Bon Chorten (Tibetan: mchod rten) are reliquary mounds comparable to the Buddhist stupa. Bon chorten can be immediately distinguished from the Buddhist stupa by a set of Horned Eagle (kyung) horns that are placed on the top of the spire. In the Bon Religion there are 121 chorten designs intended for use on the earth. There are a further 121 for the sky and another 121 for the underworld. These images depict the 121 for use on the earth.

Amongst the group of protector deities of the Bon Religion (bon skyongs srung ma) it is said that only Sipai Gyalmo is regarded as an enlightened deity. All of the rest are classified as worldly deities. Sipai Gyalmo is the wrathful aspect of Satrig Ersang (Sherab Chamma), one of the Four Transcendent Lords of the Bon Pantheon and foremost deity/god of the Bon Religion.

The most important group or set of guardians of Bon are known as the Three Protectors, Ma, Du, Tsen: meaning the female protector Sipai Gyalmo, Midud, male, who rides atop an otter and Tsen Apse, male, red in colour, in the appearance of a warrior. The protectors listed are only the most important or most common as found in art. There are many other special protectors unique to specific practice cycles such as the Tiger-face Protector unique to the deity Tagla Membar pictured on the Outline Page.

A short biography/hagiography of the Bon religious teacher Tapihritsa has been uploaded to the HAR site. The narrator of the story is Lobpon Tenzin Namdak, a senior teacher of the Bon Religion.

The large sculpture of Kunzang Akor, discussed in a previous post, has been added to the HAR database along with detail images.

Additional images have been added to the database entry for the famous Menri Monastery silver Drenpa Namkha sculpture. The image has also been added to the Bon Sculpture Masterworks page.

This beautiful Sherab Chamma sculpture has been added to the database. Sherab Chamma is the principal female deity/goddess of the Bon Religion and can appear in many forms [see outline page]. The image here is only black and white but regardless the beauty of the piece stands out immediately. The face is quite lovely and the body proportions are very good. The image has also been added to the Sherab Chamma masterworks page.

This Kunzang Akor is the most important Bon sculpture to appear in years. Back in 2006 a Sherab Chamma sculpture in the collection of LACMA, previously described as an early Himalayan goddess, was identified as a very early standing figure of the most important female deity of the Bon religion. Now, this Kunzang Akor has surfaced from a private collection. It is large, beautifully cast and appears to be from the Khassa Malla workshops of West Nepal. It is possible that it was created for the Bon temples in the Dolpo region of West Nepal. The image is not yet uploaded to the HAR website but will be added soon. See more images of the figure of Kunzang Akor.

Tonpa Shenrab, the founder of the Bon Religion, has two typical depictions commonly found in art. Aside from those two, he has numerous forms that appear as deities with multiple heads, arms, various colours, along with peaceful and wrathful moods - these however are much less common. (See Tonpa Shenrab: Iconography Sub-sets Outline).

Typically, Tonpa Shenrab appears seated in a cross-legged meditation posture with the right hand extended over the right knee - often holding a yungdrung scepter - and the left hand in the lap with the palm facing upward. In this standard appearance there are two basic versions. The first version is (1) Tonpa Shenrab as he is represented when depicted as one of the group of the Four Transcendent Lords, adorned with a crown, silks, jewelry and ornaments. He will either hold a yungdrung scepter or have a yungdrung staff behind the right shoulder. Some consider this form to be the original, or traditional, way of depicting Tonpa Shenrab. The second version (2) is as Tritsug Gyalwa capturing the moment when late in life Tonpa Shenrab renounces the householder life and takes on the ascetiscm of a religious mendicant and becomes a monk - along with two of his sons and two principal students - often depicted to the right and left sides.

Sipai Gyalmo is the principal female protector deity in the Bon Religion (see Outline Page). Typically there are two common forms of the deity, Sipai Gyalmo Riding a Black Mule and Sipai Gyalmo Riding a Red Mule. These two forms are identified by their three heads and six hands. The mules are black or red. The hand objects are different between the two forms. Additionally four celestial beings hold up the hooves of the red mule.

In the Bon religion the Queen of Existence (or Queen of the World) is the most wrathful manifestation of the peaceful deity Loving Mother of Wisdom (T. Sherab Chamma). Fierce in appearance, black in color, she has three faces and six arms holding weapons and implements of power and control. While riding the red mule she holds in the three right hands a victory banner, flaming sword and a peg. The left hands hold a trident, svastika wand, and a skullcup filled with blood. Each of these symbolically represents cutting the knots of illusion and rooting out the three poisons of greed, anger and delusion. Riding on the mule, she sits atop a flayed human skin symbolizing impermanence while the brightly burning flames of wisdom fire surround her.

The Queen of Existence is both a meditational deity and a protector. She is one of the most frequently propitiated figures in the Bon religion, and extends her protection to both religious practitioners and common people alike. Though horrific and wrathful in form she embodies the qualities of wisdom and compassion.

Satrig Ersang and Sherab Chamma are two different manifestations of the same Bon female deity (Outline Page). Satrig Ersang ranks with the highest of Bon Deities/Gods being included as one of the Four Transcendent Lords and named first among them. In her preeminent role Satrig Ersang is generally depicted in a standard appearance holding the attributes of a yungdrung and mirror while seated in a secure meditation posture.

Sherab Chamma can be thought of as an activity manifestation of Satrig Ersang where she takes on the roles of meditational deity, a deity of healing such as Yeshe Walmo, and in her most horrific of appearances - Sipai Gyalmo - the principal protector of the Bon Religion.