Dongba and Dongba Sutra in Dongba Studies in Naxi

Dongba language, that is, Naxi hieroglyphics, is called "Ji Lu Ji Ji" in Naxi language, which is literally translated into wood marks and stone marks, and contains two meanings: one? Quot Traces left on wood and stones; The second is the trace of wood and stone, which can be extended to see wood painting wood and stone painting stone. Because this kind of writing is mostly mastered by Dongba and used to write classics, it is also called Dombart, which means Dongba. The basic characteristics of Dongba characters, as Qing Yu said in "See Weixi Record" in Qing Dynasty, are: specialized in pictographs, people painting people and things painting things, which is a kind of book contract. These glyphs have a strong picture flavor, but each figure has its fixed concept, fixed lines and brushwork, and fixed pronunciation, which has become a symbol of a word in the language. Obviously, it is a kind of writing symbol between picture writing and ideographic writing. The creation of Dongba language is difficult to verify. There are only some legends of creators, which cannot be tested. One is Raibenzo (meaning three brothers of God); It is said that it is the ancestor of Mu family, Mai Zong; It is said that he is as independent as Saint Laudy who lives in Bai Di, Zhongdian. In fact, the creation of Dongba language is produced and developed with the needs of people's production and life. It has gone through a long development process, from a single or a small number of symbol images carved on wood and stone to a large number of relatively fixed image symbols, and then to the application of more image symbols to record complex events, and finally to write a long story, which can only be the crystallization of the collective wisdom and labor of many people and generations. From hieroglyphics, there is also a phonetic symbol called goba, which Dongba also used to write more than 200 volumes of scriptures. This kind of writing is simple, with one word and one sound, which is a step forward than Dongba. Most of them were produced, restored and evolved from Dongba, and some borrowed Chinese characters, but they were not widely used.

The scriptures written and recited by Dongba are called Dongba Jiu in Naxi language, that is, Dongba Jing. This kind of scripture is bound with thick cotton paper (commonly known as Dongba paper) made from the skin of a local woody plant. Writing tools are ink made of pot ash mixed with bile and self-made bamboo pens. Dongba Sutra is distributed in the western dialect area of Naxi nationality in the upper reaches of Jinsha River, including Lijiang, Zhongdian and parts of Weixi. Hundreds of miles away in Fiona Fang, Fiona Fang, more than 20,000 Dongba classics have been sorted out and copied, of which about 1500 volumes, accounting for more than 1000 words. Before the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), more than 10,000 volumes were scattered to the United States, Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, Austria and other countries. The Library of Congress and Harvard University Museum alone have more than 4,000 volumes. There are many collections in China, such as Lijiang County Library, Yunnan Provincial Library and Museum, Beijing Library, Minzu University of China Library, Nanjing Library and Taiwan Province Provincial Museum.

As the material carrier of Dongba culture, Dongba Sutra can be divided into: offering sacrifices to heaven, dragon festival, prolonging life, removing filth, offering sacrifices to village gods, offering sacrifices to grain and six animals, offering sacrifices to mountain gods, offering sacrifices to ancestors, offering sacrifices to family gods, seeking heirs, offering sacrifices to pig gods, releasing the body, eliminating disasters, offering sacrifices to victory gods, offering sacrifices to water monsters and demons, and offering funerals.

Dongba culture, with its extensive and profound contents, has built a magnificent ancient Naxi cultural palace, which contains profound cultural connotations of magic and wealth. The dazzling flowers of Dongba literature in Dongba culture bloom in such a rich cultural soil, and the formation of its artistic personality and aesthetic characteristics is closely related to the rich connotation of Dongba culture.