Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche


Tonpa Shenrab or Shenrab Miwo —also called the Buddha Shenrab, Guru Shenrab and a number of other titles—is the legendary founder of the Bon tradition of Tibet.
The story of Tonpa Shenrab was revealed in a fourteenth century terma of Loden Nyingpo.

Etymology

The name Shenrab Miwo is in the Zhang-Zhung language, which is a relative of Old Tibetan; while many suggestions have been put forward as to its meaning, it appears to be the Zhangzhung word "bodhisattva".

Shenrab's life according to Bon traditions

According to Bon doctrine, Tonpa Shenrab and lived 18,000 years ago, predating Gautama Buddha. Practitioners of Bon believe that he first studied the Bon doctrine in Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring, at the end of which he pledged to Shenlha Okar, the god of compassion, that he would guide the peoples of this world to liberation.
Like Gautama, Tönpa Shenrab was of royal birth. Tonpa Shenrab renounced his royal inheritance at the age of thirty-one to travel the path to enlightenment. Tonpa Shenrab embraced the life of a renunciate and commenced austerities, spreading the doctrine of Bon; at length, he arrived in the land of Zhangzhung near what is widely held to be Mount Kailash.
Accounts of Tonpa Shenrab's life are to be found in three principal sources, the Dodü, Zermik, and Ziji. The first and second of the accounts are held to be terma discovered by tertön in the 10th or 11th century; the third is part of the oral lineage transmitted from teacher to disciple.

The Four Portals and the Fifth, the Treasury

The doctrines taught by Tönpa Shenrab are generally classified variously, two being most common. In the first, The Four Portals and the Fifth, the Treasury, the:
The second classification, the Nine Ways of Bon is as follows—the:
The nine ways can also be classified into three groups, the:
The Bon canon comprises more than two hundred volumes, classified in four categories: the Sutras, the Perfection of Wisdom Teachings, the Tantras and Knowledge. Besides these, the Bon canon includes material on rituals, arts and crafts, logic, medicine, poetry and narrative. The "Knowledge" section concerning cosmogony and cosmology, though in some respects unique to Bon, shares a more than passing resemblance to Nyingma doctrines.

Aspects of Shenrab Miwoche

Shenrab Miwoche is said to have three aspects or forms: the tulku or nirmaṇakāya, Shenrab Miwoche; the dzokku or sambhogakāya, Shenlha Okar and the bönku or dharmakāya, Tapihritsa.

Footnotes