What happened to the ancient elephant-male dynasty?

Elephant-male area. Xiangxiong is a big country on the ancient Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the birthplace of Bonism in Yongzhong. According to the historical records of China, such as Tongdian, Yuangui and Don Yao Hui, "The big sheep is connected to Tubo in the east, the little sheep in the west and the khotan in the north. Things are more than a thousand miles, better than 890 thousand. " The Tibetan history "The Origin of Bonism" contains: "Xiangxiong is connected with Kashmir in the upper part (that is, in the west), with the snow-capped mountain and still snow area of Niubu in Songba (southwest Qinghai) in the north, and with India and Nepal in the south." The Xiangxiong area recorded in Sino-Tibetan history is basically the same. However, brother Xiang is adjacent to Tubo in the east. Where is the boundary? The records of Han history are unknown. The Tibetan history Notes on Buddhism and Iron Pillar supplements this puzzle: "Elephant and Tubo will be bounded by Kara 'a in Tibet, and most of the northwest of Tibet will be under the jurisdiction of Gu Xiangxiong".

According to the records of Tibetan history, Xiangxiong is divided into upper, middle and lower areas, with Qionglong as the center, Riadaguo as the center, and Subi (Songba) Xue Jing Area 6 as the lower area. According to historical data of China, elephants are divided into big and small sheep, and Subi Xue Jing District 6 is listed as an independent country. Xiangxiong mainland is all the territory under the jurisdiction of Ali region today. At the beginning of the tenth century, Nima, a descendant of the Tubo royal family, fled from slaves to rebel, fled like a man, occupied his land, and took it as a branch of the Tubo royal family belonging to the people, so it was renamed Ali (meaning belonging to the people).

Xiang Xiong's book "Talking about Ancient Tibet" says that the word "Xiang Xiong" means Pengdi in Xiang Xiong's language, that is, the land of Dapeng birds. Tibetan calls Pengniao "Jiaqiong", which is completely different from Xiangxiong. According to the totem of ancient elephant males, the above explanation is completely credible.

Modern Tibetan scholars at home and abroad have done a lot of research on Xiang Xiong's history, among which the research on Xiang Xiong's language and writing is more prominent. As far as Xiangxiong's names and place names are concerned, many princes' names and 60 place names in Xiangxiong before the tenth century were all in Xiangxiong language, and it is difficult for modern people to understand their meanings no matter how high their Tibetan level is. Ali area still uses the place names of the ancient Xiangxiong era. If you want to know their meaning, it is difficult to know without knowing Xiang Xiong. After the tenth century, the descendants of the Tubo royal family ruled Xiangxiong, spread Buddhism, used Tibetan as a common language, and gradually assimilated Xiangxiong. At the beginning of the 7th century AD, before the Tibetan language was created by Songzan Gambu, the Tubo king, Xiangxiong's benzene teachers wrote Bonism classics in Xiangxiong's language and preached in the Tubo Wang Tianqi era (around AD). As far as the Songtsan Gampo era is concerned, before the Tibetan language came into being, Songtsan Gampo sent people to propose marriage to Nepal and the Tang Dynasty with letters, probably written in Xiangxiong language at that time.

Some foreign modern Tibetan scholars believe that Tibetan is reformed on the basis of Xiang Xiongwen, drawing lessons from Kashmir and India. This assumption is not unreasonable. Recently, Tibetan scholars presented seals contemporary with Songzan Gambu and some elephant characters, which further proved that there are elephant characters.

