A preliminary field-report on the Bon community of the Songpan area of North Sichuan

The following essay is the result of approximately two years of research and fieldwork on the Bon religious community of the Songpan Prefecture in the Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China. The research was carried on between September 1991 to Spring 1993. The candidate uses translations of Tibetan Bon historical texts and information provided during field work by Bonpos informants to summarize the view of the Bonpos and contrast it with the historical data available in Western writings to establish a provisional definition of Bon. Translations from a Chinese historical report on the major events of Tibetan religion in Songpan from the period preceding Liberation to today's situation follow with descriptions of Bon monastic settlements and places of pilgrimage. A summary description of the major Bon religious and meditative practices with references to their corpus of ritual manuals and main commentaries used by monks and hermits then conclude the exposition of modern Bon religion as it is presently practiced in Songpan.