Mandalas Of The Bon Religion

In 1999, a collection of Bonpo Mandala paintings was collected in Kathmandu under the guidance of Lopön Tenzin Namdak, Tritan Norbutse (WT khri brtan nor bu tse) Monastery, Kathmandu. The collection of one hundred thirty-one mandalas named “the Tritan Norbutse Collection” is now kept in the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan. This book is intended to present a reproduction of the collection in a reduced size. The original size of most of the mandalas included in the collection is 63 x 63cm, with some exceptions of a larger size (80 × 80cm). Each mandala of the Tritan Norbutse Collection was painted in accordance with the ritual text explaining the theory and practice of the mandala. The title of the text of each Mandala is found on the list (pp. xxvii ~ xxxix). Most of the texts of the one hundred thirty-one mandalas are included in the Bonpo Kangyur, while those of some mandalas are in the Bonpo Tangyur, which was published in 1998. Now that we have both the Kangyur and the Tangyur in hands, we might have had to first locate each text in the Kangyur and/or the Tangyur. However, the complete catalogue of the Kangyur is not available at this moment and a title list of the Tangyur is now being attempted under our Bonpo studies project. Therefore, at this stage it is almost impossible to identify each text exactly. The task of identification is expected in the near future.