Chime Tsugphü

Chime Tsugphü is a deathless, earlier manifestation in the Shenrab cycle, while Shenlha Wökar is the radiant white-light deity or transcendent source from whom the primordial Bön teaching is received.

The two names point into the sacred-history layer of Yungdrung Bön, especially the way Bön explains the descent of primordial teaching into human history. They are not “historical persons” in the ordinary modern sense so much as revelatory figures in a mythic-cosmic lineage. 🌿

Chime Tsugphü is usually understood as an earlier manifestation or previous incarnation connected with Tönpa Shenrab Miwo, the Buddha/founder of Yungdrung Bön. The name is often rendered in Tibetan/Wylie approximately as ’Chi med gtsug phud.

A rough unpacking:

’chi med = deathless, immortal

gtsug phud = crown/topknot/crest, sometimes suggesting the highest or most exalted point

So Chime Tsugphü can suggest something like “Deathless Crown/Crest” or “Immortal Crest.” That already tells you the type of figure we are dealing with: not simply a biographical ancestor, but a luminous, pre-human or supra-human teacher-form.

In some Bön accounts, Chime Tsugphü appears as an earlier incarnation of Shenrab Miwo who receives profound teaching from Shenlha Wökar. A contemporary Yungdrung Bön source even marks a birth anniversary for Chime Tsugphü, which shows that this is not just an obscure scholarly footnote but part of living Bön sacred memory. ([yungdrungbon.co.uk][1])

Shenla Wökar, more commonly written Shenlha Ökar or gShen lha ’Od dkar, is one of the great transcendent deities of Bön. The name breaks down roughly as:

gshen / shen = priestly or sacred Bön figure; sometimes a divine priestly being

lha = deity, god, divine being

’od dkar / wökar = white light

So the name means something like “Shen-Deity of White Light” or “Divine Shen of White Light.” He is also sometimes called Shiwa Okar, “Peaceful White Light.”

Within Bön, Shenlha Wökar is often counted among the Four Transcendent Lords, together with Satrig Ersang / Sherab Chamma, Sangpo Bumtri, and Tönpa Shenrab Miwo. He is associated with white luminosity, compassion, and a high cosmic function in the Bön pantheon. Some accounts treat him as the sambhogakāya or luminous enjoyment-body aspect connected with Tönpa Shenrab, while Shenrab Miwo appears as the human or nirmāṇakāya teacher-form. ([Wikipedia][2])

The important relationship is this:

Shenlha Wökar is the transcendent luminous source or divine teacher; Chime Tsugphü is an earlier manifestation who receives the teaching; Tönpa Shenrab Miwo is the later human-world teacher who fully reveals Yungdrung Bön.

So the pattern resembles a descent of teaching:

primordial luminous deity → earlier enlightened manifestation → human-world Buddha/founder.

That is why these names appear near Yangdagpa’i Sembön, the “Bön of Perfect Mind.” The point is not merely that Shenrab had a previous life. The deeper point is that Bön presents its highest teachings as descending from a primordial luminous source, before being articulated in the human world by Tönpa Shenrab.

In Buddhist terms, with caution, you could compare Shenlha Wökar to a high dharmakāya/sambhogakāya-like principle and Shenrab Miwo to the nirmāṇakāya-like teacher appearing in history. But because this is Bön, it is better not to force Buddhist categories too hard. The structure is similar, but the symbolic universe is its own.

So, in one clean sentence:

Chime Tsugphü is a deathless, earlier manifestation in the Shenrab cycle, while Shenlha Wökar is the radiant white-light deity or transcendent source from whom the primordial Bön teaching is received.

[1]: https://yungdrungbon.co.uk/2026/02/24/chime-tsugphus-birth-anniversary/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Chime Tsugphü's Birth Anniversary"

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenlha_Okar?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Shenlha Okar"