Ethnic origin and totem worship of Xiangxiong people. Xiangxiong and Tubo are both red-faced racial branches of Gumasang, belonging to the same family, but speaking different languages. Xiang Xiong's royal family was named "Tingge", a clan name in ancient Tibet, and the legend originated from the gods. There are "Wang Xing" and "Jiang Ge" in Tang Yao Hui, and the transliteration of the word "Jiang" is wrong, which is the same as the royal surname "Ting Ge" recorded in Tibetan historical materials. It shows that Xiangxiong and Tubo belong to the same school, not as some people say, Xiangxiong is the Qiang nationality, which was originally the birthplace of the Qiang nationality. "

According to the Records of Snow Mountain, Nie Chizanbu, the ancestor of the Tubo royal family, had 18 generations of kings of Peng Yong before and after his birth. They are Chiwei, Silun, Gebei, Lezhaguge, Junyamukuo, Jilegguge, Jie Jun, Niro Viya, Dalangsiji, Zamati, Duibai, Lieweijie and Xie Jun. The kings of the above eighteen generations all decorated the left and right sides of the crown with Dapeng birds, and so did their gods. In addition, the word elephant and some other small places in China are named after Dapeng Bird. It can be concluded that there is no doubt that elephants are Dapeng birds and Dapeng birds are totems.

Elephants live in yak tents and caves, taking animal husbandry as their industry and feeding on cattle and sheep. Later, it was discovered that Taranco and Qiongzong had canals, houses and fields, and agriculture existed before the seventh century. After Samaga, Songtsan Gambu's sister, married Li Mixia, the elephant king, the lyrics that Wang Mei sang to Wang Xiong proved this point. She sang, "One of our diets is fish and wheat. We can't eat them all." Elephants and males are mainly engaged in animal husbandry and agriculture, with an altitude of about 5000 meters, many salt lakes and a dry and cold climate.

Xiang Xiong is the source of Bonism. Xiang Xiong believes in Bonism, attaches importance to ghosts and gods, likes divination and witchcraft, and avoids eating wild horse meat. Brother Xiang flourished, that is, during the eighteenth generation of Peng, Bernism prevailed in Yongzhong. The Bonism culture in Yongzhong has a long history and is spread all over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which has profoundly influenced the social life of the Tibetan people.

The originator of Bonism is Denba Xingyuan, and it is said that he was born at the same time as the founder of Buddhism. Bonism was originally passed down from generation to generation around the family, and later changed to mentoring. To put it simply, Xiang Xiong worshipped totems before Bonism became popular. Then came the "clock", the so-called "storyteller" who told historical stories orally. Later, "Ou Di" appeared as a soothsayer, that is, a future soothsayer. Then "Bonism" appeared, that is, chanting to worship God and removing the obstacles in this world. In the early Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, there was a team of its own, which supported the national government, controlled the royal family and saved the people and the world without interference from outside thoughts for a long time. The early Bonism did not believe in an afterlife, and believed that the sufferings and disasters of human beings in this world could be relieved by Bonism wizards. In the middle of the eighth century, during the struggle between Buddhism and Bonism, Ma Xiangchun Baji, the powerful minister of Bonism, was the witness. He accused Buddhism of saying: "Buddhism preaches reincarnation, which is all a lie. If there is a disaster in this world, Bonism can remove obstacles and save the day. " A word broke the resistance to foreign ideas.

Bonism holds that everything is animistic, there is a God in the sky, and God is the most respected. There are mountain gods and Shan Yao in the mountains, and tree spirits in the trees. There are dragons underground in rivers, lakes and mountain springs. If people have disasters, they are all caused by offending ghosts and gods. Its simple solution is to simmer mulberries to clear the way to meet God, and then Brahma will burn food, so that ghosts and gods will be satisfied with it and will not harm people. If you have any questions, you can use colored boots to predict good or bad luck. Paint the doors and windows black, and draw a harmonious pattern in front of the door to suppress evil spirits. These are the rituals of Bonism, not the rituals of foreign Buddhism. Modern people mistake all social phenomena of Tibetans for Buddhist colors. In fact, many folk customs, many of which are Bonism rituals, have now evolved into folk customs, and it is difficult to distinguish between Buddhism and Bonism. Another example is the Bonism wizard's flying ceremony by riding a drum, which is manifested in various forms of drum noon. Boni's ritual performance is "Xie Qin" song, that is, auspicious song and dance at the wedding. It is difficult for modern people to find its source. In a word, Tubo culture is Buddhist culture, not Buddhist culture. More precisely, to study Tibetan culture, we must first study Xiangxiong culture in order to find its source and unlock its secrets.

