" Tibet... " the the period " began Torchinov, A. E. Buddhologist wrote As PRC. the authorities carried mass repressions from fleeing Tibetans, 130 followed them over next few in India. to the political of and Tibet May 23 Tibetans began Republic People China government annexation of Tibet resulted in March in character. socio and historical bearing aspects, in and so geopolitical point of view, as Tibet history in turning were Events [Torchinov, 2013, p 248].

words: Keywords Tibet, China, bon religion, refugees, Dalai Lama.

The Chinese government's atheist doctrine was directed against both the religious traditions, teachings and cults that existed in Tibet, as well as against the Buddhist tradition and the national culture of the region as a whole. She claimed that Tibetan Lamaism (kit. Lama Jiao) is not Buddhism, but only a degraded form of Buddhism and therefore does not deserve to be preserved as part of the general Chinese cultural heritage [ibid., p. 210].

Adherents of the Bon religion, which existed in Tibet even before the spread of Buddhism, could not avoid this fate. The population of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the 1950s reached 1.1 million people, of which no more than 5% were followers of the Bon religion. And even less than 1% of refugees (Baumer, 2002, p. 16). Like other Tibetan Buddhist refugees, Bon followers have found a new homeland in neighboring India.

In exile, bon adherents relied primarily on mutual assistance, as they did not receive any assistance from the government in exile-the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), established on April 29, 1959, or from the Indian authorities, despite the fact that the first Indian Prime Minister offered Tibetans asylum and refugee status. Jawaharlal Nehru allowed the organization of settlements for them in the northern states of India.

In 1959-1962, Tibetans settled along the Manali-Kullu highway in Himachal Pradesh. According to the memoirs of the current spiritual leader of the bon Lopon religion, Tenzin Namdak, "without any means of subsistence, they had to earn their living by working as road workers... Road work proved to be very difficult and exhausting, and many monks died or became seriously ill" [Gyalzen, 2012, p. 175].

In the new conditions of living, the refugees faced problems not only of a socio-economic nature, but also of preserving the educational system that has developed in Tibet - the tradition of oral transmission of knowledge from teacher to student and the separation of secular and spiritual education. Moreover, one of the children in each Tibetan family had to study in a monastery to study Buddhist philosophical thought.

Tenzin Gyatso pointed out the importance of education for Tibetan children to ensure the future of "free Tibet": "Through education, we strive to meet the challenges of the modern world, preserving our language, culture and traditions. Today's youth will become our leaders tomorrow, builders of our future and will contribute to our development as a nation "[Dalai Lama XIV, 2001].

page 109
Since its establishment in 1960. The Education Department of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile provided for the educational and social needs of Tibetan schools in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. The tasks of obtaining primary education for every Tibetan refugee child, achieving 100% literacy among Tibetan refugees, creating new schools and centers, and training teachers were set [http://sherig.org/education-policy-4]. Centers for learning the Tibetan language, arts, and crafts were established.

As E. A. Ostrovskaya points out, " in 1966, at the congress of religious and political leaders of the Tibetan diaspora in Bodh Gaya, the Dalai Lama XIV expressed concern about the problem of preserving religious and national identity and stated the need to revive the traditions of the four Buddhist schools. Within the framework of this meeting, it was decided to create independent religious centers for each of the schools in the diaspora in India, the functioning of which should be carried out in accordance with the historically established school socio-religious hierarchy" [Ostrovskaya, 2009, pp. 166-176].

After the congress,the formation of four schools of Tibetan Buddhism (gelug, Kagyu, sakya, Nyingma) began with their representatives outside of Tibet, but with a single patron in the person of the Dalai Lama XIV. The creation of new monasteries and educational centers, often in places where refugees were settled, was carried out on a single principle and under the general leadership of the Dalai Lama XIV, which was an absolute innovation and evidence of a radical reformation of the traditional religious system, since historically schools coexisted, consolidating around the" holder of the throne " (Tib. trizin) of each of the schools, and The title of Dalai Lama has been associated with the Gelug school since 1391.

While the Tibetan government-in-exile was shaping the legal framework for the refugee education system as a whole, bon practitioners, because of their small number and disparity, were faced with the question not so much of education itself as of preserving the principles of monastic instruction.

The primary task was to restore and collect religious texts, most of which were irretrievably lost, in order to recreate the structure of the monastery's education. The problem was that, despite the extensive literary heritage, the production of books and woodcuts 1 in the Tibetan provinces was the work of a relatively small number of lamas who had Tibetan writing skills, due to the fact that the teachings were transmitted orally.

Since 1960, with the support of Western scholars, including Ellis Gene Smith (Library of Congress) and Professor David Snelgrove (College of Asian and African Studies, University of London), Lopon Tenzin Namdak, who left Tibet in 1960, has been engaged in the restoration and collection of manuscripts in remote monasteries in Nepal and their publication in India.

