Tonpa Shenrab

According to the Bon faith Tonpa Shenrab was born approximately 18000 years ago in a land called Olmo Lungring. Legend has it that Olmo Lungring occupies one-third of the known world. The kingdom is described as an eight petaled lotus that sits beneath a sky that resembles a dharma wheel.

There is a tall mountain with snow clad peaks, located in the middle of the kingdom, and at the base of the mountain there are four springs that flow into four sacred rivers that run concurrently in four different directions. Each spring bursts forth from four different rocks, each shaped like a different animal.

The river Nara flows from a lion shaped rock and continues towards the east. The river Pakshu flows from a horse shaped rock and continues towards the north. The river Kyim-shang flows from a peacock shaped rock and surges to the west and the river Sindhu flows from an elephant shaped rock and journeys to the south.

Tonpa Shenrab was the son of King Thodkar and therefore a prince by birth. In time he married and had children and they became his first and earliest disciples.

Tonpa Shenrab was born with the ability to see and communicate with spirits and other invisible beings or deities that are not visible to the karmic eye or the naked eye, be it, heavenly, celestial or otherwise and the secrets and the nuances of the Bon faith were revealed to him by the spiritual entities that he came in contact with.

He strived to propagate the faith but his work was consistently interrupted by a demon called Khyabpa Lagring that was his nemesis and sought to destroy his work. Eventually however the demon was caught and converted and it became one of his disciples.

They fought numerous battles, prior to Khyabpa Lagring becoming a disciple and it was during one of these battles, when Tonpa Shenrab pursued the demon to recover a herd of stolen horses, that he set foot in Western Tibet.

It was the first time Tonpa Shenrab had been to Tibet and according to most sources he found the people to be very apprehensive and unprepared for his teachings.

Tonpa Shenrab disseminated his teachings to the locals and told them that his teachings would flourish in time before returning to Olmo Lungring where he remained until the age of 82. Now, a year in Olmo Lungring corresponds to 100 human years and therefore Tonpa Shenrab lived for 8,200 years.