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
Celebrating Our Third Anniversary
Today Foundation for the Preservation of Yungdrung Bön is celebrating its 3rd anniversary as an educational charity officially registered with the Charity Commission. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our volunteers for their dedicated hard work, and to thank the international Sangha for your support throughout the year. Here are some snapshots from the last 12 months:
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Shakyamuni, Sangwa Düpa and Tsewang Rigdzin
Today we are celebrating the anniversary of Buddha Shakyamuni’s Birth, Enlightenment and Parinirvana. Gautama Buddha is, according to Yungdrung Bon, an emanation of Sangwa Düpa who was a disciple of Buddha Tönpa Shenrab Miwo. Here is an article that takes a look at this connection and also raises some interesting questions. After all, it was Buddha Shakyamuni himself who said:
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Instructions on Guru Yoga with Yeshe Walmo and conduct during the pandemic
If anyone has already received the teachings properly and has found and has experience with concentrating with the Natural State, then that is very, very important. For many, many years now we have been selecting texts from our cannon. Now it is necessary to do something for preservation. I think that you are not too busy with working or with visiting people now, so I think now it is necessary to go back and read the booklets that have been translated and to the tapes.
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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