In 1996, at a Naxi village below Bai-shui-tai (white watery terrace), the holy place for dongbas
(dto mba), Naxi priests, chatting with an old dongba, I asked him about Zhi-lu-jing, guidance for the dead which I had taken a great interest in. He stopped chatting and began to mention all the names of stopovers on the way to the resting place for the dead, making an excuse that he should not have revealed it without the presence of the dead. I could not identify any name of stopover among several dozens, and these names were too long and jaw breaking. The final place was Pulamukotu.
“Where is the last place?”
“I don’t know. Probably it’s in India.”
I had a desperate feeling, hearing even the successor of oral tradition did not know it. Afterward I searched for various routes to the resting place at many Naxi villages. Some elders and dongbas showed routes to me and gradually I found most of routes have Mount Junarualua as the final place and some of them extend to somewhere between Qinghai and Gansu Province in north-western China. This kind of journey of the soul, I think, reflects its migration routes. The ancestors of the Naxi, used to be the proto-Qiang, ancient nomad people, took this route toward south. And there are some routes to Tibet or India which are spiritual journeys for Buddhists and Bon-pos.

At funerals dongbas send the soul of the deceased to the paradisiacal place beyond mountains and across the rivers along the way the ancestors took, mentioning each name of stopover. This concept of after-death is common among the Tibeto-Burman peoples, but not exclusive to them. It is found in the Miao in north-western Guizhou Province (Shi Ke-ding 1990) and in the Berawan of Borneo (Huntington and Metcalf 1980) where they retrace the migration route along the river by canoe to heaven ancestors dwell. Since the ancient Greek believed Elysium, the happy land for the dead, Utopian lands like Buddhist’s Western Paradise or Christian heaven have appeared repeatedly. Mentioning every stopover to the resting place where ancestors live happy life eternally is specific to the Naxi and the Tibeto-Burman peoples.

In China the soul’s journey to the resting place of the Yi is also known as well as the Naxi. But if you expect a long way toward far north, you may be disappointed. All of these are not very long, and some go around and reach a nearby point which is in the forest in the west of Zhaotong, north-western Yunnan Province. It means, I suppose, the tribes had been formed at this point. According to legend, a big ancient tribe led by a charismatic person named Tumu separated into six tribes of the present Yi. Probably the ancient tribe had a long way for the dead to the original place in the north, but nobody kept it.

In China I found guide songs and prayers for the dead to the resting place in the Naxi,Yi, Lisu, Hani, Lahu, Jingpo, Dulong, Nu, Bai, Pumi, and so on, but not the Tibetan. They have lost their guide song as the ‘Tibetan Book of the Dead’ (Bardo Thodol) replaced it.

I supposed that this concept of after-life spreads along the Himalaya Mountains in Myanmar, Nepal, and India, in accordance with the distribution of the Tibeto-Burman peoples.

First of all I decided to research the Humla district, south of Mt Kailash, in the north-west of Nepal and the Nyinba people that may be connected with the ancient kingdom of Zhang-zhung in western Tibet. It was very interesting whether the final place is western Tibet or north-western China. But the influence of Tibetan Buddhism was too strong in this area and they lost guide songs like Tibetans.

It was the suggestion of Dhami (shaman) and Drangri (shaman-priest) that shed a light upon this issue. They don’t have guide songs but evocation songs of their protective deities instead. Their ancestors had migrated with protective deities, so on every occasion they must evoke deities from the original place. One of Hilsas, their protective deity, the Drangri evoked, came from Siring, the present Xining, provincial capital of Qinghai, north-western China. On the other hand, the Six-armed Gombo their protective Buddhist deity, the Dhami evoked came from Khyung-lung, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Zhang-zhung. Does it mean their ethnic original place is in north-western China and their spiritual original place is Khyung-lung in western Tibet?

