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Before the introduction ofBuddhism in Bhutan, the prevalent religion wasBon. Some scholars assert that it was imported fromTibet andIndia, perhaps in the eighth century whenPadmasambhava introduced his lineages ofVajrayana Buddhism into Tibet and theHimalayas. Some scholars hold that Bön doctrine became so strongly reinvigorated in Bhutan by Buddhism that by the eleventh century it reasserted itself as an independent school. Bön continues to be practiced in modern Bhutan.
Scofield (1976: p. 669), one of the first western journalists into Bhutan, outlined that:
One Sunday I watched the monks shape an elaborate offering of dough and colored butter and put it atop a roof...as a treat for the ravens. "All living things are sacred," a monk explained, "but especially the ravens. They spend their days repeating one of our holy syllables, 'Ah! Ah! Ah!'" Killing a raven, he informed me, would be as great a sin as slaughtering a thousand monks...
The dough offering is what is known as atorma.The sacred syllablea, the first letter and sound of theSanskrit andTibetan languages, is abījamantra about which volumes have been written inHinduism, Bon andVajrayana.Ravens are sacred in many traditions and for many peoples.[citation needed]
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