The Literature of Bon
http://www.thdl.org/collections/literature/genres/book/show.php?xml=7Kvaerne.xml
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Chapter 7
The Literature of Bon
by Per Kvaerne (University of Oslo)
From Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre, Section 1 of 1, pages 138-146
THDL Digital Text License; Reproduced with permission from Snow Lion Publications.
Overview
[page 138] The Bon pos have a vast literature, which non-Tibetan scholars are only just beginning to explore. Formerly, it was taken for granted that this literature was nothing but a shameless plagiarism of Buddhist texts. The last twenty-five years have, however, seen a radical change in the assessment of the entire Bon religion. This has come about above all thanks to the pioneering studies of David L. Snellgrove, who in 1967 made the very just observation regarding Bon po literature that "by far the greater part would seem to have been absorbed through learning and then retold, and this is not just plagiarism" (12). In fact, as Snellgrove also pointed out, Bon po literature is especially important for the light it sheds on pre-Buddhist religious traditions in Tibet (21).
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 7
The Literature of Bon
by Per Kvaerne (University of Oslo)
From Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre, Section 1 of 1, pages 138-146
THDL Digital Text License; Reproduced with permission from Snow Lion Publications.
Overview
[page 138] The Bon pos have a vast literature, which non-Tibetan scholars are only just beginning to explore. Formerly, it was taken for granted that this literature was nothing but a shameless plagiarism of Buddhist texts. The last twenty-five years have, however, seen a radical change in the assessment of the entire Bon religion. This has come about above all thanks to the pioneering studies of David L. Snellgrove, who in 1967 made the very just observation regarding Bon po literature that "by far the greater part would seem to have been absorbed through learning and then retold, and this is not just plagiarism" (12). In fact, as Snellgrove also pointed out, Bon po literature is especially important for the light it sheds on pre-Buddhist religious traditions in Tibet (21).