Then I went to the border land between India and Nepal in the south-west of Mt Kailash, the area of the Byansi (the former name is Bhotia, and they call themselves Rang) who had been known as traders of salt and wool on the pilgrimage route to Mt. Kailash between Indian bazaars and Purang (Taklakot). Before coming there I heard that a Sei-yakcha who sends the soul of the late deceased to the land of the dead transcribed recently the Sei-yamo, guide songs for the deceased, which had been kept a secret to outsiders. In Darchula, a town on the border, I found the son of the Sei-yakcha who died eight months earlier. I copied a tattered notebook written by the Sei-yakcha in Hindi and Byansi, which is Sei-yamo. It took eighteen months to translate it. It consists of seven chapters including some lore and guide songs for the deceased. Astonishingly enough, the last place of this song was Chyung-lung Guipato, Nine Valleys of Khyung-lung (Chung-lung). Khyung-lung is the capital fort of the ancient state of Zhang-zhung which had a vast territory around Tibetan plateau before the rising of the Yarlung Dynasty (the kingdom of Tibet) and is believed to be the birth place of the Bon religion.

Then I moved to Kinnaur in north-western India, which is significant for the followers of the Bon religion, for it seems the language of Kinnaur is related with the language of Zhang-zhung and it is connected directly to Khyung-lung by Sutluj River. In Kinnaur I collected a guide song for the deceased (ancestor) soul sung at Ukiang Festival. In this guide song the soul takes a journey on the route from the village (Chatagaon) via Guge-Changtang to Kinner Kailash. The soul goes up slowly toward north to Guge-Changtang and returns back down the mountains not very far from the village. Guge is the kingdom of Guge in western Tibet and Changtang is Ladakh or Zhang-zhung. Finally the soul leaves the peak of the holy mountain and gets into the heaven.

Returning back to south-western China, I ‘discovered’ painted scrolls of guide songs for the deceased. Some scrolls except those of the Naxi had been forgotten or ignored by scholars. The scrolls of the Naxi and Pumi are much influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. On these paints the soul falls down to the bottom of the hell at once and goes up beyond mountains and rivers to the heaven. On the other hand the scroll of the Namuyi is the guide map for the deceased referring the migratory route.

Researching along the Himalayas, I found guide songs for the dead among the Rawang, Jingpo (in Myanmar), the Limbu, Rai, Magar, Thakali, Gurung, Nyinba (in Nepal), the Rang, and the Kinnauri (in India). Studying it, we can reconstruct the migration route which had remained mysterious to some degree.

How this concept of after-life could survive although surrounded by the influential concept of reincarnation. Thousands years ago they were nomad people somewhere in Qinghai, Gansu, and Mongolia. As billiard balls are scattered by the first stroke, the peoples (proto-Qiang) are scattered by unknown cause, probably war or the change of weather. They began migrating southward. Later they regarded first ancestors as holy people and first place as holy place. Priests send the soul to the first place describing (mentioning every stopover) the journey. It is the ancestor worship, but not just ancestor worship. They may have gained the vision tracing the river of past like William James. When Andean shaman Chamalu mentions “I am almost six hundred years old; my ancestors live within me”, his way of thought is similar to this concept of after-life. (Espinoza 1995)

In the Hani villages when an old man dies, his eldest son succeeds his breath. Literally his son inhales his last breath like artificial respiration. Like this after finishing his life of this world, the soul of a man continues to live in his lineage eternally. (Bai Yui-bao Wang Xue-hui 1998)

The journey to the ancestral world (resting place) and the reincarnation sometimes co-exist. According to belief, after sent to Khyung-lung Guipato mentioned above, the soul of the Byansi (Rang) can go back to this world. It is reincarnation. As all of them are Hindu now, they may have chosen an eclectic concept. On the other hand, the soul of the Dulong can return back to this world as a butterfly, but if it dies, the soul also finishes eternally. It contradicts not only reincarnation but also the journey to the ancestral world. But contradictory ideas sometimes co-exist as if we wish to incarnate, at the same time, finish this suffering life.

It is natural that most of people accept the idea of reincarnation. The sun sets at dusk and rises next morning, all the plants wither in winter and bud in next spring, and the moon wanes and waxes. All the phenomena show the eternal return. The idea “as a man casts off his worn-out clothes and takes on other new ones, so does the embodied soul cast off its worn-out bodies and enters other new ones”(Bhagavad-Gita) widespread in India and other countries in Asia.

There is another unique concept in Yunnan. The Lahu people believe that if an old man dies in this world, a baby is born in other world, vice versa. The other world is the mirror-like world of this world. So, it is not necessary for us to lament the death.

............as continued!

Chapter 1.

