I forgot to say I'm more inclined to Neo-platonism but as its a kind of "death" tradition (tough with lots of interesting books and practitioners out there), and tough I love "Folk christianism" of my country (Spain) I really "vibe" with lots of Bon and Daoism stuff, specially the mixing of the budism/tibetan folklore of hte first and the way of looking at things and philosophy of the second.
If you are ever up for a discussion on Bon ... let me know .
I have looked into Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche - 'The Central Asian Buddha ' , a fair bit ..... interesting character ! I also study the spread of Indo-Europeans , particularly the ' Indo-Iranians ' .
'' The question of Indo-Iranian influence on Bön has been open for a long time now. Seeking to explain some linguistic and cultural parallels, several scholars have brought forward different theories of how and when Bön could have been influenced by the Indo-Iranian culture and religion. These theories could be broadly summed up in four points:
- Bön (Yungdrung Bön) is a stream of Central Asian Buddhism adopted from India by the Iranian speaking regions in the West (such as Kushana Empire and so on) from where it reached the Tibetan Plateau prior to the introduction of Indian Buddhism per se from the South in the 8th century AD. This Central Asian Buddhism, traceable to Buddha Shakyamuni, mixed with the native culture and religion of the Tibetan Plateau producing what is now known as Yungdrung Bön. (Snellgrove, Tucci);
(IMO dates to late , this is a 'backwash' ie , not the first influence there )
- Bön is a branch of Zoroastrianism or Mithraism and Tonpa Shenrab Miwo was a priest at the court of the Persian king Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty. (Gumilev, Kuznetsov);
( Noooo ! Dates way too late ... it was probably a form of the religion Zoroaster
reformed ; an influence came into Central Asia and eventually went east via Miwoche - Bon and then west by Zoroaster . )
- Yungdrung Bön is a plagiarized form of Indian Buddhism which emerged after the 8th century AD and any Indo-Iranian – and especially Indian – influence was acquired in this process. (This is the view of many Tibetan Buddhist scholars and some Western scholars who still follow this outdated and flimsy theory);
( yep, outdated and flimsy )
- Yungdrung Bön is the original, authentic Central Asian Buddhism taught by the Buddha Tonpa Shenrab Miwo who was born in 16,017 BC (according to tradition) in the Central Asian region of Tagzig (modern-day Tajikistan and surrounding Central Asian states). Tonpa Shenrab Miwo brought Yungdrung Bön teachings to the Zhang Zhung Confederation (tribal union of 18 tribes) and Tibet (at that time only U and Tsang provinces) himself, and that is the source of most Indo-Iranian linguistic and cultural traces found in Tibetan Bön. (This is the traditional Bönpo view).
(yes, except the 16017 bc date is far too early . Also I can tag locations like 'Shamballa' and other early 'lost advanced civilizations' in Central Asia in Tajikistan (Tagzig) in the 'Pamir Knot' ( aka 'Roof of the World' ) with archaeology, cartography and geography .)
