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
Drenpa Yabse Festival- དྲན་པ་ཡབ་སྲས་དུས་ཆེན།
Today is Drenpa Yabse festival, the annual celebration of Drenpa Namkha and his twin sons, Tsewang Rigdzin and Pema Thongdrol. You can find more information here: https://yungdrungbon.co.uk/2021/03/06/three-drenpa-namkhas-in-yungdrung-bon/ It is a particularly auspicious day for practitioners to recite the prayer to Drenpa Namkha found in Heart Essence of the Khandro , and/or perform short or long tsog/ganapuja. Featured Photo: This brass statue of Drenpa Namkha stands in the mountains above Sangku in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. It was consecrated by Yongdzin Rinpoche in 2004. This is a recent photo by Dmitry Ermakov.
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FPYB Joins Four On-line Schemes for Charities
Ancient tradition in modern times… although I’m not a great fan of online shopping, it does have its advantages, so FPYB has just joined four major schemes for charities: GiftAid, Amazon Smile, PayPal Giving Fund and GoFundMe. We also have a brand new ‘Donate’ button on our Facebook page. PayPal Giving Fund: the UK government will add an extra 25% to any donation made when you check out with PayPal (from anywhere, and from as little as 1 Euro). To add us as your PayPal charity, simply follow these steps: Log into your PayPal accountGo to the top right of[…]
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FPYB is 5 Today!
Dear Friends, Today Foundation for the Preservation of Yungdrung Bön is celebrating its fifth anniversary as a registered charity seeking to preserve the teachings of Yungdrung Bön and produce top quality materials for practitioners as well as scholars. At the request of Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, we have transcribed many of the teachings he has given in English, and also translated several sadhanas and prayers with him. We also work closely with other Bönpo lamas and are particularly grateful to Drubdra Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin and Khenpo Gelek Jinpa. Texts, Transcripts and Teaching Materials Since our official registration five years[…]
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冈仁波齐山在本教中的重要性
迪米特里 · 叶尔马科夫最近在网络会议上发表的《冈仁波齐山在本教中的重要性》已由杨辰翻译成中文版本。令我们感到高兴的是，它引起了本教汉文读者与藏文读者的强烈兴趣以及广泛热议。 Dmitry Ermakov’s recent on-line conference presentation The Importance of Mt. Kailash in the Bön Religion has been translated into Chinese by Chen Yang. And we are delighted that is has already triggered lively interest among Chinese Bönpos and Tibetan Bönpos who read Chinese.
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Anniversary of Shardza Trashi Gyaltsen
Today on the 13th lunar day of the 4th month of the Tibetan calendar, Bönpos celebrate the anniversary of the great practitioner and scholar Shardza Trashi Gyaltsen, who attained Rainbow Body in the 20th century. Shardza Trashi Gyaltsen (1859-1934) was a great Bönpo master and erudite scholar from Dagang, Kham, Eastern Tibet. He became a monk at a young age and throughout his life he received countless teachings, instructions and initiations into numerous lineages and traditions of Bönpo Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen from many illustrious masters of the day. At the age of thirty-four he went into solitude at Yungdrung[…]
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Published: Bringing Dreams onto the Path
The teaching presented in this book is an edited transcript of a retreat given by Drubdra Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin, Abbot of the Meditation School at Triten Norbutse Monastery, Kathmandu (28.12.2021 to 01.01.2022). Broadcast via video link from Nepal, the retreat was organised by Shenten Dargye Ling, France and dedicated to instructions from the Mother Tantra of Yungdrung Bön on taking dreams as the path. Drubdra Khenpo taught on the commentary written by a great early Bönpo siddha, Milü Samleg, who was an outstanding practitioner of Magyu, the Mother Tantra. Milü Samleg received the root text of this practice from the dream[…]
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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