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Symposium, 'New Horizons in Bon Studies'Osaka, Japan From August 23d until 27th 1999 in Osaka, Japan, while in Lausanne, Switzerland, on

the opposite side of the globe, several hundreds of buddhologists braced for their twelfth convention of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, a rather smaller groupof about forty international scholars, all specialists on specific areas of Bon and Zhangzhung (linguistic) studies, gathered for their  first  major symposium on Bon studies(probably the second such gathering ever). Even though some might feel inclined toread some significance into these numbers and perhaps the coincidence of the events as well, I can assure you that it was just that, a coincidence. Nevertheless, quite a few of the Osaka participants had -- at least that seems to be the emic Lausanne view -- moreor less conspicuously 'bunked off' the larger Lausanne event. In a sense, all thisprovides a perhaps anachronistic yet nonetheless telling metaphor for the status of Bonstudies in general. It is quite obvious, indeed, that Bon studies are lagging far behind

the impressive momentum that (Tibetan) Buddhist studies are currently gaining. Evenin hitherto neglected areas, such as the study of rNying ma Tantra-s , we are, through theefforts of a few talented and dedicated individuals, steadily gaining ground. Now we arein the fortunate position to witness an increase in scholarly attention and recognitionof the importance of these traditions within (and for) the flourishing larger field of Tibetan (Buddhist) studies -- which should be very good news to any scholar of Bontraditions (too). I trust it will not come as a total surprise when I now add that many of the scholars present at the Bon symposium have some background in Buddhiststudies.

The Bon symposium was hosted and facilitated with great generosity andhospitality by the National Museum for Ethnology (Kokuritu MinzokugakuHakubutukan) at Senri Expo Park in Osaka and was convened in an impressively smooth and professional manner by Prof. Yasuhiko Nagano. If I am informedcorrectly, the honour of having organised the first specific seminar on Bon studies goesto our esteemed colleague Prof. Per Kværne. He convened a gathering on Bon Studiesat the mountain resort of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters at Lake Atna(300 km north of Oslo), Norway, from May 31st until June 2nd, 1996. A perhaps less visible but no less important academic event, involving a choice group of Tibetan and'western' scholars, most of whom were then working at Kværne's consequential BonCanon (read: bKa' 'gyur ) Project in Oslo some years ago, the published results of which,I trust, all Bon scholars are eagerly looking forward to.

Nagano's Osaka conference also is connected to a major project on Bon. This Japanese Bon project was initiated by Nagano in the middle of the nineties and arosein close partnership with Dr. Samten Gyaltsen Karmay (CNRS, Paris), a well-knownsenior scholar in Bon studies. Being well aware of the general neglect of specific Bonstudies within the larger field of Tibetan studies, they decided that, at this point, inorder to achieve a better grasp of the Bon cultural complex, one first needed to addressthis imbalance and establish a good common basis for Bon studies. This basis shouldencompass research material, a scholarly network and, last but not least, a thoroughinterdisciplinary survey of Bon traditions in Tibet and the Himalayas, from as many angles as possible. In keen recognition of the mentioned lacunae in the field, theMinistry of Education of Japan and the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka

encouraged the proposed project and generously supported an overseas field research as well as a joint-survey for the period from 1996 until 1999. Many scholars, both Tibetan

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and non-Tibetan, have since been involved in this, the most comprehensive survey of Bon traditions to date. The publication of a series of volumes on Bon Studies wasenvisioned. So far, ten volumes are scheduled to appear, many of which are presently being prepared. Two volumes of proceedings of the Osaka Bon symposium will be partof this pioneering series.

Quite a few of the presentations and speakers at the Bon Symposium were in one way or the other linked to the project. The first five days mainly focused on non-linguisticissues in Bon cultural studies. Participants had the rare and priceless opportunity of  witnessing a few 'first-ever' introductions into hitherto unexplored terrain by specialistsin the field, for instance, a preliminary research report by Donatella Rossi on a textfrom the important Ye khri mtha' sel , which is referred to as the Indian cycle of rDzogs 

chen (Great Perfection) and sometimes counted as a fourth Bon rDzogs chen-traditionnext to the a rdzogs snyan gsum, the traditions of  A khrid , rDzogs chen and Zhang zhung 

  snyan rgyud . Bon and its relation to Buddhism, Cosmology and Ritual, Bonpo Society and Related Rituals, Possession and Related Rituals, and Bonpo Monasteries and their

Localities constituted the larger topics in which these interesting papers wereaccommodated, space does not allow me to discuss them all here. Especially EasternTibet was very well covered during the symposium.

Considering the linguistic background of many of the research scholarsconnected to the National Museum for Ethnology in Osaka and Nagano's Bon project,special attention could be given at this occasion to the linguistic study of what hasbecome known as the somewhat controversial ancient 'Zhang zhung-language of theBon po-s', a hypothetical 'dead language' or group of languages that by some, first andforemost by the Bon po-s themselves, is thought to have existed in the area of larger Western Tibet, roughly before the eighth to ninth century AD. This projected Zhangzhung language seems to have echoes in several surviving dialects in the area. The lastday of the symposium was exclusively dedicated to this fascinating field of Zhangzhung linguistic studies, which seems to be all the more intriguing and appealing toscholars because of the paucity of unequivocal evidence for the 'language'. Even thoughthe matter of the actual status of Zhang zhung as a language remains far from beingsettled, and, in fact, at this occasion no revolutionary ideas were added to thehypotheses that had been forwarded in the past, some interesting additional evidenceand also possible mechanisms for the 'generation' of Zhang zhung vocabulary havenevertheless been suggested, incidentally also during other sessions at the symposium.Rather to underscore the nascent state of Bon and Zhang zhung linguistic studies wemay observe -- be it with self-content, be it rather with some measure of alarm or,

perhaps, discomfort -- that the total amount of articles ever written on the subject of Zhang zhung until the year 1999, has now more than doubled in just one week!It was apparent, indeed, that the organiser has spent careful and I must say also

quite fruitful reflection on the form of the symposium. The participants wereencouraged to submit a nearly full paper a month ahead of time so that it could bedistributed at the beginning of the symposium. This allowed speakers, if so inclined, tobe brief in their presentation, thus freeing a substantial amount of space for discussion.The presentations and questions & answers were translated simultaneously into  Japanese, English and Chinese by a professional team of interpreters; a substantialinvestment of time and resources, obviously, but one that greatly facilitatedunderstanding and exchange. Nagano's conference has definitely succeeded in creating

a temporary network of leading scholars of Bon, which I sincerely hope is there to stay,and in facilitating exchange of the newest often highly interesting research findings in

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the area. Without exaggeration, I may say that the Osaka symposium constitutes amilestone in Bon studies, promising a brighter future for the field, for which we allowe Nagano and the other people involved, not in the last place the staff at theNational Museum for Ethnology at Osaka, a debt of gratitude.

The proceedings of the 1999 Osaka Bon symposium are scheduled to appear very soon,that is, in April 2000, as 'Bon Studies 3: New Horizons in Bon Studies' (ed. SamtenKarmay & Y. Nagano) and 'Bon Studies 4: A Linguistic Approach to the Zhang zhungLanguage' (ed. Y. Nagano).

© 1999 Henk BlezerIIAS