> > Apparently you only gave a cursory look at Sanderson's > > Webpage. He has plenty of material demonstrating Buddhist > > textual borrowing from Shaiva tantric texts... > > Vaj: > In fact certain specific togal practices can be found > in later shaivite texts, after their bonpo originals... > What 'originals' would these be, since 'Bon' had no written language until the invention of Tibetan in the mid-7th century AD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_alphabet The indigenous practices of pre-Buddhist Tibet are quite unknown. In fact, the entire pre-Buddhist history of Tibet is quite unknown. It has not been established that Bon was even the indigenous religion of Tibet. Apparently, Indian Buddhism has completly transformed whatever beliefs once existed in Tibet. At present, our research into the history of Bon and Tibet is totally dependent on the expatriate Tibetans oral history being recorded in India. > What you may not be aware of is the opposite theory > of transmission already existed prior to Sanderson's > theories - that transmission of certain tantric > materials, sadhanas, etc. had come from buddhism and > bon into Hinduism... > According to this theory, the practice of Mantrayana was introduced into Tibet by Shenrab who came over from the Swat Valley almost 100 years before the arrival of Guru Padmasambhava. But, in a bizzare "reverse Tibet" effect, the Mantrayana Buddhism that Shenrab estabished in Shang Shung came to be called 'Bon' while the same practice established by Guru Rinpoche came to called 'Chos'. It is also a fact that Naropa jopurneyed to Kashmir in order to obtain the tantras from Tilopa. It should be noted that the historical Buddha was born in the Gharwal Himalaya, but if there were any bija mantras in use at that time (circa 563 BC), the historical Buddha would have mentioned it. So, we muct conclude that the above Bon comments are pure speculation, because it is very difficult to prove events that supposedly ocurred before recorded history. The first recorded instances of bija mantra usage occured during the Gupta Age in India, among the Nath Siddhas and the so-called '84 Mahasiddhas' of the age of Indian alchemy. Naropa is considered one of the eighty-four mahasiddhas, the 'saints' of tantric Buddhism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naropa Read more: 'Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists & Their Tibetan Successors' By David Snellgrove Shambhala, 2003 'Nine Ways of Bon' Excerpts from Gzi-Brjid Tr by David L. Snellgrove London Oriental Series
