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
New Book: “How to Practise Dzogchen in Daily Life”
Today (15th day of the 8th lunar month) is the anniversary of when one of Tönpa Shenrab’s sons, Regent Dungsob Mucho Demdrug (Tib. Gdung-sob Mu-cho ldem-drug), turned the Wheel of Bön. This marked the beginning of the Doctrine of Speech (Tib. gsung gi bstan pa), the second 10,000-year period of this current 30,000-year long cycle of Yungdrung Bön. So we have chosen this auspicious day to release a new book: How to Practise Dzogchen in Daily Life, available as both a printed book and eBook. This short book contains teachings given by Drubdra Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin as part of a[…]
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New Book Released on the Anniversary of Drenpa Namkha and Sons
Today is the anniversary of Drenpa Namkha and his twin sons Tsewang Rigdzin and Pema Thongdrol, known together as Yabsesum. We are celebrating this day with the release of a new book: Correcting Erroneous Views of Dzogchen. This volume is a compilation of teachings Yongdzin Rinpoche gave between 2005-2009 and contains advice on how to correct common errors and mistakes that often arise when we try to understand and practise the Dzogchen View.
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Magyu Tsalung & Tummo eBook Edition is out
Soon after Magyu Tsalung & Tummo was published in November 2018, we began receiving requests to create an eBook version because it is difficult and expensive to get the printed book delivered to some regions of the planet. So we are delighted to announce that this popular practice manual is now available in EPUB3 Fixed Layout format. Besides the plentiful colour illustrations of chakras and channels found in the printed book, this eBook Edition also contains eight embedded videos in which Drubdra Khenpo demonstrates the thrulkhor movements performed together with breathing and visualisation. So, together with the author, Drubdra Khenpo[…]
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FPYB Annual Newsletter: Fourth Anniversary
Each July, when the time comes to write our annual charity report, I think: ‘Oh, this year, there’s not much news, Dmitry and I were too busy to devote enough time to the Foundation…’ But then I start looking through the activity log and discover that each month we transcribed and published some teachings, wrote an article, collaborated in a translation project or raised some money for our fellow Bönpos in Nepal. This is the fourth year of our work as an officially registered UK charity, and we would like to thank you all for your support and invite you to celebrate our joint achievements over the last 12 months.
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Launching our first eBook!
Over the years, many of you have asked us to make FPYB books available in digital format. So we are delighted to tell you that today, to celebrate our fourth anniversary as a registered UK charity, we are launching our very first eBook! Please visit the newly-built FPYB eBooks webpage @ https://yungdrungbon.co.uk/ebooks/ Finding a good, secure digital solution that safeguards the sanctity of these precious teachings has taken months, but thanks to Dmitry’s patience coupled with progress in eBook-making software, particularly the new EPUB3 Fixed Layout format, we are now able to offer you eBooks with Tibetan script, graphics and[…]
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Yongdzin Rinpoche’s explanation of Tsewang Rigdzin’s Long-life mantra
Dear friends and sangha, You have probably already heard that Yongdzin Rinpoche, who is now 96, has been unwell for a few days. As his students, we have been asked to recite the long-life mantra of Tsewang Rigdzin: SO DRUM A KAR MU LA TING NAM WÖ DU MU YE TSE NRI DZA To help us all with this practice, we are sharing Yongdzin Rinpoche’s own explanation of the mantra, which he gave in December, 2009 as part of the consecration of the first stupa built in Shenten Dargye Ling, France. Meaning of the Long-Life Mantra PDF: FREE DOWNLOAD The[…]
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.
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