Contemporary Bonpo Community in Tibetan Refugee Camps
Keywords:
Himalayan people, Tibetans, Dolpo, Mustang, Bön, population, religious minority, migration, boarding schoolAbstract
This article describes a religious minority group called the Bönpo who live in Tibet (China), Nepal and India. Bönpos live in villages, in scattered communities and in two Tibetan refugee Bönpo camps in Himachal Pradesh (India) and in Kathmandu Valley (Nepal). This article presents the social policy of religious leaders from both camps, who have been mixing different ethnic groups and nations in one camp in order to help this niche culture survive. One of the effects of such policies carried out over the last 50 years is the deep influence of Tibetanness on Himalayan people, mostly from Mustang and Dolpo, who have grown up in Bönpo refugee camps. In the article, I analyse population data in detail to show how small the Bönpo community is and why their leaders have pursued such a social policy focused on religious and Tibetan identification despite ethnic and national differences.
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References
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Internet sources:
Central School For Tibetans in Dolanji – https://www.cstdholanji.org/english-aboutschool. Access 16.10.2016.
The Nepalese Government’s census of Mustang – http://cbs.gov.np/image/data/Population/VDCMunicipality%20in%20detail/42%20Mustang_VDCLevelReport.pdf. Access 16.10.2016.
The Nepalese Government’s census of Dolpo – http://cbs.gov.np/image/data/Population/VDCMunicipality%20in%20detail/62%20Dolpa_VDCLevelReport.pdf. Access 16.10.2016.
Tibetan Bon Foundation – www.bonfoundation.org. Access Sept. 2017.
Triten Norbutse monastery history – http://www.triten.org/TR/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=53. Access Sept. 2017.
33rd Trizin Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche bios – http://www.ligmincha.org/index.php/en/boen-buddhism/lineage-of-teachers/hh-lungtok-tenpai-nyima.html. Access Sept. 2017.
34th Trizin Geshe Dawa Dhargyal bios – http://www.ligmincha.org/en/international-news/421-34thmenri-trizin.html. Access Jan. 2018.
Yongdzin Lobpön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche bios – http://www.ligmincha.org/index.php/en/boenbuddhism/lineage-of-teachers/yongdzin-rinpoche.html. Access Sept. 2017.
B a r e j a - S t a r z y ń s k a A. and Me j o r M. 2002. Klasyczny język tybetański. Warszawa.
B a u m e r C. 2002. Tibet’s Ancient Religion Bön, Graz.
B h a t i a S., Ts e g y a l Dr a n y i, R o w l e y D. 2002. A social and demographic study of Tibetan refugees in India. Social Science & Medicine 54 (3, February 2002), 411–422.
B o n B i b l i o g r a p h y. 2011. Bon Bibliography in THL Bibliographies. Dharamsala: The Tibetan and Himalayan Library. http://www.thlib.org/bibliographies/wiki/bon%20bibliography.html. Access: Oct. 2011.
C e c h K. 1987. The Social and Religious Identity of the Tibetan Bonpos with Special Reference to a North-West Himalayan Settlement. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oxford (pdf shared in the University of Virginia Library in 2008).
D a h a l D. R. 2002. Social Composition of the Population: Caste/ Ethnicity and Religion in Nepal. Kathmandu: Central Bureau of Statistics.
D e m o g r a p h i c S u r v e y. 2009. Demographic Survey of Tibetans in Exile. Dharamsala: Planning Commission CTA. http://phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=24426&article=CTA+to+conduct+second+demographic+survey+of+Tibetans+in+exile%22. Access Oct. 2011.
G u a r d R. (ed.) 1995. The Twelve Deeds. A Brief Life Story of Tonpa Shenrab, the Founder of the Bon Religion. Transl. Sangye Tandar. New Delhi, Dharamsala: LTWA.
K a r m a y S. G. 1998. The Arrow and the Spindle. Studies in History, Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in Tibet. Kathmandu.
K v a e r n e P. 1977. Continuity and Change in Tibetan Monasticism. In Chai-Shin Yu (ed.), Korean and Asian Religious Tradition. Toronto, 83–98.
K v a e r n e P. 1985. Tibet – Bon – Religion. A Death Ritual of the Tibetan Bonpos. Leiden.
K v a e r n e P. 1990. The Bön Religion of Tibet, a Survey of Research. NIAS Report. Kobenhaven, 143–153.
K v a e r n e P. 1995. The Bon Religion of Tibet. The Iconography of a Living Tradition, London.
K v a e r n e P. (ed.) 1994. Tibetan Studies. Oslo: Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture.
M a r t i n D. 1997. An annotated Bibliography of articles and Books about Bon (English, French and German, primarily, but also including some recent articles from Tibetan-language periodicals). (Unpublished version shared in the Śardza Ling Institute archive in Poland).
M a r t i n D. 1999.‘Ol-mo-lung-ring, the Original Holy Place. In T. Huber (ed.), Sacred Spaces and Powerful Places in Tibetan Culture. Dharamsala: LTWA, 258–301.
