Articles

The Bon Religion in Exile

Vostok/Oriens '2015, №6

 
The article considers the question of religious legitimization of the Bon tradition in the status of independent school of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism in exile, since 1959. Situation of Tibetan refugees created the preconditions in which task of preserving cultural identity of Tibetans was set as a condition for the formation of educational policy of the Tibetan government in exile. The author considers the chronology of historical events and the analysis of legal documents of the Central Tibetan Administration, fixing Bon tradition with Buddhism. The specificity of the educational policy of the Tibetan Diaspora predetermined making of a single socio-cultural community, in which religious denomination was overcome by consolidating around a single spiritual leader, in the person of the Dalai Lama XIV, as well as due to the formation of the principle of commonwealth educational institutions, based on the principles of the Charter of the Tibetans In-Exile.

Keywords: Dalai Lama XIV, Buddhism, Yungdrung Bon, the educational system, the Tibetan refugees, religious denomination

Pages: С. 109–113