Our Mission
Foundation for the Preservation of Yungdrung Bön is a small non-profit organisation working to preserve the rich teachings of Yungdrung Bön. Founded in 2012 with the blessing of Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, FPYB was officially registered with the UK Charity Commission as an educational body in 2017 (Registered Charity (England & Wales) 1173639). Our first translation was made at the request of Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak in 1996, and since then we have worked in close collaboration with Yongdzin Rinpoche and other bona fide Bönpo lamas to produce dozens of books, videos and practice materials, many of which are now available to serious practitioners. We also hold a growing archive of teaching materials.
Why is it important to preserve Yungdrung Bön teachings through translations and edited transcripts?
བདེ་སྡུག་རྩ་བ་རང་གི་སེམས་ལགས་པས།།
Your own mind is the root of both happiness and suffering;
བཙའ་སྐྱོང་ཤེས་ན་ཕན་བདེའི་གཞི་མ་དང་།།
Knowing how to train it in the positive way, that is the basis for happiness
རང་ཁར་གཏོང་ན་སྡུག་བསྔལ་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་གཞི།།
Merely following the passions of your mind, that is the basis for the ocean of miseries and sufferings.
ཇི་ལྟར་འདམ་ཁ་ཤེས་ན་སྐྱེས་བུ་རབ།།
Thus if you know how to choose the right way, you are an excellent person.
ཡོངས་འཛིན་རིན་པོ་ཆེས་ཞལ་གདམས།
Oral instruction by Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche
(Trnsl. Kh. Gelek Jinpa, C. Ermakova & D. Ermakov)
Since leaving Tibet during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Yongdzin Rinpoche has devoted his whole life to preserving his lineage for future generations, and an important aspect of this is publishing books. His first mission in exile was to collect the scattered copies of the Bön Kanjur and Katen which had either been miraculously smuggled out of Tibet or had survived in ancient Bön temples in Nepal. Yongdzin Rinpoche’s aim was to gather and reprint the necessary texts to re-establish the Geshe training programme in exile, and it is thanks to his tireless efforts that many contemporary Bönpo lamas now have the knowledge and qualifications to teach.
Here in the West, we are very fortunate. We can simply browse the internet or look in a bookstore to find many books on Buddhism, and even a few on Bön. However, authentic translations by erudite masters are very rare indeed, so it is our joint responsibility to do all we can to ensure the teachings of great master, Yongdzin Rinpoche and other erudite Bönpo lamas, are recorded intact, seriously and respectfully, not only as study and practice aids for ourselves, but also as an invaluable legacy for future generations. As Yongdzin Rinpoche is the current, supreme lineage holder and because many contemporary Bönpo lamas received empowerments, transmissons and instructions from him, his teachings and translations are especially precious as they are imbued with the powerful blessings of the living lineage transmission.
For over 20 years, our Founding Members Carol Ermakova and Dmitry Ermakov have been working closely with Yongdzin Rinpoche and other lamas transcribing and editing Bönpo texts. They have recently been joined by a team of translators for Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Russian. All our staff are unpaid volunteers.
As Yongdzin Rinpoche says: ‘Books are my friends.’