N a m k h a i No r b u. 1995. Drung, Due and Bön. Narrations, symbolic languages and the Bön tradition in ancient Tibet. Dharamsala: LTWA.
N y i m a D a k p a. 2005. Opening the Door to Bön. Ithaca, New York, Boulder, Colorado.
P o p u l a t i o n C e n s u s. 2002. Population Census 2001 National Report. Kathmandu: Central Bureau of Statistics.
R e l i g i o n a n d C u l t u r e A f f a i r s. 1999. Dharamsala: Central Tibetan Administration. www.tibet.com/Govt/rel-cul.html. Access 12.05.1999.
R e y n o l d s J. M. 2005. The Oral Tradition from Zhang-Zhung. An Introduction to the Bonpo Dzogchen Teachings of the Oral Tradition from Zhang-zhung known as the Zhang-zhung snyan-rgyud. Kathmandu.
R o s s i D. 1999. The Philosophical View of the Great Perfection in the Tibetan Bon Religion. Ithaca, New York.
S a n g y e Te n z i n. n.d.p. Dwanaście czynów Tenpy Szenraba. Krótka historia życia założyciela religii bon. Termy, Nauki, Komentarze Tradycji Jungdung Bon 4. Warszawa: Garuda Association in Poland.
S n e l l g r o v e D. and R i c h a r d s o n H. 1978. Tybet. Zarys historii kultury. Warszawa.
S n e l l g r o v e D. L. (ed., transl.) 1980. The Nine Ways of Bon. Excerpts from gZi-brjid. Boulder.
S u b b a T. B. 1990. Flight and Adaptation. Tibetan Refugees in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya. Dharamsala: LTWA.
Te n z i n G y a t s o t h e D a l a i L a m a 1 4 t h. 1987. A Letter from H.H. The Dalai Lama [to the Bonpo community]. www.bonfoundation.org/letter.html. Access Oct. 2011.
Te n z i n Wa n g y a l. 1993 (2000). Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet. Ithaca – New York – Boulder.
Te n z i n Wa n g y a l. 2002. Healing with Form, Energy and Light. The Five Elements in the Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra, and Dzogchen. Ithaca – New York – Boulder.
T h e Tr a n s l i t e r a t i o n a n d Tr a n s c r i p t i o n o f T i b e t a n. Tibetan & Himalayan Library. http://www.thlib.org/reference/transliteration/sitewiki/26a34146-33a6-48ce-001e-f16ce7908a6a/tibetan%20transliteration%20and%20transcription.html. Access Oct. 2011.
U r b a ń s k a - S z ymo s z y n A. 2004. The Spreading of Bon Culture Among Tibetan Refugees. Polish Implications. Ethnologia Polona 25, 117–134.
U r b a ń s k a - S z ymo s z y n A. 2006. Rozwój kultury bön wśród uchodźców tybetańskich w Indiach. Implikacje europejskie. In J. Zamojski (ed.), Migracje i Kultura. Migracje i społeczeństwo. 11. Warszawa, 264–283.
U r b a ń s k a - S z ymo s z y n A. 2011. Globalizacja i glokalizacja religii bon na przykładzie społeczności Ligmincha w Stanach Zjednoczonych i Polsce. Lud 45, 177–202.
W y l i e T. V. 1959. A Standard System of Tibetan Transcription. Harvard Journal of Asian Studies 22, 261–267.
Internet sources:
Central School For Tibetans in Dolanji – https://www.cstdholanji.org/english-aboutschool. Access 16.10.2016.
The Nepalese Government’s census of Mustang – http://cbs.gov.np/image/data/Population/VDCMunicipality%20in%20detail/42%20Mustang_VDCLevelReport.pdf. Access 16.10.2016.
The Nepalese Government’s census of Dolpo – http://cbs.gov.np/image/data/Population/VDCMunicipality%20in%20detail/62%20Dolpa_VDCLevelReport.pdf. Access 16.10.2016.
Tibetan Bon Foundation – www.bonfoundation.org. Access Sept. 2017.
Triten Norbutse monastery history – http://www.triten.org/TR/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=53. Access Sept. 2017.
33rd Trizin Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche bios – http://www.ligmincha.org/index.php/en/boen-buddhism/lineage-of-teachers/hh-lungtok-tenpai-nyima.html. Access Sept. 2017.
34th Trizin Geshe Dawa Dhargyal bios – http://www.ligmincha.org/en/international-news/421-34thmenri-trizin.html. Access Jan. 2018.
Yongdzin Lobpön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche bios – http://www.ligmincha.org/index.php/en/boenbuddhism/lineage-of-teachers/yongdzin-rinpoche.html. Access Sept. 2017.
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Published
2017-12-31
How to Cite
Szymoszyn, A. (2017). Contemporary Bonpo Community in Tibetan Refugee Camps. Ethnologia Polona, 37, 67–82. Retrieved from https://journals.iaepan.pl/ethp/article/view/67
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