World of Worldly Gods

Abstract This book offers the first comprehensive examination of the tenacity of Shamanic Bon practices, as they are lived and contested, in the presence of an invalidating force—Buddhism. Through a rich ethnography of Goleng and nearby villages in central Bhutan, the book investigates why people, despite shifting contexts, continue to practice and engage with Bon, which has survived over a millennium of impatience from a dominant Buddhist religious structure. Against the backdrop of long-standing debates around practices unsystematically identified as “Bon,” and how they relate to what anthropologists refer to as syncretism, the book reframes the often stale and scholastic debates by providing the most clear and succinct statement on how these practices should be conceived in the region. The book argues that the reasons for the tenacity of Bon practices and beliefs amid censures by Buddhists are manifold and complex. While a significant reason for the persistence of Bon is the recency of formal Buddhist institutions in Goleng, the book demonstrates that Bon beliefs are so deeply embedded in village social life that some Buddhists paradoxically feel it necessary to reach a rather awkward accommodation with Bon priests. Through an analysis of the relationship between Shamanistic Bon and Buddhism, and the contemporary dynamics of Bhutanese society, the book tackles the long-standing concern of anthropology, cultural persistence and change; discusses the mutual accommodation and syncretism between Buddhism and Bon; and offers fresh perspectives on the central distinguishing features of great and little traditions.