"My faith (dad-pa) is growing inside of me": The Chos-thog chen-mo Ritual Dance in a Tibetan Bon community in Amdo mTsho-sngon (Qinghai) Province

While the majority of Tibetans are Buddhists, there is also a significant minority who follow a religion, in Tibetan known as Bon (bon), many aspects of which remain to be studied. The focus of this thesis is a Tibetan Bon ritual called Chos-thog chen-mo that is practiced in Bon communities in Reb-gong County, Qinghai Province, in the People’s Republic of China. The Bon communities in Reb-gong engaged in this ritual practice to invoke various deities, requesting them to intervene in worldly matters on their behalf, and communicate with lesser spirits. Althogh I will examine all aspects of the ritual, the ritual dance held on the third day is of particular interest. And the trance in which the laity express their faith during the ritual, and especially during the dance, will also be discussed