Yangdagbai Sembon
YANGDAGBAI SEMBÖN is almost certainly a phonetic rendering of the Wylie Tibetan:
yang dag pa’i sems bon
Tibetan: ཡང་དག་པའི་སེམས་བོན་
A simple translation would be:
“The Bön of Perfect Mind”
or
“The Bön Teaching of the Completely Authentic Mind.”
Breaking it down:
yang dag pa’i = perfect, complete, authentic, utterly correct, genuine
sems = mind
bon = Bön; teaching; sacred doctrine within the Bön tradition
So the phrase means something like “the Bön teaching concerning perfect/authentic mind.”
In the Bön/Dzogchen context, Yangdagpa’i Sembön is remembered as an early or archaic form of Dzogchen teaching within Yungdrung Bön, associated with Tönpa Shenrab Miwo. Namkhai Norbu, in The Necklace of gZi, says Shenrab Miwo taught the Yang-dag-pa’i Sems Bon, and connects it with ancient Dzogchen preserved through the Zhangzhung Nyengyü, the Oral Transmission of Zhangzhung. ([Tibet Office][1])
One source phrases it as the “Bön of Perfect Mind” and explicitly identifies it as yang dag pa’i sems bon, treating it as one of the early Bön transmissions connected to Shenrab Miwoche. ([Academia][2]) Another glossary gives a very compact definition: “Sembön ~ sems bon ~ Bön of the nature of mind.” ([The Garuda's Nest][3])
There is also a traditional account that this teaching was first taught by Chime Tsugphü, an earlier incarnation of Shenrab Miwo, who received it from Shenla Wökar, the luminous white deity of Bön. In that version, it still belongs to the sacred transmission-world of Shenrab and early Bön Dzogchen. ([calameo.com][4])
The key point: Yangdagpa’i Sembön is not merely “mind” in the ordinary sems sense. It points toward the perfect/authentic nature of mind, which is why it belongs near the Dzogchen vocabulary of sems nyid, rig pa, and the direct recognition of the natural state.
A very clean reference-style entry would be:
Yang dag pa’i sems bon
ཡང་དག་པའི་སེམས་བོན་
Translation: Bön of Perfect Mind; Teaching of the Authentic Mind
Context: Early Bön Dzogchen / Yungdrung Bön
Associated figure: Tönpa Shenrab Miwo, or in some accounts Chime Tsugphü as an earlier incarnation
Meaning: A primordial Bön teaching concerned with the perfect nature of mind, later associated with the Zhangzhung Dzogchen transmission.
[1]: https://tibetoffice.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads2/2015/12/THE-NECKLACE-OF-GZI-A-curltural-history-of-Tibet.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com "THE NECKLACE OF gZi: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF TIBET"
[2]: https://www.academia.edu/5786665/Beyond_Being_Beyond_Mind_Beyond_History_Dzogchen_Western_Philosophy_and_Transpersonal_Psychology_Volume_I_Beyond_Being_A_Metaphenomenological_Elucidation_of_the_Phenomenon_of_Being_The_Being_of_the_Subject_and_the_Being_of_Objects?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Beyond Being, Beyond Mind, Beyond History: Dzogchen, ..."
[3]: https://thegarudanest.wordpress.com/category/terminologia/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Terminología – The Garuda's Nest - WordPress.com"
[4]: https://www.calameo.com/books/000039257e6ee770a8981?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Visionary Encounters (PB)"