Nevertheless, the religious heritage of the bon could not be preserved without the traditions of monastic training, which had to be passed on to the new emerging community of monks and lay people. The mainstays of the bon religious tradition for six centuries remained the Tibetan monasteries of Menri and Yundrung Ling.

Dolanji, a village near Solan in Himachal Pradesh, was chosen to organize monastic training. After the death of the 32nd abbot of Menri Monastery in Tibet, Sherab Lodre, in 1963, Sangye Tenzin and Lopon Tenzin Namdak succeeded him. [http://garuda.ru/hh.html], who continued the organization of the Bon settlement in India. In 1967, the village was officially established and registered by the Government of India under the name "Bonpo Tibetan Foundation".

Since its foundation, the Foundation has been under the jurisdiction of the CTA and under the patronage of the Department of Education. About 70 families moved to the village from the surrounding villages.-

1 Tibetan wood engraving technique or impression on paper made from a wooden stamp.

page 110
Each of them was provided with a house and a small plot of land, depending on the number of members. The new settlement created in Dolanji was named Thobgyal Sarpa, in memory of the village of Thobgyal (in the Tibetan province of Tsang), located next to the Menri monastery: many refugees came from the vicinity of this monastery. http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/4702885].

In 1968, Lopon Tenzin Namdak was given the authority to organize the training and upbringing of the younger generation of monks. In the year of the foundation of the main temple (Pal Shentan Menri Ling, 1969), Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche was elected as Abbot of Menri, confirmed by the 33rd Abbot of Menri and President of the Bonpo Tibetan Foundation.

By 1978, a sufficient number of texts had been systematized and published to develop an independent curriculum. In the same year, Lopon Namdak visited Dharamsala to coordinate the 14th Dalai Lama's education program. The purpose of the new lama training school in Dolanji village was to preserve the philosophical tradition established and developed at the Menri Monastery in the 15th century in Tibet. The educational program is based on a nine-year course of study, at the end of which the academic monastic degree of geshe is awarded, corresponding to the academic degree awarded in other Buddhist schools. The first group of monks to receive a geshe degree was graduated in 1986.

In the history of relations between the CTA and the Bonpo Tibetan Foundation, two significant events should be highlighted in 1977-1978, when, firstly, followers of the bon religion were granted the right to representation in the Assembly of People's Deputies of Tibet , the highest legislative body of Tibetan refugees, consisting of 46 members; secondly, Lungtok Tenpai Nyima officially received from the Dalai Lama the right to- Lamas of the XIV throneholder title, which was bestowed on the heads of four Buddhist schools [Rikey, 2008].

This development has become significant not only for the Bonpo Foundation in Tibet, but also for Bon adherents in general living in various countries. This gave them a special legal status, which they were initially deprived of: the right of succession in the person of the holder of the throne and the recognition of the village of Dolanji as the official residence of the bon in exile.

The granting of this right signaled recognition of the Bon religion's status by the Tibetan Government-in-exile, marking a new historical milestone in the relationship between Bon adherents and Buddhists. As Lopon Namdak points out in his book Bon Dzogchen Teachings, "the Bon tradition was recognized as the fifth school of Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama's visit to the XIV Menri Monastery in 1988" (Namdak, 2001, p.1).

Despite the various dates of recognition of the Bon religion as the fifth school of Tibetan Buddhism cited by Bon followers and Western scholars, it can be said that the struggle for official recognition reflects the dynamics that existed in the Tibetan community: It took almost two decades, since 1959, before Tibetans who profess the Bon religion won seats in the Assembly of People's Deputies of Tibet.

No less significant is the legal aspect of the issue under consideration. In 1963, the Dalai Lama XIV presented a draft of the Democratic Constitution of Tibet, which was then adopted under the title " Charter of Tibetans in Exile "(hereinafter - the Charter). This document is the highest normative legal act, the draft of which was prepared by the constitutional commission and submitted for approval to the Assembly of People's Deputies of Tibet, and its final adoption took place on June 14, 1991. [http://www.portalostranah.ru/view.php].

Before the Charter was adopted, the CTA was guided in its activities by the Democratic Constitution of Tibet. Freedom of thought, freedom of choice of religion and belief-

page 111
Vedania was formulated in the Constitution of March 10, 1963, thereby securing these rights for each of the Tibetan refugees.

The Charter duplicated these constitutional rights, significantly expanding the article on education and culture in comparison with the Democratic Constitution of Tibet, to which, in addition to free primary education, state supervision and control in the field of education, the following points were added::

- improving the literacy level of students and forming a centralized system of educational institutions;

- the priority of forming an educational program based on the Tibetan language, which ensures the best continuity of the Buddhist tradition;

- support of various religious traditions based on the principle of religious pluralism and refusal to support sectarianism;

- preservation and recreation of Tibetan material culture.

