Supporting Bön Communities
An integral part of the Kalpa approach to the Bön tradition is the support of the communities where there is a long tradition of Bön practice. The Kalpa Group’s involvement with the Nepalese village of Lubrak, close to the border with Tibet, is the first step in an extended programme of support for communities where the Bön religion is at the centre of spiritual and cultural life.
Lubrak:
The importance of the village of Lubrak in the Bön tradition is twofold. Firstly, the settlement, established in the early 12th century, is the earliest surviving Bön community in Nepal. The second feature concerns the nature of Lubrak's priesthood - there are no monks in the community, only married householder-lamas. The eldest son in each household becomes a lama, and inherits religious responsibilities along with his secular status as head of a family. The culture of the village is a highly complex affair in which the canonical Bön religion is intricately interwoven with folk ceremonial. The community represents a vital cultural heritage in which, contrary to monastic usage, liturgical ritual is studied in meditative retreat but intimately reintegrated into daily life. Lubrak is unique even within the tradition of Bönpo canonical ritual. The annual cycle of ceremonies contains liturgical rituals that do not feature in Bön monasteries or communities anywhere else in the world.
Basic ritual practice is learned within the village. For more sophisticated teaching, traditionally young monks would either go to Tibet, or else Tibetan scholars would be invited to reside in the community as instructors. The political situation following 1959 brought an end to this exchange. Since the 1960s, the Bönpo refugees - who represent about 1% of Tibetans in exile - have been rebuilding their tradition in India and training geshes (doctors of philosophy). A number of the latter have now settled in Bönpo communities that for many years have had little contact with Tibetan scholarship. One of these doctors, Yungdrung Gyaltsen, has now come to Lubrak as a teacher and advisor for trainee Bönpo lamas from Lubrak andsurrounding areas.
Lubrak School:
In 2002, the Chasey Kengtse hostel, which is associated with the government school in Lubrak, was formally opened. Prior to this, there had been no school in Nepal where children of Bönpo families could receive a non-monastic education and also learn about their own religious tradition. The hostel met a growing demand from Bönpo families in Mustang for a school where children could receive a high standard of education in an environment friendly to followers of the Bön religion, who often face prejudice at mainstream Tibetan schools. The community was concerned that their children would subsequently have no sense of belonging to a Bönpo community, and no opportunity to participate in the ceremonies and festivals that mark the Bönpo calendar. The greatest danger was that the Bön religion would become detached from everyday life and exist as a purely monastic tradition.
The Lubrak community decided to address this situation by establishing a hostel associated with the local school where children could freely follow their faith and learn their rich tradition without having to be ordained as Bönpo monks or nuns. One of the key factors in the decision to establish the hostel in Lubrak itself was the wish to stem the current haemorrhage of children from their home environment in the mountains, and prevent the young, educated generation from losing touch with village life.
Construction work began with the support of the British-based charity KINOE (Kids in Need of Education). The project was subsequently adopted by the Kalpa Group and Loel Guinness, who are funding it for the period 2003 to 2010, joined in 2008 by Victoria Niarchos. The scheme has been highly successful: more than half the children are from Bönpo families in other parts of Mustang. Plans are now underway to expand the hostel.
Gongphu Gompa: At the heart of the Lubrak community is the ancient Gongphu Gompa (‘The Temple of the High Cave’). By the 1990s, the monastery had become increasingly dilapidated and following the collapse of the monastery’s roof, the impoverished villagers reached out for international assistance. Following initial funding from the Danish Embassy in Kathmandu, the monastery was renovated. In 2003, funding from the Kalpa Group enabled wooden floors and retreat cells to be added, and the interior walls decorated with a narrative painting of the history and mythology of the village. This remote monastery, long abandoned but for the visits of devout villagers and pilgrims from distant corners of Tibet, has again become an active centre for retreat and meditation.
more about Lubrak...