The Path of Light

THE PATH OF LIGHT
The Musical Heritage of the Tibetan  Bon-pos 

Before Buddhism was officially introduced in Tibet, around the seventh century CE, Tibetans professed an autochthonous religion, generally known as Bon.

Despite persecutions by official Buddhism centuries ago, and much more recently by the Chinese cultural revolution, the Bon religion still survives, and has seen an extraordinary revival in the past few years thanks the indefatigable work of Tibetan refugees living in India and Nepal.
Beyond its apparent resemblance to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition (especially to the ancient school of rNying-ma-pa), the Bon religion has a specific and autonomous ritual and doctrinal identity, almost wholly unknown to the western world.

From a ceremonial and ritual point of view, today’s Bon-pos preserve and hand down a very rich heritage of ritual music utilised during specific collective rituals and peculiar meditation practices.
The use of the music, based on the evocative and mantric power attributed to sound and word, transforms every performance into an invisible bridge between the individual and the depths of his own spirit.

The CD recorded in Nepal on May 2006, contains a wide selection of songs from the bon-po monastery of Triten Norbutse: the preliminary practices according to the ngondro of the Zhang Zhung snyan rgyü; some additional practices; a rare recording of the autosacrificial gcod ritual; the recitation of The Central Fulfilment of the Tsewang Rigdin’s Heart, sacred text belonging to the bon-po canon (Tenjur).

For listen click here