Bön and the West

An Interview with Filmmaker Andrea Heckman

Ten documentaries on the Bön tradition were shown online at the CyberSangha Film Festival, Bringing Bön to Light, from December 12 through January 3. The event was presented by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche on Facebook Live and the films were available for viewing afterwards on cybersangha.net. Three of these documentaries were made by Andrea Heckman. Ton Bisscheroux interviewed her.

You made three documentaries on the Bön tradition: Bön: Mustang to Menri (2011), Bön in Dolpo (2014) and Bön and the West (2019). How did you come to make these documentaries?

I do Bön practices, and I am also deeply related to the traditions of Peru. I see parallels between these two ancient cultures. I have been going to Peru for 40 years now; I work there as a guide and made documentaries. I speak Spanish and Quechua, but I speak no Nepali and only a few words of Tibetan. In Peru, during a pilgrimage in the year 2000, I met Kallon Basquin, now director of The 3 Doors. He told me about Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, and he thought I would be drawn to the Tibetan Bön tradition. In 2000, I went to teachings and retreats at Serenity Ridge in Virginia. A few years later, when the land in Crestone, Colorado was granted to Rinpoche from the Manitou Foundation, I joined the council of the Chamma Ling Colorado Retreat Center. It is only two and a half hours from where I live in Taos, New Mexico, and I love the nature and the high mountains. I attend the teachings and manage the annual auction fundraiser each year.

When we made the first film in 2011, many people thought that Bön did not exist anymore. We met Geshe Sonam Gurung and went to Menri Monastery. It was quite an adventure to be at Menri Monastery. As long as we were with Geshe Sonam, His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizin (abbot of Menri Monastery and head of the Bön lineage) allowed us to go wherever we needed to film. Making a documentary we got access to a lot of places, and we had to do a lot of research. After that, we thought we had told a good, thorough story about Bön.

But when we were hiking out of Mustang, we were told those mountains to the west were Dolpo, and we decided right then that we wanted to go there also. That is the place where the original Bön texts were stored, copied and kept alive. I went to Serenity Ridge to meet Khenpo Nyima Kunchap, who offered to help us film Bön in Dolpo. During the filming, we hiked for 22 days though Dolpo, over three 17,000-foot-high passes, which was quite an adventure.

After that film we weren’t sure if there would be another film but as we always say, we wait for the next project to find us! In time it became clear that there would be one more film. When Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche asked me what the next film was going to be, I said we wanted to tell the stories and challenges for the generation of Bön geshes trained in India and Nepal. Some them were going all over the world with the teachings, and many Westerners are drawn to these teachings. That’s when we knew there was going to be a third film.

Before we started to film, I said to Tenzin Rinpoche that we were so excited to go back to Dolpo and Mustang, and film in the West. Rinpoche advised us, “I think you need to go to Poland, France and Mexico.” So instead of beginning our filming trekking in Dolpo, we started our first filming in Paris. His advice was the best and exactly what we needed to do. From there we went to film in Poland, Mexico, India and the US. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche was a great inspiration and guidance for this film.

How long did the filming process of Bön and the West take?

It took three years. This film had its own timing. There was no way to rush it. We were so fortunate to have incredible donors who supported this film. In 2018 we thought we had finished the final filming at MD Anderson Cancer Center with Alejandro Chaoul-Reich and we were already in the editing process. In September 2018 we filmed the cremation and commemoration in India of His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche, the 33rd Menri Trizin. We also filmed that September at Serenity Ridge in Virginia during the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Ligmincha International. Then on January 1, 2019, His Holiness HH Lungtok Dawa Dhargyal Rinpoche, the 34th Menri Trizin was installed. Later we realized that there would be a grand one-year enthronement to honor both abbots, so quickly we went to India to film that ceremony, too.

Can you talk more about the places you filmed?

In Shenten Dargye Ling we were warmly welcomed by Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche, abbot of Triten Norbutse Monastery in Nepal, and many very kind people helped us there. Initially His Eminence Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche said no to more interviews, but he graciously gave us quite a long one. At Shenten, we also met John Reynolds, a highly respected Bön scholar and translator, who agreed to a short interview, and two and a half hours later he was still telling us great stories. We could have done a film just on him. But we were able to include only a few glimpses of that wonderful interview. For documentaries in general you film about one hour for every minute edited into the story.

In Mexico, Mariela Iragorri opened all the doors for us to the Mexican sangha and even arranged places to stay, food and transportation. We had met her at the 25 anniversary of Ligmincha at Serenity Ridge and were very appreciative of all she did. We also had wonderful support from Ligmincha International’s sanghas in Poland and at Crestone. At Crestone, we were granted interviews about The 3 Doors.

When I first met Jorge René Valles Sandoval at Serenity Ridge, he was a young boy of 5 or 6 years old. When he agreed to an interview for this film as a young man, he was so eloquent as he talked about being a tulku reincarnation. Being born in the West, not Tibet or India, he has a very special place in the Bön tradition as he goes between cultures.

You also included Lishu Institute in India in the film.

When we were first filming in Menri Monastery for Bön and the West, the inauguration of Lishu Institute was about to happen. Since the timing synched perfectly and the rest of the crew was headed home, I got a driver to take me to Dehradun for that event. It was very important to include it because the intention of Lishu Institute as an intensive study center is remarkable.

Can you also tell us something about Chamma Ling in Poland, Crestone, Texas and Virginia?

There are so many fascinating stories the geshes have to tell about learning how to live in the West like when Lama Kalsang Nyima, now living in Mexico, first came to Manhattan and experienced the New York subways. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche told him to take the subway to come over for lunch. He told us how scared he was, but he did it, and went all over the city for the next few days on the subways.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

I feel any creative work of art has a life of its own. Our best intention in making all three films is that they will reach many people and help them understand the Bön tradition more deeply. During the making of the first film when we were told this tradition is 18,000 years old, we were surprised. We gradually understood the importance of the long continuous lineage and the specific Bön deities. Our first editor questioned us about the differences between Buddhism and Bön as he didn’t know much about either one. His questions were quite innocent and helped us try to make a very clear statement about how the long continuous Bön lineage of teachers and masters, and distinct deities make Bön unique from Buddhism. He went on location to Menri Monastery with us during the first filming, and his questions really helped us shape the story.  

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Want to see films from the festival? Some of the DVDs from the festival, including Andrea Heckman’s three documentaries, are available in the Ligmincha store. Four films (Hidden Treasure of Bön: Secrets of Mustang, In Search of Zhang Zhung, The Light of the Golden Sun and His Holiness Returns to Tibet) and all the panel discussions are still online on https://cybersangha.net/video-archives/.