The Hidden Treasure of Bon

Abstract

In 2008, an international team of climbers and other experts set out to salvage a cache of Tibetan manuscripts from a cave in the highlands of Nepal’s Mustang District. To help them with the task of identifying the texts, they invited Geshe Gelek Jinpa, a scholar-monk of the Tibetan Bön religion. After sifting through the texts, Geshe Gelek took the opportunity to visit other sites of significance to the Bön religion in the region: ruins of settlements, caves that had housed long-gone meditators, and more recent temples fallen into disuse and disrepair. But in the course of his journey Gelek finds that Bön is more than just a fading memory: in the village of Lubrak and in the households of several other settlements, the religion has maintained a vibrant presence, as witnessed by the staunch commitment of its followers and their spectacular ceremonies. With sensitive camerawork and editing by Kemi Tsewang, himself a native of Lubrak, and an informative commentary by Carol and Dimitry Ermakov that adopts an ‘insider’s’ perspective, this film offers a precious insight into the rich historical heritage and the living tradition of Bön in the Nepal-Tibet borderlands.