eschke writes from Lahaul: "There are no Bonpos in our part
of the country, and as far as we know there cannot be many of them in the
whole of Western Tibet, i.e. in Ladak, Spiti, and all the non-Chinese
provinces together; we know, therefore, not much more of them than has
been made known to the European public by different writers on Buddhism in
Tibet, and lately collected by Emil de Schlagintweit.... Whether they can
be with certainty identified with the Chinese _Taosse_ I cannot decide, as
I don't know if anything like historical evidence about their Chinese
origin has been detected anywhere, or if it is merely a conclusion from
the similarity of their doctrines and practices.... But the Chinese author
of the _Wei-tsang-tu-Shi_, translated by Klaproth, under the title of
_Description du Tubet_ (Paris, 1831), renders _Bonpo_ by _Taosse_. So much
seems to be certain that it was the ancient religion of Tibet, before
Buddhism penetrated into the country, and that even at later periods it
several times gained the ascendancy when the secular power was of a
disposition averse to the Lamaitic hierarchy. Another opinion is that the
Bon religion was originally a mere fetishism, and related to or identical
with Shamanism; this appears to me very probable and easy to reconcile
with the former supposition, for it may afterwards, on becoming acquainted
with the Chinese doctrine of the 'Taosse,' have adorned itself with many
of its tenets.... With regard to the following particulars, I have got
most of my information from our Lama, a native of the neighbourhood of
Tashi Lhunpo, whom we consulted about all your questions. The
extraordinary asceticism which struck Marco Polo so much is of course not
to be understood as being practised by all members of the sect, but
exclusively, or more especially, by the _priests_. That these _never_
marry, and are consequently more strictly celibatary than many sects of
the Lamaitic priesthood, was confirmed by our Lama." (Mr. Jaeschke then
remarks upon the _bran_ to much the same effect as I have done above.)
"The Bonpos are by all Buddhists regarded as heretics. Though they worship
idols partly the same, at least in name, with those of the Buddhists,...
their rites seem to be very different. The most conspicuous and most
generally known of their customs, futile in itself, but in the eyes of the
common people the greatest sign of their sinful heresy, is that they
perform the religious ceremony of ma