Linguistic Contact， Religious Interaction and CulturalIntegration Between the Naxi and Tibetans

HE Jiquan

Abstract： The Mani stones bearing Naxi Dongba inscriptions were discovered in a pile of Mani stones most of which were inscribed with the Tibetan Mantra “Om Mani Padme Hhum” at the entrance to Jiaqu village in Muli County， Sichuan. These Dongba inscriptions can be regarded as having the most number of pictographs and the most complete content of all Dongba inscriptions carved on stone found up to now. Not only are these inscriptions important local historical material， they are also important material for multi-disciplinary research， including philology， folklore study， religious study， etc. They are particularly significant for studying the relationship between the Naxi and Tibetans， and especially for researching the relationship among Bon， Buddhism， and Dongba religions. This pile of Mani stones in Muli County consists of stones engraved with both Naxi Dongba pictographs and Tibetan. Most of the Tibetan inscriptions are the six-word mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum”. There are three stones in the pile of stones engraved with Naxi Dongba pictographs. A complete translation for the the Dongba pictographs carved on these stones is as follows：

“On the earth， lives the He Clan ； the woman who has the Clan name ‘He； Ayou Lamu，the daughter of the He Clan； your family， your son and daughter， your grandson and granddaughter built a Mani pile for you； to pay back your kindness （in granting us） luck， wealth and nurture； （We）Beg （you） to have a kind and beautiful heart， throw away bad thoughts into hell； to pay back your kindness of dropping yak butter on our foreheads， your kindness in creation of the world； （We） Wish the stars in the sky will never drop down； to pay back your kindness for cultivating the lands； Seventy tillers， wish them not to be born in wrong places； Ninety shepherds， wish them not to fall into the enemys hands. （The spirit of the dead） will not stay in the hell， but get blessings from the god.”

The Mani stone pile is representative of Tibetan Buddhist culture， and the appearance of both Naxi Dongba pictographs and Tibetan inscriptions in a Mani stone pile at the same time is very rare. The author of this article suggests that this discovery is valuable for three reasons.

1.It is valuable as Data

The study of the relationship between Naxi and Tibetan is one of the hot research topics in Southwestern ethnic studies in recent years. Scholars have conducted a lot of research from the perspective of archaeology， Chinese and Tibetan literature， and fieldwork， and have realized major achievements. However， fewer studies have been done from the angle of Dongba writings. One reason is the difficulty in reading Dongba inscriptions has resulted in fewer publications on those Dongba materials that could reflect the relationship between the two ethnic groups. The inscriptions discussed in this article results from the cultural interaction and linguistic contact between the two ethnic groups. Hence， it can be used as important data for the study of their ethnic relations.

The Mani stone pile is one of the most typical features of Tibetan Buddhism. Its origin is closely related to the relationship between early Tibetan beliefs and the Bon religion. The Dongba religion also has a very deep relationship with the Bon religion. In this sense， the Mani stone pile， which contains the stones engraved with the Tibetan mantra “Om Mani Pad Me Hum” as well as the Naxi Dongba inscriptions， can be regarded as testimony to multi-religious-cultural integration in this region. Judging from the content of the inscriptions， it concretely reflects local conceptions of life and death as well as funeral customs. Therefore， it can be used as a data for studying local folklore. On the other hand， the location of the Dongba Mani pile—Jiaqu village — is one of the stops along the Naxis migration route recorded in the Dongba manuscripts. The residents there are a branch of the Naxi—the Ruoka people. They speak the Naxi language and believe in Dongba religion. However， they have been classified as Mongolian in the National Classification project （carried out by the Chinese government during the 1950s）. This data provides a reference for the study of the ethnicity of the residents in this village from the perspective of philology.

2. It is Valuable as a Document

Naxi Dongba ancient manuscripts are mainly paper-based documents， and inscriptions carved on stone are very rare. At the present， the only engraved inscriptions that have been discovered

and recorded are the land contracts carved on a brick unearthed in Baoshan of Lijiang， and the inscriptions by Maizong etc. . In January 1934， the renowned scholar Fang Guoyu discovered some carvings on a cliff which were written in Chinese， Tibetan and Geba characters （a phonetic writing system of Dongba） and which dated to the 47th year of the Wanli period in the Ming dynasty （1619） at Qiaotou village， Jingzhuang Township， Lijiang. Fang made a copy of the Chinese and Geba characters， and provided a preliminary annotation to the Geba characters. Unfortunately， these inscriptions were destroyed while building a road in 1951.There are also some Dongba characters carved on the wall of the sacred Aming cave in Baidi， Diqing Prefecture， Yunnan. Mr. Yu Suisheng has written an article discussing these inscriptions. Some sources have also mentioned that the Liangshan Prefecture Museum （in Sichuan） collected a jade stone engraved with Dongba pictographs. However， our own textual research has revealed that the inscriptions are actually the “Eight Auspicious Symbols” of Tibetan Buddhism， which has been widey used by many ethnic groups in the western part of Sichuan. Although these inscriptions are very similar to Dongba pictographs， they cannot be regarded as Dongba pictographs. In The Collected Writings of Wen You， the author published two rubbings. However， we cannot see these objects now. The book entitled the Rubbings of Stone Carvings throughout the Dynasties of China Collected by Bejing Library included a rubbing of the “Foundation Stone of National Lijiang Normal School ” on which there were three lines of Dongba pictographs. Recently， Yang Yihua has given an introduction to the pile of Mani stones at Jiabo Village of Yiji Township. Compared with the data discovered in the past， the document mentioned in this article contains more characters， its structure is more complete and its content is richer. Therefore， it adds a new genre of material for Naxi Dongba documents.

3. Its Value for Philological Studies

There are altogether 128 Dongba pictographs found on the three Mani stones in this pile. They are written from left to right， and altogether there are 9 lines. In some places of each of the lines， two or three pictographs are on top of each other written going from top to bottom. The phenomenon of writing two pictographs on top of each other within a line appears in 16 places； and， that of writing three pictographs on top of each other happens in one place. Except for these places， the rest of the lines are written with as single pictographs in a single line. In general， the pictographs on these stones are arranged in a linear fashion. This differs from other Dongba religious manuscripts where most of the pictographs are not written linearly.

Generally speaking， except for the relationship between the words and expressions and the arrangement of the pictographs， the Dongba pictographs on these Mani stones reflect the characteristics of early Dongba pictographs—either from the perspective of the characteristics of the font， or from the usage rules of the characters. In addition， the regional characteristics of these pictographs are also very obvious. This document can be regarded as a reference for conducting comparative studies on the use of the vertical and horizontal writing structure of Dongba documents from other periods and regions. By doing so， we can explore the development and change of Dongba characters.

Key Words：ethnic relations； Dongba pictographs； Mani pile； stone engraved documents

References：

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Fang Guoyu，He Zhiwu.naxi xiangxing wenzi pu （Naxi Pictograph）[M].Kunming： Yunnan renmin chebanshe，1981.

Li Xi. Lijiang baoshan xiangxing wenzi Zhuang chukao（ An Exploration on the Pictographic Writing on a Brick Unearthed in Baoshi， Lijiang ）[J].Journal o fLijiang Normal Institute，2000（2）.

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