Strictly, the Bon religion is a kind of phenomenon of religious culture, as it retains an ancient form of this, and is richly characteristic of a specific territory and nationality. The reason is mainly attributed to the fact that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its Tibetan nationality have never broken away from the prevalent atmosphere of religious culture since pre-historic society; that is, secular culture has been merged into religious culture, and there has never been a distinct dividing line between them.

According to archaeological excavations, as early as the Paleolithic Age, the forefathers of the Tibetan nationality have labored, lived, and multiplied in today¡¯s Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as the Roof of the World. The Tibetans followed the tradition of an ancient religion, which is closely related to their daily life, namely what was later called the "Bon religio". It is a prolonged historical course for the origination and development of the Bon religion, during which it established close relations with all aspects of Tibetan society, as well as geographical environment. Therefore, apart from the situation of the prehistoric society of the Tibetans, it is difficult for us to grasp the historical origins of the Bon religion.

According to the ancient historic book The History under Pillars, the Tong, Tang, Sei, Mo were four patriarchal clans that appeared earliest in the Land of Snows. They should be called the "Four Surnames" in a more correct sense, as until today there are also many Tibetans that continue to carry these four names. So, it is clear that the four clans or surnames are the origination of the Tibetan nationality.

After a prolonged age, the history of Tibet became clear: "Thereafter, (It) was ruled in succession by Seven Masang Brothers, 25 small principalities, 12 small principalities or 40 small principalities." From the frequent change of rulers and the social structure that kept dividing and reincorporating, we can learn the historical process and basic features of the prehistoric development of Tibet, as well understanding that it was a primitive society at that time.

When Tibet society developed to a certain stage of civilization, the ideology of spirits and deities came into being, and there appeared many gods such as those of mountain, water, land, heaven and so on. As to the worship of spirits and deities, related Tibetan historical materials date it back to the late stage of the Primitive Society, but the detailed conditions are not available. Whatever, the ideology of the spirits and deities of the Tibetans gradually took form with the development of the ancient society. The view of "shamanism", or "animism", enabled the forefathers of the Tibetans to piously kneel down before various spirits and deities who were said to have magic powers. They presented all kinds of sacrificial offerings to express their worship, appreciation, or atonement, and they also prayed for good luck. The History under Pillars records: "Twelve talents, including Bonpo Sei, Bonpo Mar, Bonpo Tung, Bonpo Ao, offered sacrifices to the spirits and deities." This occurred in the 4th century BC. The twelve talents refer to the twelve Bonpos of the Bon religion. Here, the word "Bonpo"means "sorcerer" or "priest", and the words after "Bonpo" above are four surnames. It was from the "Bonpo" that what was later called the "Bon religion" emerged. According to many Tibetan historical records, the twelve Bonpos mentioned above were special features at that time, being both the priests in charge of all spiritual cultural activities and the tribal chief of 12 small principalities. Many countries in different ancient periods saw figures serving as both priests and kings, who were characterized as being half human beings and half deities. The phenomenon that those sorcerers served as kings, and at the same time those kings practiced sorcery is regarded as a general social and cultural phenomenon of a certain historical process.

As the Tibetan society developed furthered, about the 4th century BC, there emerged the first kingdom and its Tsampo (king) with a written record. It was an epochal change for Tibetan ancient society, as the old dispersed primitive society split up and a new united slave society began to sorcerers serving as kings at the same time gradually lost their power to rule. Therefore, deprived of their positions as tribal chiefs, they sought refuge in sorcery, leading it to develop towards the features of a religion. This eventually led to the separation of religious power from political power. Probably at that time, the traditional religion of the Tibetans, the Bon religion began to take shape. Despite initial immaturity, after the supernatural exaggeration of the sorcerers, the Bon religion possessed its own extreme mythical religious rituals worshipped by the local people.

In a word, the Bon religion, originating in Tibetan ancient society and experiencing historical evolution and development, became a human religion with relatively mature scriptures ad well as systematic teachings and rituals, compared with a natural religion which initially worshiped natural phenomena such as heaven, land, sun, moon, constellations, thunder and lightning, mountains and rivers and so on. The Bon religion underwent three stages in history, namely the periods of Dor-Bonism, Cha-Bonism and Jo-Bonism.