Zhang Zhung,
Shang Shung, or
Tibetan Pinyin Xang Xung, was an ancient culture of western and northwestern
Tibet, which pre-dates the culture of
Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Zhang Zhung culture is associated with the
Bön religion, which in turn, has influenced the philosophies and practices of
Tibetan Buddhism. The Zhang Zhung are mentioned frequently in ancient Tibetan texts as the original rulers of central and western Tibet. Only in the last two decades have archaeologists been given access to do archaeological work in the areas controlled by the Zhang Zhung.
Recently, a tentative match has been proposed between the Zhang Zhung and an Iron Age culture now being uncovered on the Chang Tang plateau of northwestern Tibet.[citation needed]
According to Annals of Lake Manasarowar (Lake Manasarovar), at one point the Zhang Zhung civilization consisted of 18 kingdoms in the west and northwest portion of Tibet. The Zhang Zhung culture was centered around sacred Mount Kailash and extended west to Sarmatians and present-day Ladakh & Baltistan, southwest to Jalandhar, south to the Kingdom of Mustang in Nepal, east to include central Tibet, and north across the vast Chang Tang plateau and the Taklamakan Desert to Shanshan. Thus the Zhang Zhung culture controlled the major portion of the "roof of the world".[citation needed]
Tradition has it that Zhang Zhung consisted "of three different regions sGob-ba, the outer; Phug-pa, the inner; and Bar-ba, the middle. The outer is what we might call Western Tibet, from Gilgit in the west to Dangs-ra khyung-rdzong in the east, next to lake gNam-mtsho, and from Khotan in the north to Chu-mig brgyad-cu rtsa-gnyis in the south. The inner region is said to be sTag-gzig (Tazig) [often identified with Bactria], and the middle rGya-mkhar bar-chod, a place not yet identified." While it is not certain whether Zhang Zhung was really so large, it is known that it was an independent kingdom and covered the whole of Western Tibet.[1][2]
