According to Bon religion all things on earth are sentiment beings. The universe, totem, ghosts and gods and witchcraft were worshiped by the Tibetan ancestors while the mountains, rivers, forest, birds and beasts as well as the natural phenomena were venerated by the people of the land of snow. The origins of stone piles. "Siba" sacrificial song and mask of Tibetan Opera can be traced to religious ceremonies or sacrifices-offering of the Bon religion. The legends of holy mountain. sacred water and sacred stone came from the Bon teachings.

    Since the middle of the 7th century when Buddhism was introduced into the Tibet Plateau through the central plains and India, it encountered fierce opposition from the Bon lasted for three hundred years. In the course of conflicts, Buddhism had absorbed the gods and ceremonial rites of the Bon while the latter borrowed the teaching from Buddhism. Upon this base, Tibetan Buddhism - a combination of Buddhism and Bon was born. In contrast to the Buddhism prevailed in other regions of China, Tibetan Buddhism was characterized by regional and nationality traits. The sediment of Bon religion on Tibetan psychology and customs gave the contents of natural worship to the Tibetan Buddhism.

    The deep religious belief can find expression in the construction of the vernacular dwelling, as well as their communal activities. For instance, a small pagoda often stood at the entrance or at center of a village while the symbols of Buddhist meaning were decorated on the exterior of the vernacular dwelling. The existence of religious culture can easily be found in village dwelling, selection of construction sites, external appearance of dwelling and interior environment in the land of snow. In these areas, vernacular dwellings were the places where human being and gods live together.

    The Buddhist images surrounded by incense burner, ritual implement and Tangka painting scroll with Buddhist tales and teachings stand on the important position facing the sun in the principal room of the vernacular building. On the column caps, beams, walls and top of the kitchen range as well as sleeping cushions, small square tables, Tibetan cabinets etc. were decorated with painting of religious themes. All utensils for daily life such as sitting cushions, cups and drinking vessels were painted with religious motifs including the eight precious pattern designs: treasured umbrella, goldfish, flower vase, lotus flower, right white spiral snail, auspicious knot, victorious flag, golden wheel and the auspicious character

    In Buddhism, the motifs of Mandala symbolizing universal order and universal geometric projection were carved on boards, flagstones and metal plates hanging on the walls of the dwelling.

    The exterior ornaments of the building like yak horn, religious drawing and mirrors, symbolizing the Totem or praying to God for good luck were hanging on the entrance gate of building or courtyard. Some accessories of the building reflected that Tibet people were devout Buddhists. In their eyes the rustle of the long narrow flag in wind was like reciting scripture, which could bless the safety of the family. Therefore it is easy to find the flags on the four comers and the upper ridge of the dwelling, while bluestone relief sculpture of Buddha image and the white stone inscribed with six sounds of the sacred Buddhist prayer were placed on window sill, four comers of the house or walls of the courtyard. In the religious beliefs of the Tibetans, color might serve as a religious emblem. For instance, red represents gods with a hot temper, white represents gods with a lenient character while yellow and gold symbolize the Buddhism and the Kingdom of Heaven. The color selection and application of the walling, cotton curtain and structural parts of the vernacular dwelling were permeated with the significance of worshipping and religious beliefs.

    In a compact community, the entrance and center of the village were the important places where high white prayer flags were set up and pagodas were built. Thus the places for daily religious activities were formed. Wheel-praying is a basic way of self-cultivation of Tibetan Buddhism, while turning the prayer wheel from left to right clockwise is a Buddhist practice. Chains of rotary wheel for people to turn were arranged around a pagoda. It was very interesting to fix the prayer wheels in the village. Inside of open small houses erected at river mouth or inside a village nearly always installed the prayer wheels propelled by the flowing stream water, while prayer wheels moving day and night was blessing the peace and security of both people and village.

    The worship for natural spirits like mountains or rivers can easily find expression in the sense of the site- selection and the construction of the folk houses. For instance, according to Lhoba's tradition of construction site selection, three grains of unhusked rice representing three kinds of domestic animals such as yak, pig and chicken were mixed with more unhusked rice corresponding to the number of family member, which formed three pinches of unhusked rice: The three pinches of unhusked rice would be separately placed on three well-chosen sites and covered with branches and slabstones after the sunset. Before the sunrise of the next day people would go to see whether the grains of the unhusked rise dispersed or mixed with ants, which was taken as bad omen. If the grains of unhusked rice were kept in good condition, this meant that an excellent site suitable to dwelling construction had been lound. And a series of rites for house construction would begin.