Latest News
Events at Yongdzin Rinpoche’s Centenary
We are happy to share this information from Triten Norbutse Monastery about the celebrations surrounding Yongdzin Rinpoche’s 100th Birthday and the inauguration of the new temple. The organisers have asked everyone to register for the event which you can do by clicking the button below:
Read moreCelebration of Buddha Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche’s Parinirvana
Today, the 30th day of the 9th month according to the Horda calendar, we are celebrating 9,141th anniversary of Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche’s Paranirvana or Nyangen Ledepa. Through his life and teachings, Buddha of Yungdrung Bön Tönpa Shenrab showed us the way from suffering to contentment, from strife to peace, and from anguish to ultimate Buddhahood. E Ma Ho! PRAYER TO TÖNPA SHENRAB MIWOCHE ཨེ་མ་ཧོ། E-MA-HO! Wonderful! མ་རིག་བློ་ཡི་མུན་སེལ་སྒྲོན་མའི་མཆོག། MA-RIG LO YI MÜN-SEL DRON-MAI CHOG O Supreme Lamp of Mind which clears away darkness, ཉོན་མོངས་ནད་སེལ་འཕྲུལ་ངག་བདུད་རྩིའི་སྨན། NYON-MONG NE-SEL THRUL NGAG DÜD-TSI-MEN Your Speech is the supreme medicine which cures the afflictions of emotions.[…]
Read moreA word on euthanasia from Yongdzin Rinpoche
Yesterday MPs in the UK Parliament voted in favour of the so-called “assisted dying bill” aka euthanasia. Yongdzin Rinpoche was asked about this during a retreat in Paris in April 1997 when he was teaching on Nyamzhag Gompai Laglen (Tib. Mnyam bzhag sgom pa’i lag len). Here is his response: Q: (a question about euthanasia)A: If someone is dying, terminally ill, it is better not to kill him or her or let them commit suicide because they haven’t worked through their karma yet. You should never kill. A painkiller is not an antidote to karmic cause, it can only alleviate some pain[…]
Read moreLusang: Sang for the Lu
Today we are pleased to offer a new booklet, Lusang: Sang for the Lu, a short but powerful ritual for purifying and pacifying the Lu (klu) or Nagas, water spirits, and asking them for assistance, healing and prosperity. The Lu can be rather cantankerous so it is important to appease them and atone for any disturbances we may have inadvertently caused them through offering sang (bsang). However, not every day is a good day for this, and it is crucial to make sure you perform this ritual on an auspicious day. Therefore, as well as translating the text itself[…]
Read moreKhandro Sangchöd – Secret Chöd of the Khandro
We are pleased to share this wonderful rare video from 2006 made by Prof. Donatella Rossi. It shows Menri Pönlob Trinle Nyima Rinpoche giving explanations on Chöd and Bönpo nuns of Yungdrungkha nunnnery, Tibet, performing the Khandro Sangchöd Unified Daily Ritual. We are very happy to continue collaborating with Prof. Donatella Rossi of La Sapienza University, Rome, to preserve the rich ancient traditions of Yungdrung Bön. Many thanks also to Koos van der Velde of FPYB for converting and restoring the original recording. Language: Tibetan with English subtitles. Credits: Footage: Donatella Rossi (interview), Francesco Maniscalco (ritual) Editing: Daniele Pecorelli Music:[…]
Read moreNuova collana di libri in italiano / New book series in Italian
Siamo lieti di annunciare che la FPYB ha ora una nuova pagina web per i libri Bönpo in italiano @ https://yungdrungbon.co.uk/publications/#libri-in-italiano! Tre titoli sono già disponibili e molti altri sono in arrivo. Per ordinare la vostra copia, basta cliccare sul link che vi porterà all’e-mail della Libreria Nuova Avventura che li ha in vendita, oppure a Paola Malatesta che cura i testi di pratica. Si ringraziano Lidia Castellano e Paola per le traduzioni, Massimo Rabassini per la correzione delle bozze, Lorenzo Spadoni e Dmitry Ermakov per l’impaginazione e il design. We are delighted to announce that FPYB now has a[…]
Read morePUBLICATIONS
With the full support of Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, the supreme lineage holder of the tradition, Foundation for the Preservation of Yungdrung Bön has published a range of books on many aspects of Yungdrung Bön, from a full-colour travelogue covering historic Bön sites in Nepal to detailed Tantric teachings. As well as edited transcripts of teachings on Dzogchen, we also publish translations of prayers and ritual practices for those who have appropriate transmissions.
We are currently working with a team of translators so more books in various formats will soon be available in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish and Russian. All our publications are made in close collaboration with authentic Bönpo lamas.Help us make more books
MULTIMEDIA
Our multimedia section offers presentations, short videos and full-length films in English. This is a great way for both scholars and practitioners to find out more about this ancient spiritual tradition.
EXPLORE