteright}t help but notice, in my peripheral vision, that there seemed to be system and regularity to the ubiquitous idiosyncrasies in orthography and to the system of abbreviation used in these manuscripts. Occasionally, I also started recognising writing styles and even personal hands. Many of these particularities seemed to relate to local conventions, as I was also advised by some of my erudite informants.* While I took note of some of the major characteristics, I felt that these apparent orthographic peculiarities deserved to be looked into more systematically: this workshop may be a good opportunity to do so.This paper is thus intended as a first and indeed very modest contribution toward a definition of local orthographic styles of Bon manuscripts, based on the digitized files available in my research archive (and on reproductions of the originals). I shall to report on discernible patterns and regularities.* I have discussed some of these typical orthographical features and hands with one of my informants, Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche. He appeared able to identify some of the hands and the couleur locale, in fact with some measure of confidence. Show less
In this dissertation, I have focused on the construction of the life account of the founder of Bon Religion, Shenrab Miwo. I try to answer some key questions such as, who was Shenrab Miwo and why... Show moreIn this dissertation, I have focused on the construction of the life account of the founder of Bon Religion, Shenrab Miwo. I try to answer some key questions such as, who was Shenrab Miwo and why is he considered to have been the founder of Bon? How did the hagiography of Shenrab Miwo emerge and how did this contribute toward the development of Bon? Shenrab Miwo was designated as the founder of Bon probably during the second spread of Buddhism in Tibet, starting the 10th–11th century AD. In order to compete with the Buddhist claim that their religion was founded by the Buddha Śākyamuni, Bonpos began to claim that their religion was founded by Shenrab Miwo, and that it was much older than Buddhism. The Bonpos began to formalize their religion by appropriating Buddhist literature and adjusting it for their own purposes. The choice of Shenrab Miwo as the founder of Bon was first canonized with the creation of the mDo ’dus. Its basic narrative patterns are based on proto-narratives, such as still extant in Tibetan Dunhuang documents, on Tibetan translations of legends of the life of the Buddha, and other textual fragments that existed in Tibet at that time, and are most likely also based on stories that were passed down orally. Show less
