Bön Glossary of Terms
Definitions drawn from standard Bön and Ligmincha usage, grounded in the Dark Retreat transcripts where those terms appear.
The awakened heart-mind: the aspiration to realize enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. Generated together with refuge at the opening of practice.
The indigenous spiritual tradition of Tibet, traced to the founder Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche and to the ancient kingdom of Zhang Zhung. Yungdrung Bön ("Eternal Bön") preserves a complete path including sutra, tantra, and Dzogchen.
"Wheels." The energy centers along the central channel where the channels converge and where wind, mind, and vital essence gather.
Tibetan tsa (Skt. nadi). The subtle pathways through which wind and vital energy move. Three are principal: the central channel and the two side channels.
"Great Completion" or "Great Perfection." The highest of the vehicles in Bön, the path of self-liberation, in which the practitioner is directly introduced to the natural state (rigpa), already complete and requiring nothing to be added or removed.
The unbroken succession of transmission from master to student. In Bön Dzogchen the central lineage is the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyü, the Oral (or Experiential) Transmission of Zhang Zhung.
Tibetan for wind, breath, or vital energy (Skt. prana), which moves through the channels of the subtle body; the object of tsa lung practice and of the nine breathings. Lung also carries a second sense: the oral transmission or reading authorization a teacher gives for a text.
Sacred syllables recited to protect and transform the mind. Examples in these teachings include SA LE Ö and the Sherap Chamma mantra.
A symbolic gesture or posture — most often of the hands, but also of the whole body — that expresses and supports a particular quality or state of realization. The word means "seal."
The preliminary or foundational practices undertaken before the main practices of tantra and Dzogchen. In the Bön tradition these include refuge, bodhicitta, purification, mandala offering, and guru yoga. The dark retreat teachings treat ngöndro as prerequisite: the foundation is what makes the dark retreat possible.The preliminary or foundational practices undertaken before the main practices of tantra and Dzogchen. In the Bön tradition these include refuge, bodhicitta, purification, mandala
"Precious One." A Tibetan honorific for a highly respected teacher or a recognized reincarnate lama.
The community of practitioners; one of the three objects of refuge alongside the teacher and the teachings.
"Loving Mother of Wisdom." The great mother deity of Bön, source of wisdom and compassionate warmth. Her mantra is used in the dark retreat as the heartwarming practice between sessions, so that the heart is not only settled and grounded but also warm.
"Shen Deity of White Light." The sambhogakaya buddha of the Bön tradition, embodying compassion and wisdom, and a central figure of Bön refuge and devotional practice.
The path of transformation, in which afflictive emotions and ordinary perception are transformed into enlightened qualities through visualization, mantra, deity practice, and work with the subtle body. Distinguished from sutra (renunciation) and Dzogchen (self-liberation).
A master of the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyü lineage, generally placed in the eighth century. He is depicted naked and unadorned — without robes, ornaments, or attributes — as a symbol of the unelaborated natural state, and is the principal figure of guru yoga in Bön Dzogchen.
A practitioner devoted to meditative discipline, particularly practice with body, breath, and mind. The Tibetan naljorpa means one who abides in, or joins with, the natural state.
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