Lubrak: The Oldest Bon Village in the Himalayas

Bon has a good claim to be the indigenous religion of Tibet. In the highland areas of Nepal, communities of Bonpos – followers of Bon – have lived peacefully alongside Buddhists and adherents of other faiths for many centuries, forming a small but vital part of the country’s extraordinarily rich and diverse cultural heritage. While there were certainly Bonpo villages in other countries – Bhutan and India – south of the Brahmaputra, they long ago converted to Buddhism. In Nepal, while most Bonpo communities are in Dolpo, the oldest of all is Lubrak, a little village of just fourteen houses located in the southern part of Mustang District. Founded in the twelfth century, Lubrak is not only a Bonpo village: it is a village of hereditary Bonpo lamas. Unlike a monastery of celibate monks, the people of Lubrak are farmers and traders who combine their economic activities with the performance of regular ceremonies that are financed by a complex system of household-based endowments. In spite of being one of the smallest villages in Mustang, Lubrak features in a wide range of Tibetan written sources, including biographies, histories and local archives, that make it possible to build up a detailed picture of the life of the community over many centuries. Supplemented by ethnographic research over more than four decades, this book explores the history and institutions of a unique community, with a particular focus on a week-long ceremony that conveys the richness of Bon’s tantric tradition and reveals a unique integration of religious practice with everyday village life.