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Yungdrung Bon University Symbolism

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For my religious site visit, I decided to go to the Tibetan Yungdrung Bon Institute in Miami. For the first time ever, I would experience the practices and culture of another religion outside of my own. The Tibetan Yungdrung Bon Institute was not a temple like I expected, but instead, the prayers and rituals were performed in an apartment. Even though it was not a temple, the close attention to authentic decorations was very interesting. After leaving all my anxiety and shyness behind, I entered the building and waited until one of the instructors came down to take me to the room.
Yungdrung Bon Buddhism, which means “Enlightened teaching” or “Eternal Light,” is the native Buddhist spiritual tradition of Tibet originated in Zhang Zhung. This …show more content…

At first glance, I thought the symbol of the yungdrung was a swastika, thus promoting the events of the Holocaust, but I was completely incorrect. Instead, the yungdrung symbol has nothing related neither to Hitler nor the Holocaust. Even though it does look somewhat like a swastika, the actual symbol of the yungdrung rotates to the left, rather than facing to the right like an authentic swastika. The left-turning or reversed swastika is lunar. In the Tibetan Bon faith, the left-turning ancient twists of the cosmos is the reasoning as to why Bon practitioners walk around consecrated mountains, sanctuaries and spin the prayer wheel, counter-clockwise. Holy days and their sanctified ceremonies are centered on the lunar calendar to the practitioners of …show more content…

All these teachings and practices contain Bön Theg-pa Rim-gu (The Nine Gradual Views of Bön), Bön Go-zhi Zöd-nga (The Four Portals and Treasure as the Fifth) or Bön Chi-nang Sang-soom (The External, Internal and Secret Bön). Altogether, these teachings are performed through three distinctive paths. One of the paths is known as Pang-Iam or the Renunciation Path, which is known to be the path most frequently obeyed by nuns and monks. The second path is known as Gyur-Iam, or the Transformation path. The final path is known as the Drol-lam, or the Liberation Path, which is also referred to as the Direct Path. This path is known as the Direct Path because one does not have to abandon nor transform their destructive past experiences like in the former paths; instead, they can simply relate to the Ta-Gom-Chöd Soom or the View, Meditation and Characteristic Behavior of Dzogchen. Furthermore, in Dro-lam, one is able recognize Ja-lu Wö-ku Chen-po or The Great Rainbow Light Body, which pertains to the Enlightenment of one’s body and

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