The 4 King protectors in Bön

[kalden yungdrung]

Hello dear readers,

The 4 King protectors are in Bön different then in the TibetanDorje Thegpa tradition.

The 4 King protectors of Bön who are here depicted stem from the temple entrance from Tashi Menri in Dolanji / India (HP)

Remarkable is that there is no King protector of the Center...

2 King protectors are to the left - (West+South) depicted on the wall of the main entrance of the temple
2 King protectors are to the right -(East+North) depicted on the wall of the main entrance of the temple


From right to left would that be:

East - King protectors Snow Lion Headed
North - King protectors Pig Headed
West - King protectors Bear Headed
South - King protectors Dragon Headed

They all fly on the holy bird of Bön, the Cuckoo.
There is also the other holy bird the Kyung or Garuda.


Remarkable is the pentagram in the right hand of the Bear Headed King protectors .
It is the sign of the magical bomb which has also Gerpung Nangzer Lopo in his hand.This ritual of throwing the magical bomb seems to be lost, when i understood this well.....


Best wishes for our individual practice
Kalden Yungdrung

[kalden yungdrung]

Gate keeperDragon.JPG (213.3 KiB) Viewed 457 times

Southern corner

[kalden yungdrung]

Gate keeper Sow.JPG (197.06 KiB) Viewed 455 times

Northern corner

[kalden yungdrung]

Gate keeper Lion.JPG (229.31 KiB) Viewed 450 times

Eastern corner

[kalden yungdrung]

Gate keeper Bear.JPG (225.01 KiB) Viewed 450 times

Werstern corner

[kirtu]

Remarkable is the pentagram in the right hand of the Bear Headed Guardian.

Kalden -

where is the pentagram? I don't see it in the picture. Inclusion of a real pentagram in an image would be an indication of some level of mathematics. However the Tibetans did not appear to create any mathematics at all which is unusual esp. since there were in intimate contact with math producing societies (India and esp. southern India and China). Given Tibetan architecture one would have expected some geometry but the buildings could have been produced by trial and error based on sound principles.
There is of course Tibetan astrology and I have seen some of those calculations made so one would expect a more widespread knowledge of mathematics.

Kirt

[kalden yungdrung]

Remarkable is the pentagram in the right hand of the Bear Headed Guardian.

Kalden -

where is the pentagram? I don't see it in the picture. Inclusion of a real pentagram in an image would be an indication of some level of mathematics. However the Tibetans did not appear to create any mathematics at all which is unusual esp. since there were in intimate contact with math producing societies (India and esp. southern India and China). Given Tibetan architecture one would have expected some geometry but the buildings could have been produced by trial and error based on sound principles.
There is of course Tibetan astrology and I have seen some of those calculations made so one would expect a more widespread knowledge of mathematics.

Kirt

Hello Kirtu,


Thanks for your kind reply.

In Bön we know the pentagram and this is used by the Bönpo as a magical bomb used in conquering their enemies. Gerpung Nangzer Lopo did use this around the 8th cetury aginst the Tibetan king i guess Tritsen Detsun.

Gerpung Nangzer Lopo.jpg (87.6 KiB) Viewed 414 times

Best wishes for your practice
Kalden Yungdrung

[kirtu]

Hi Kalden -

That's not a pentagram. In the west that is called a "Star of David" (because it became a symbol of Judaism) and it also is found in many other cultures. This symbol is formed with two triangles and is found in other teachings in Tibetan Buddhism as well.

Anyway I was thinking of a pentagon not a pentagram. A pentagram is a five pointed star that has a pentagon embedded in the center as a result of the line segments.

Pentagrams and Stars of David are ancient symbols that predate geometry.

Kirt

[kalden yungdrung]

Hi Kalden -

That's not a pentagram. In the west that is called a "Star of David" (because it became a symbol of Judaism) and it also is found in many other cultures. This symbol is formed with two triangles and is found in other teachings in Tibetan Buddhism as well.

Anyway I was thinking of a pentagon not a pentagram. A pentagram is a five pointed star that has a pentagon embedded in the center as a result of the line segments.

Pentagrams and Stars of David are ancient symbols that predate geometry.

Kirt

Tashi Delek Kirt,

Thanks for the reply.

At school, i never did like geometry , Kepplers dimensions based on the circles, triangles etc.
History ,language , geography were my lessons.

But i see in that "David Star" the two triangles which symbolizes the femenine and masculine principle. Would Bon have borrowed that symbol from the Jewish?

I was asking myself allways how the Jewish religion did come in the possession of that symbol?


Best wishes for your practise
Kalden Yungdrung

[kirtu]

Tashi Delek Kirt,

Tashi Delek Kalden -

I was asking myself allways how the Jewish religion did come in the possession of that symbol?

Well it's an ancient symbol that is actually found as far as I know worldwide. It's like the swastika in that way. There are other symbols too that are found pretty much everywhere. Probably these symbols do come from a kind of universal subconscious as Jung suggested but also these symbols would arise with humans playing around with line segments and basic geometric symbols like triangles and squares. These symbols predate geometry because geometry is interested in the properties of what we would classify as geometric objects.

And anyway there was lots of cultural contact over time from East Asia, Indonesia through at least Greece and North Africa long before the Silk Road (which them brought that influence into at least Italy).

Kirt

Kirt