Homage to Kuntu Zangpo

Who is one’s own Self-Awareness

Without obscurations!

In the ZhangZhung Shenpo-Yungdrung Bon, Kuntu Zangpo is often referred to as a god or deity. Within Bonpo there are many different deities, each with their own personalities and traits. As mentioned in the pamphlet “Bonpo Deities“, in the Bonpo tradition of Lord Buddha Tonpa “we have a division between the gods of the higher spheres and the demi-gods and minor deities who remain active in our world today.”

In the Pure Shenpo, the original teachings of Lord Tonpa Shenrab from ancient text, oral tradition and divine transmission, we understand that Kuntu Zangpo is not of “equal level” to Sangpo Bumtri, the creator deity, also called “Father.”

Kuntu Zangpo is better understood as the Primordial Buddha from which Lord Shenrab was emanated and took a human body for the benefit of all sentient beings. He is also referred to in Sanskrit by the name “Samantabhadra.” The name Kuntu Zangpo means “that which is most excellent and present in all places.” Thus our ancient texts refer to Kuntu Zangpo as being “Self-Awareness”, “True Self” and “Source of the Self”.

In the introduction to an English translation of selections from the Bonpo Book of the Dead, John Myrdhin Reynolds says, “The Homage, with which the Tibetan text opens, Kuntu bzang-po rang-rig gsal-bar ston la phyag ‘tshal-lo, invokes the Primordial Buddha Kuntu Zangpo (…Skt. Samantabhadra) as being the Self-Awareness (rang-rig) which clearly reveals itself (gsal-ba ‘iston) at the heart or core of every single individual sentient being.

This Self-Awareness clearly reveals and shows itself in the guise of the ordinary everyday conscious life of the individual. Consciousness or awareness in it self testifies to the presence of Kuntu Zangpo, the Primordial Buddha. For that reason, the very name Kuntu Zangpo itself points to the meaning: that which is most excellent (bzang-po) is present every where (kuntu) in every sentient being.

This presence is what makes a sentient being (sems-can) sentient. This indicates the presence in sentient beings of an intrinsic Awareness (rig-pa). One that is in itself beyond time and space, but which engages itself in the ifinitudes of time and space.”

Within ZhangZhung Shenpo we speak of being united with the “True Self”, the Primordial Buddha, who is represented by Lord Buddha Tonpa Shenrab himself. When desires and obscurations are removed, we are in a better position to see this truth, that we are and always have been, a part of the True Self – Buddha Tonpa, our own father. By faithfully practicing the teachings of Buddha Tonpa Shenrab according to his own instructions, outside the misconceptions of false teachers, and having faith in him, we become one with the True Self and our Awareness reaches a higher level.

Reynolds writes that “Kuntu Zanpo, the Primordial Buddha…is, therefore, like a mirror that reflects everything. Kuntu Zangpo is the Bodhichitta or the Nature of Mind as such… He has never been touched or corrupted by the emotional defilements…that represent the actual causes of Samsara…Therefore, He represents a state of total primordial purity (ka-dag chen-po) and is the embodiment of the Dharmakaya itself (bon-sku), the ultimate aspect of Buddhahood and enlightenment.

With reference to the Dharmakaya, the same designation of Kuntu Zangpo is employed for the Primordial Buddha in the scriptures of both the Old Schools, the Nyingmapa and the Bonpo. Although Kuntu Zangpo represents the Primordial Buddha who has been enlightened from the very beginning (ye sangs-rgyas), nevertheless, He is equally present in the heart and at the core of every single sentient being as the Base (gzhi) or the Primordial State of the individual.

As the Dharmakaya, He is without boundaries, without limitations, without definitions, without any divisions, like the infinite sky itself. He is totally all-pervading and all-encompassing (khyab bdal chen-po). Because He is totally devoid of and in no way limited by any conceptions or discursive thoughts whatsoever, inconographically he is represented as a nude Buddha figure, lacking any ornaments or adornments, sitting in meditation position in the center of the infinitude of space. He is shown in meditation position or samadhi-mudra because He represents the state of pure contemplation that is beyond the workings of the mind and its conceptual limitations…He sits upon an immaculate lotus blossom because He embodies a total primordial purity.

Kuntu Zangpo is the essence of enlightenment or the Bodhichitta (byang-chub sems) who has been wholly present from the very beginning as purity and perfection, but who has gone unrecognized by ordinary deluded sentient beings, still caught up in Samsara, due to the arising of adventitious obscurations that conceal and cloud the presence of the primordial enlightenment which is Kuntu Zanpgo.”

If we remove the mental and physical obscurations from our path, we are able to move beyond the mundane to the highly spiritual, thus bringing about a higher awareness and the ability to dive into the great perfection teaching of Buddha Tonpa Shenrab.

Homage to Kuntu Zangpo

Who is one’s own Self-Awareness

Without obscurations!