New horizons in Bon studies

Bon is one of the pre Buddhist religions of Tibet. It has been defined in a variety of ways but regardless of how we define it we can properly say that its culture has penetrated Tibetan culture from ancient times to the present day. For our deeper understanding of Tibetan culture Bon is thus indispensable. This volume is a part of the results of the International Symposium entitled New Horizons in Bon Studies held in 1999 at the National Museum of Ethnology Osaka Japan. The purpose of this symposium was to discuss the Bon related themes from all aspects such as anthropology folklore Buddhist studies religious studies cosmology philology and linguistics to establish interfaces among various disciplines and to construct a common groundwork for the Bon studies. The edited fruits of the symposium are shown in this book which are categorized as Bon and its relationship to Buddhism rDzogs chen myths and rituals social and anthropological approach to the Bonpo monasteries and their lay communities and above all Bon in a more wider context. The linguistic studies on Zhangzhung and related Himalayan languages will separately appear as the next issue of this series