After analyzing the Charter, it can be concluded that during the more than 30 years that have passed since 1959, the emphasis in educational policy has shifted from declarative to practical implementation of the tasks set. Many of the Charter's provisions, which met the educational standards set by the Department of Education, were implemented by the Bonpo Tibetan Foundation.

One of the provisions that consolidated the status of the Bon religious tradition in the CTA education system was the "Basic Education Policy for Tibetans in Exile", approved in September 2004. The role of the Tibetan language as the main language of instruction in schools and colleges was highlighted, as previous experience indicated that the national language was being taught less frequently at every stage of education.

In a special way, the fourth chapter of this legal document noted the concept of "tradition", which is not only a set of norms or ethical rules related to the spiritual culture of the nation, but also, as it is supposed, remains an inexhaustible source of wisdom and well-being and should not depend on temporary changes and circumstances [http://sherig.org/education-policy-4/].

It goes on to state that "the main sources of Tibetan traditional education are the Yundrung bon and Buddha-dharma traditions. Consequently, the theoretical basis, process and outcome of the teaching, as well as the practice of these doctrines contained in these traditions, form the core of Tibetan traditional education" [Ibid.]. It is explained that Yundrung bon is the most ancient indigenous religion of Tibet, founded by Shenrab Miwo of Shang Shung 2 in western Tibet and most often simply taught by the Tibetan people. designated as "bon". It turns out that the traditional teachings implied by Yundrung bon and Buddha-dharma, whose semiotic key to understanding is the Tibetan language, which is the cultural code of the Tibetans, were intended to become system-forming principles in building the educational system.

As you can see, the importance of "traditional" Tibetan education lies in the fact that the emphasis is placed on learning the Tibetan language, which is a carrier of Tibetan culture in its broad sense as the spiritual basis of the nation, regardless of the existing religious denomination. This, in turn, was determined by the goal of the educational policy in exile - the formation of a unified curriculum in all Tibetan educational institutions, starting from pre-school level and ending with higher education institutions.

The main reason for such a long process of legitimation of the bon religion, which has a unique religious and philosophical significance, was the historically formed attitude of Buddhists towards it as a heresy or an archaic belief system.

2 The ancient Tibetan kingdom.

page 112
couldn't be overcome overnight. The main factor that led to the recognition of the Bon religion as the fifth school of Tibetan Buddhism was the firmness in achieving the goals set for the entire Tibetan diaspora in exile. Their implementation became possible through the formation of an educational policy, which was carried out since the 1960s and was fully implemented by the spiritual leaders of the bon.

From the first years of refugee status, it was Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama's personality that were considered as key components of the Tibetan identity in exile, as the main cultural modality. For several decades, the Dalai Lama XIV has remained a powerful unifying symbol for Tibetan refugees not only in India but around the world. The policy aimed at creating a viable model of a refugee community that has managed to achieve economic growth, including through international donations, has helped to strengthen the collective solidarity of the Tibetan community, especially that part of it that considers the development of religion, culture and education as a survival strategy. This policy can be recognized as successfully implemented in the model of the revival of the Tibetan state in exile in its pre-Buddhist version [Baumer, 2002, p. 17].

Today, the Tibetan community is relatively ethnically homogeneous. Most Tibetans identify as a single group, which is reflected, for example, in the celebration of the birthday of the Dalai Lama XIV. It is not surprising that in the monasteries of Menri and Triten Norbutze (Nepal, Kathmandu), the portrait of the Dalai Lama XIV is adjacent on the altar with images of deities and lamas of the bon religion.

The historical events that determined the fate of Tibetan refugees brought the Bon religious tradition to a level where its preservation became not only religious, but also socio-political in nature due to the problems of achieving unity of the Tibetan community and granting the bon religion the status of the indigenous religion of Tibet.

list of literature

Gyaltsen S. T. Drops of the dharmakaya heart . The practice of Dzogchen tradition bon. Moscow, 2012.

The Dalai Lama XIV. Ethics of the new millennium. Нартанг, 2001. http://dharma.the-serial.ru/library.html.

Ostrovskaya E. A. Ontology of religious conflict: a transnational communicative model. Journal of Modern Foreign Philosophy and Philosophical Comparative Studies. Курск, 2009. http://smpanel.pu.ru/panel/users/costrovskaya/1246.pdf.

Torchinov E. A. Vvedenie v bududizm [Introduction to Buddhism]. SPb., 2013.

Baumer S. Bon: Tibet's Ancient Religion. Ilford, 2002.

Namdak L.T. Bonpo Dzogchen teachings. Kalhmandu, 2001.

Rikey T. K. Thobgyal Sarpa: the Only Tibetan Bonpo Settlement in India. Helsinki, 2008. http://www.yungdrung.org/doc/Rikey_Thobgyal_Sarpa.pdf.

http://garuda.ru/hh.html.

http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/4702885.

http://www.portalostranah.ru/view.php.

http://sherig.org/education-policy-4.

page 113

Permanent link to this publication: