World of Worldly Gods: The Persistence and Transformation of Shamanic Bon in Buddhist Bhutan

The pre-Buddhist Bon beliefs, which concern the worship of local gods and deities, and until recently, live animal sacrifices, have been viewed as heretical by Buddhists since the 8th century. Yet these beliefs and practices, while still deemed antithetical to core Buddhist beliefs, still have a wide currency in the Himalayan hinterlands including in Bhutan. In this anthropological study, this talk explores the changing relationship between Shamanic Bon and Buddhism through an ethnography of villages in central Bhutan. It is concerned with how the Bon practices have persisted in Bhutan despite the systematised opposition to Bon from Buddhist priests for over one thousand years and in the last three centuries or so, from the Buddhist state itself. It looks into the reasons as to why people, despite shifting contexts, continue to practise and engage with Bon practices, while still recognising what they are doing is antithetical to the civilising mission of the Buddhists. In this talk, Kelzang Tashi will present an overview of the findings of his recently published book.