Before Buddhism was officially introduced in Tibet, around the seventh century CE, Tibetans professed an autochthonous religion, generally known as Bon.
Ancient religious texts trace Bon’s origins back to the figure and doctrines of the Buddha Tonpa Shenrab, who appeared in Olmo Lungring, the invisible realm of light identified with the regions of Central Asia, perceptible and accessible only to Enlightened Beings through the da’ lam, the mystic “arrow way”.
Nowadays the Bon religion still survives, and has seen an extraordinary revival in the past few years thanks the indefatigable work of Tibetan refugees living in India and Nepal.
Beyond its apparent resemblance to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition (especially to the ancient school of Nyingmapa), the Bon religion has a specific and autonomous ritual and doctrinal identity, almost wholly unknown to the western world.
Belonging to the first category, and similar to idiophones, we have first the shang, the flat bell typical of bonpo monastic music, which is used just like the dril wu, the small hand bell widespread in Buddhist liturgy. To the same category of instruments belong the hanging ritual gongs, better known by the name of khar nga.
As regards the second category, to a certain extent similar to membranophones, bonpo ceremonial music makes wide use of the big double-headed drum, known as the chö nga or “offering drum”, hung on a frame and sounded using a flexible curved striker. Among the membranophones, a special place is reserved for the damaru, the hourglass drum, traditionally made of two-half skulls with the tops set end-to-end (thö nga). In this connexion, Tibetan religious tradition demands that the skulls used for making this musical instrument should belong to adolescents, a boy and a girl respectively: the sound produced by the instrument thus symbolically represents the uniting of “method” and “wisdom”. Often, however, the damaru made with human skulls is replaced by the much more widespread version made of wood. In both cases, the instrument has a major role in Tantric ritual, where it is the musical instrument used to evoke specific invisible beings belonging to the pantheon of wrathful entities.
Lastly, in the category of instruments played by striking, we find the big bossed cymbals called rol mo (or bug chal), employed mostly in rites involving invisible entities of a terrifying and wrathful nature..
In the sector of aerophonic instruments, played by blowing, bonpo liturgical tradition includes a set of instruments that, as a rule, are employed in pairs. The first of these are telescopic metal trumpets, known as dung chen, which play a central role especially during religious processions. To the same category belong the double-reed trumpets, gya ling, their wooden case having seven equidistant
finger-holes, a metal mouthpiece, and a large metal bell. The ritual use of this specific instrument is usually linked to the technique of circular breathing. Different, with regard to shape and means of producing sound, are the curved metal trumpets, known as ko yo, which also play an anything but negligible role in monastic liturgical practice. Within the aerophone category, a special place is reserved for trumpets made from human femurs (kang ling), employed, rather like the damaru, in some peculiar Tantric evocation rituals. This instrument is, in fact, deemed to hold the singular power of pleasing the wrathful deities and, on the other hand, of causing terror to all evil spirits. This same instrument is also used specifically in magical rites officiated by Tibetan nagpas, during exorcisms and rituals aimed at controlling atmospheric events or at averting epidemic infestation. Of a very different nature, lastly, are the conches (dung kar), employed particularly for the opening of various rituals, their presence referring back to that ancient symbol of Indian origin the conch, emblem of victory and attribute of deities of an heroic character. Conches also have their own specific role during collective religious rites, at the monks’ call to assembly at the temple, as a rule from the roof of the temple or from a high place where they can be heard easily by the whole community.
During rituals inside the temple (gompa), the monks’ seats are arranged according to seniority of ordination, in a spatial hierarchy running from the central image of the Buddha Tonpa Shenrab – located at the back of the temple – to the entrance door, as well as from the temple’s central aisle – which runs from the main door to the image of the Buddha – towards the sides. Traditionally, the first seats nearest to the image of the Buddha and to the two high seats for the abbot of the monastery (khenpo) and for the chief instructor (lopon) are taken by the senior and junior masters of rites, each of whom has in front of him a double-headed drum hung on a frame. In these same rows, parallel to the central aisle, sit the musician monks, except for those who sound the long metal trumpets, known as dung chen, who are as a rule allocated to the back rows, further away from the centre of the temple.
During musical performances, the master of the rites chooses the moment for starting the recitation, which spreads from the monks seated in the centre towards the sides.
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