The Tibetan Bon Religion

The Tibetan Bon religion is the pre-Buddhist religion of the Tibetan people. Bon is an ancient religion composed of shamanistic beliefs, and secretive rituals for the initiates only. These various rituals include exorcisms and incantations of spells. Bon beliefs include gods, good spirits, evil spirits, the use of amulets and charms, and other superstitious means. It is still practiced today. It shares teachings with the Nyingma school of Buddhism. In particular the dzogchen teachings. The practitioner of Bon is called a Bonpo. This is similar to the way the practitioner of the Tibetan Buddhist Gelug tradition of Buddhism is called a Gelugpa. The Bon religion is still practiced today.
Many of the Tibetan Buddhism rituals and symbology were inspired by the Bon religion. These include the use of prayer flags and wheels, as well as other current superstitious Tibetan Buddhism beliefs. To this day Tibetan lamas will perform rituals of magic to stop or hold off rain, etc. They also believe they can change the destiny of individuals through magical means. Fortune telling and astrology are popular beliefs.
The 14th Dalai Lama has said, "Bon is Tibet's oldest spiritual tradition and, as the indigenous source of Tibetan culture, played a significant role in shaping Tibet's unique identity. Consequently, I have often stressed the importance of preserving this tradition.”
There is no doubt that Tibetan Buddhism is a colorful tradition and sect. It is filled with superstitious beliefs. It is really an off-shoot of Shakyamuni's Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is popular due to the current situation of these people. That is, the ongoing conflict with the government of China.
Hopefully you have a better understanding of Tibetan Buddhism, how it was influenced by Tibetan Bon, and see how it differs from other forms of Buddhism schools like Zen, or the Theravada traditions. Knowing the history of any one school allows you to see and know how a tradition has drifted from Shakyamuni Buddha's core beliefs.
This in itself does not make it wrong. It simply makes it different. It is fully understandable how a religion evolves out of it culture of origin. In this case the early Tibetan Bon beliefs. To me though, there is somewhat of a conflict with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama and the magical aspect of Tibetan Buddhism. Just because this is my view doesn't mean the followers of Tibetan Buddhism are not true, and that there aren't any good offerings from their branch of Buddhism.
There are loads of good teachings that have come out of this branch. In particular the way in which the Tibetan Buddhism teachings have molded around the Western culture has been fantastic. Like I mentioned earlier, the gates of Buddhism opened with the Chinese uprising in Tibet. This was a definite benefit to the rest of the world. Until this time Tibetan Buddhism was concealed from the world. END=OM MANI PADME HUM.( 3 LAN ).RESEARCH TIBET DHARMA RELIGION BY VENERABLE GESHE TESERING TASHI.VIETNAMESE TIBET NUN.28/1/2012.