Foundation for the Preservation of Yungdrung Bön / གཡུང་དྲུང་བོན་ཉར་ཚགས་རིག་མཛོད།
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Browse our list of public books, teachings by Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche  and publications restricted to practising Bönpos.

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OUR MISSION

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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.’

PUBLICATIONS

Our dedicated, experienced team works in close collaboration with authentic Bönpo lamas to ensure all our publications are accurate, reliable and professional.

PROJECTS

Our projects focus on preserving the rich wisdom of Yungdrung Bön as a living tradition for generations to come.

Latest News

Anniversary of Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche’s Parinirvana

Today is the Anniversary of Buddha Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche (Tib. Rgyal-ba Ston-pa Gshen-rab Mi-bo-che) completing the Twelfth Deed, The Deed of Realisation (Tib. rnam-par grub-pa’i mdzad-pa), when he achieved nyangen ledepa (Tib. mya-ngan las’das-pa) or parinirvana in 7817 BC, 9,840 years ago. 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. འཁོར་བའི་འདམ་ཀེམས་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཉི་འོད་ཆེ། KHOR-WAI DAM KEM YE-SHE NYI-WÖ-CHE Your Wisdom Light dries the swamps of samsara. རིགས་དྲུག་བདེར་འཁོད་ཨུད་འབར་རྒྱན་གཅིག་པོ། RIG-DRUG[…]

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Tummo from the Compassionate Sun of the Mother Tantra: Teachings by Drubdra Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin

This event is a one-off opportunity to attend online teachings by Drubdra Khenpo based on his recent book “Tummo: Practice of Self-Blazing Blissful Wisdom from the Compassionate Sun of the Mother Tantra”. For this book, Drubdra Khenpo composed six texts with western practitioners in mind, and they have all been translated into English. Topics cover tummo, tsalung, thigle practice, and an explanation on channels, chakras, winds and thigle as well as how to clear obstacles (gagsel). Drubdra Kenpo will teach in English. As this is FPYB’s first online event, we are keeping things simple so translation will not be available.[…]

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Día de los Muertos/Hallowe’en – How to Practise Du Tri Su for the Dead

In many traditions, 1st November is known as the Day of the Dead, while Samhain (more popularly known as Hallowe’en) is actually an ancient Celtic festival to help and commemorate deceased relatives. Although these dates are not significant in the Bönpo calendar, it can nevertheless be an auspicious time to remember our dead. During the Drubchen practice retreat and empowerment in Shenten Dargye Ling 5 years ago, our Masters encouraged us to continue practising Du Tri Su mantra collectively or individually as often as we can, and particularly on days of remembrance. With the blessing of Yongdzin Rinpoche, the full[…]

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Dzogchen & Advaita Vedanta

Over the years I have had many discussions on the topic of Dzogchen[1] and Vedanta, particularly Advaita Vedanta, with friends and practitioners of Yungdrung Bön[2] and various schools of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. Recently, this topic came up again in conversation when a friend  brought to my attention a section of Loel Guiness’ book Rainbow Body that contains an exposition of the Dzogchen view. We had a lively discussion about what was written there after my recent talk at Watkins Books in London and it is this discussion that has prompted me to write this article since, from the perspective of Dzogchen[…]

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Mucho Demdrug Turning the Wheel of Bön

Today is the anniversary of when Mucho Demdrug (Tib. Mu-cho ldem-drug), one of the seven sons of Buddha Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche, turned the Wheel of Bön.

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དྲན་པ་ཡབ་སྲས་དུས་ཆེན། – Great Celebration of Drenpa Namkha and his twin sons

Today, on the 10th day of 6th lunar months, Bönpos all over the world celebrate Drenpa Yabse Duchen – the anniversary of Drenpa Namkha and his twin sons Tsewang Rigdzin and Pema Thongdrol. Tsewang Rigdzin is an emanation of Buddha Sangwa Düpa and Pema Thongdrol is an emanation of siddha Tagla Mebar. According to traditional Bönpo chronology, the boys were born to Drenpa Namkha and his Indian consort Wöden Barma in Zhang Zhung in 888 B.C. Drenpa Namkha and Wöden Barma later separated. Taking the younger twin Pema Thongdrol with her, the mother went to Uddiana while Tsewang Rigdzin stayed[…]

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PUBLICATIONS

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.

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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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