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Bonism is also called "Bonism" because its followers wear black scarves, commonly known as "black religion". It is a primitive religion that was popular in Tibetan areas before Buddhism was introduced into Tibet.
Bonism first developed in the southern part of today's Ali region, which was called Xiangxiong in ancient times, and then spread widely to the whole Tibetan area from west to east along the Yarlung Zangbo River. Its ancestor was called "Xing Rao", which means the highest wizard. From the content, Bonism is an animistic belief, and its objects of worship include natural objects such as heaven, earth, sun, moon, stars, thunder and lightning, hail, mountains and rivers, earth and rocks, vegetation and animals. Bonism can be said to be the local animism in Tibet.
The primitive Boni religion divided the world into three parts, namely heaven, earth and underground. The god in the sky is Jun, the god on the earth is Nian, and the god on the earth is Lu.
, also known as the dragon.
The gods play an important role in Boni. It is said that Nie Chizanpu, the first king of the Tubo dynasty, was the son of the gods and descended to the world along the ladder. Nie Chizampu and six Zampapu after him, after completing their human life, returned to heaven along this ladder. The eighth Zhi Gong Zan was killed in the contest with Minister Rong, and the ladder was cut off. From then on, Zampapu could never go to heaven again. Zhigong Zaba was the first Zaba in the Tubo dynasty to leave a body in the world, and since then Zaba in the Tubo dynasty has a mausoleum. In the classics and legends of Bonism, it has been suggested that the earth has nine layers from the inside out and the sky has nine weights. Later, the story about cloud nine developed to thirteen. Contrary to the western Christian cultural concept, "Thirteen" is considered as an auspicious number in Boni religion.
The activities of Bonism are mainly carried out by wizards, and drums are closely related to the practice of wizards, which has always influenced Tibetan Buddhism to list drums as one of the important instruments. Wizards have great prestige and status in society, from weddings and funerals, farming and grazing, to the alliance of soldiers, the burial and mausoleum of Zampa, and the succession of New Zampa are all decided by Bon witches.
With the expansion of Bonini wizard's power, Zampa's power was gradually weakened. As usual, the wizards who influence national politics are all children of big noble. Wizards always support the aristocratic forces and attack the royal family on key issues under the guise of God's will. Therefore, the contradiction between the Tubo royal family and Bernism has become increasingly acute.
At the beginning of the 5th century, Buddhism was introduced into Tibetan areas. Buddhism has been supported by the royal family since the Songzan Gambo period. In 755 AD, after Chisong Dêzain ascended the throne, he proposed that representatives of Buddhism and Bonism should debate the advantages and disadvantages of the two religions. At the end of the debate, Chisong Dêzain, who was obviously inclined to Buddhism, announced that he thought Buddhism was reasonable and he himself believed in Buddhism. Bonism is unreasonable. Then, he gathered people who believe in Bonism and pointed out three ways for them: first, convert to Buddhism; Second, give up religious career and be a taxpayer of Tubo dynasty; Third, if you don't want to change your religion and become a civilian, you will be exiled to the border. Since then, Bonism has been greatly suppressed.
In the 9th century, after Rondama ascended the throne, Buddhism was banned, and once suppressed Bonism began to revive. However, Bonism also felt its own weakness and evolved in the direction of imitating Buddhism. Bonism had no leader at first. In the reform, it was found that there was a Buddhist leader, Sakyamuni, and the legendary Bonism leader "Xing Huan" was created. In addition, Bonism also translated Buddhist classics into Bonism classics. However, Bonism has also adopted some practices that are contrary to Buddhism. For example, Buddhism turns to merit clockwise for the holy land, Bonism turns to merit counterclockwise, and so does the prayer wheel.
With the dominance of Buddhism in Tibetan areas, the power of Bonism has been gradually weakened. Now, there are still believers in northern Tibet.