The rise and fall of Xiang Xiong was related to the Tang Dynasty before Tubo. In December of the fifth year of Zhenguan, Xiang Xiong paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty. In fifteen years, he heard that China's dignity was prosperous, so he paid tribute. Taizong's family came from afar and answered politely. Before the establishment of the Tubo Dynasty, Xiangxiong was the oldest big country in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with a developed culture and a large population. In the world of Songtsan Gampo, Wang Mei Saimajia's wife is like a male king, and Xiangxiong's princess Te Li married Songtsan Gampo. Tubo formed an alliance with Brother Xiang to achieve the goal of non-aggression.

In 644 AD, Samaga, the sister of Songzan Gambu, was left out by the elephant king. This shows that Xiang Xiong is stronger than Tubo and has contempt for the Tubo royal family. Samaga sent a turquoise headscarf to his brother Songzan Gambu, which means that if he can conquer Xiangxiong, he can bring troops and wear turquoise headdress to show the courage of a man. If you are afraid of becoming an elephant, wear a headscarf to show weakness to women. Encouraged by Wang Mei, Songzan Gambu sent troops to attack Xiang Xiong. At that time, Tubo sent troops to kill Xiangxiong Wang Li Niexiu, and Xiangxiong tribes were taken over by Tubo and listed as self-protection. At this point, Songzan Gambu unified the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In 653, Tubo took Bujinzan Ma Qiong as the "kishore" of Xiangxiong and collected taxes from Xiangxiong.

After 677 AD, Xiang Gong rebelled inconstant, and it was not until the middle of the eighth century, during the Chisong Dêzain period, that it was completely eliminated. It is said that Chisong Dêzain severely attacked the bull elephant, so he used a clever trick. At that time, Xiang * * * had three concubines, and the youngest was named Rufeilang, who was eighteen years old. Tubo courtiers sent Lalang to the Pearl and brought a wild horn placer gold to Lang Zhun, saying, "Lang Zhun came to see you and others. You are the youngest concubine like the king, and you should be the princess and queen. The Tubo king was not convinced. Is there any way you can fix it? If that's the case, you can be the princess of the Tubo king after the job is done, and the Tubo king will definitely give you two-thirds of the land under his jurisdiction as a reward. " Lang Zhun came to answer, "Wang Xiong is heavily armed, and it is inevitable that there will be only one liter of soldiers. If you attack it face to face, it is inevitable, and you can only take it skillfully. " Then he said, "After five and a half months, Brother Xiang took all the members of the royal family to the cattle department in Subi Xue Jing, waiting to kill him on the road. Everything should be borne by me. " According to Lang Zhun's plan, the Tibetan army ambushed between Seqiong and Dongqiong (that is, Sepu and Tongpu in Lacang today). When the two kings met, the Tubo soldiers suddenly attacked and killed the elephant king. Tubo defeated hundreds of thousands of elephants with 10 thousand soldiers, which is famous for winning more with less. Since then, Xiang Xiong has never rebelled and completely surrendered to Tubo.

In 846 AD, Tibetan Wang Lang Dama banned Buddhism, was assassinated by Buddhists, and Tubo split. In the 1920s, Bankaozan, a descendant of the Tubo royal family, was killed by the slave rebel army, and his son Nimakun led 100 people to flee to the west to control their own land, renamed Xiangxiong Ali. In the second half of the tenth century, Ishiwo, the son of Nima Zhou, fostered Buddhism in Ali, established temples, married the Adi Gorge master, and promoted Gadang religion, which gradually weakened the power of Bonism.

In the later period, Catholics put on the robes of the Yellow Sect, moved to the pastoral areas and the marginal areas of Kangqu, and timidly and quietly preached in the sphere of influence of the Yellow Sect. Catholics on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are greatly weakened, so they dare not argue openly with Buddhism, but only fight in secret. For example, when turning the scriptures counterclockwise, praying for God's back and so on to show resistance to Buddhism. Later, Bonism gradually merged in the struggle with Buddhism. Now it can be said that pure Bonism no longer exists. However, the influence of Bonism in Tibetan social life is deeply rooted.