Bon is known to us today as one of the five major religious sects of Tibet, and it emerged and developed contemporarily with other Tibetan Buddhist sects in around 10th century AD. Since the emergence of Bon religion, it adherents also cope with the issues of lineage and founder. According to their adherents, the religion was founded by a person Shenrab Miwo (gShen rab mi bo) and he is claimed to have been born in 16,016 BC in the land called ‘Ol mo lung ring located to the west of Tibet. Bon historians invariably project their origins into a more remote past believing that the Bon Buddha Shenrab Miwo lived some 18.000 years ago or at least before the birth of historical Buddha. However, careful study of Bon materials reveals that such belief was formatted by the process, in which an intended attempt was made to transform the Bon myth into a historical narrative.

Earliest references on "gShen rab mi bo" have appeared in Dunhuang documents. While these references may be part of  legendary or mythological ritual stories, they  suggest that this name did existed before the emergence of Bon founder and his tradition. It is evident that these references from Dunhuang documents were recycled by the early Bonpo authors to name their founder, and from that began the process of Shenrab Miwo as the founder of Bon religion. It was carried out by documenting or by writing a number of Bon literatures some of which are investigated in this research. This process of documentation seems to have been triggered by the presence of competing Buddhist sects, when Tibetan Buddhism was undergoing a renaissance and its sects started to arise. As the time goes on, these writings had served as authentic sources in the historiography of Bon tradition. The tradition of Bon developed extremely fast within a century or two that consequently turned their followers to be the main rival of the Buddhist sects. On the one hand there was exclusion of Bon authenticity by the Buddhist sects, and on the other hand, the Bonpos claimed their origin far before the birth of historical Buddha.