Description
“Accepting everything, refusing nothing through the centuries, it is the one all-embracing form of Tibetan religion,” as leading Tibetan scholar David L. Snellgrove once said of Bön. Bön: The Magic Word, the first to be dedicated solely to the art of Bön religion and culture, which to this day has been overshadowed by its Buddhist counterpart, aims to explore and reveal the many hidden treasures of this so far-overlooked religion—engaging with the great scholars of the field, in particular the revered Samten G. Karmay, the reader is invited to delve into the depths of this beautiful culture. Jeff Watt, curator of the Rubin Museum of Art, enlightens the reader by differentiating between Bön and Buddhist art, which are often confused. The other contributors look at specific topics within Bön, including its paintings, sacred geography, and its founding, and therefore set the beautiful art and artifacts within their context. The purpose of this book is to inspire and, in the process, to enable the reader to appreciate the beauty of Bön art while simultaneously gaining an understanding of the ethos of Bön from the time of its founding through to the more than one million practicing Bönpo of today.
