The Founder Of Bon Tibet
Buddha's hagiography provided the model for the later fabricated life of gShen-rab, a legendary figure who is regarded as the founder of Bon, the second religion of Tibet. The account of gShen-rab's birth and life is related in a Bon religious text, the gZer-mig. There the miraculous conception of the hero is operated by two rays of light, a white one entering the top of his father's head, and a red one entering the top of his mother's. The first one, in the form of an arrow, represents the male component (sperm); the second, in the form of a spindle, represents the female component (blood). According to an earlier version, gShen-rab himself appeared in the form of a rainbow.
It is interesting that Tibetan mythology also sees the origin of the first legendary kings in the sky, to which they were attached by a cord that enabled each of them to spend the day on earth and the night in heaven, and eventually to disappear into the sky at the end of his reign.
Legends Of The World
Edited by
Richard Cavendish
ISBN 1-56619-462-8
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