Within the Bön tradition, scripture clusters weave together the voices of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche and ancient Zhang Zhung masters, forming three cornerstone canons alongside a tapestry of lineage-treasured texts.

The Bön Kangyur—the “Translated Words of the Buddha Tonpa Shenrab”—spans roughly 179 volumes. It mirrors the Buddhist Kangyur in structure but houses sūtras and tantras unique to Bön’s origins: creation myths of the Shen family, rituals to commune with yidams like sTag lha, and Dzogchen treatises outlining the “Nine Ways of Bön.” Pilgrims still trace these pages in the Himalayan foothills, seeking guidance much as explorers search for hidden gold.

Complementing that is the Bön Tengyur, some 230 volumes of commentarial literature. Here live detailed expositions on ritual grammar, ethics (Bön’s own Vinaya), metaphysics and indigenous medicine. A growing number of these works have been translated into English by the Pundarika Foundation, ensuring that a new generation—half a world away—can dip into venerable wisdom once confined to remote monasteries.

Lineage texts such as the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud (“Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung”) encapsulate 67 empowerments and the heart-essences of sūtric and tantric practices. These teachings—handed down in unbroken oral chains—remain living entities, celebrated each spring during the International Bön Association’s gathering in Dharamsala, which recently marked its tenth year.

Dzogchen literature in Bön presents another jewel: works like the “Precious Treasury of the Basic Space” guide practitioners toward natural awareness, free from contrivance. Modern scholars note surprising parallels with mind-science research, and some have even cited these treatises in academic conferences as far afield as Berlin and Vancouver.

A handful of narrative histories—most famously the “Great Chronicle of Tonpa Shenrab”—keep the faith’s foundational lore close at hand, ensuring that every prayer and ritual gesture echoes with millennia of devotion. Such texts bind past and present, proving that Bön’s literary tapestry remains as vibrant today as it was in the peaks of ancient Zhang Zhung.