1. From Proto-Qiang to the Tibeto-Burman Peoples

   The journey to the other world is not specific to the Tibeto-Burman peoples, but sending the soul mentioning every stopover and reflecting their migration route are almost exclusive to them. As they followed cattle, they moved at great distances. (Si Ma-qian)

   Who are the Tibeto-Burman peoples? From the historical and linguistic point of view, the proto-Qiang people are their ancestors. Many scholars in China believe their homeland is somewhere among Mongol, Qinghai, and Gansu. They began migrating thousands years ago, and part of them reached even Indian Ocean. According to the legend of the Rai, they dwelled in the plain of India and returned back to the foothills of Himalayas.

   There are some archaeological sites in north-western China; the Ma-jia-yao ruins in Qinghai and Gansu (2000BC ? 3300BC), and the Ji-jia ruins in Gansu and Qinghai, the Ka-yue ruins by Qinghai Lake, the Si-wa ruins in Gansu, the Shang-sun-jia ruins in Da-tong, Qinghai, the Shen-dian ruins in Gansu, and Nuo-mu-hong ruins in Du-lan, Qinghai (bronze age, 1000BC ? 2000BC). The dwellers of these sites seem to be the proto-Qiang people. They had highly-developed culture as far as we see earthenware excavated from the sites.

   Perplexing is the Kha-rub ruins near Chamdu in the east of Tibet (2000BC ? 3300BC). We do not know who dwelled here. It is possible, I think, a kind of proto-Qiang had already migrated here five thousand years ago. There existed some trade routes connecting with Central Asia or Kashmir in ancient time.

   Chinese scholars regard the first migration of the proto-Qiang happened four, five thousand years ago which left footprints at the Da-denzi and Li-zhou ruins over the border between Sichuan and Yunnan. Their descendants built the ancient states of Dian and Yelang in the southwest of China described in the first history book of China, Shiji. And, according to the estimate of Chinese linguists, the Burmese, Karen, Naga separated from the proto-Qiang between 4500 years ago and 2500 years ago. It means the present ethnic groups had formed themselves 500BC already. (He Sheng-da 2003)

   When did they come to the Himalayas? In ancient India the name Kirata for the first time appears as men living in the mountain cave in Yajur-Veda. Kirata is not just mongoloid, probably the proto-Qiang. (Chatterji 1951) The Kiranti group in Nepal must be the descendants of Kirata. Recently I found there are a lot of caves in western Tibet including the ruins of Guge and Khyung-lung, most of which are left untouched by scholars. The remains of animal bone found in the cave in Mustang were dated BC8th by carbon dating, and it seems caves were used by people (Kirata?) three thousand years ago at least.

   The letter Qiang is found on animal bones and tortoise carapaces and it is believed Qiang is human for sacrifice. The people captured by soldiers of Shang Dynasty were called Qiang. We are not sure whether this Qiang is identified with later Qiang or not. However, while barbarians in the north are called Ti, nomadic barbarians in the north-west are called Qiang since ancient time.

   According to the History Book of the Latter Han, the first ancestor of West Qiang is a slave, Wu-yi-ai-jian, who escaped to the He-Huang area [between Yellow River and Huang Shui River. Probably Dzongkha] and cultivated there. If Wu-yi-ai-jian is from Bu-gYog-Yab-rGyal, the son of a slave and fatherly king in Tibetan, he may be connected with ancestors of the Tibetan. The author of the book continues to mention the great-grandfather of Wu-yi-ai-jian migrated westward. Many scholars of Tibet Study tend to ignore this description, but still it is a valuable source about the origin of Tibetan.

   Si Ma-qian (author of Shiji) mentions Dian, Qiong-du, Yelang, Sui, Kung-ming, Xi, Zuodu, Rang-Mang, Baima (White Horse) as Ba-Shu Barbarians, all of which are descendants of the proto-Qiang. They are identified with the present Yi, Qiang, or Gyarong. The identity of the Baima is disputed. The present Baima claim they are descendants of Baima Di, not Tibetan having come from Central Tibet.

   As mentioned above, the He-Huang area was already a developed area since the Neolithic era. This area is also regarded the original place of the Tibeto-Burman peoples. During the former Han and latter Han Dynasties, there were a lot of Qiang clans, and the biggest was Xian-ling Qiang. The name Xi-ning, the capital of Qinghai Province, is connected with Xian-ling.

   The History Book of the Latter Han also mentions there are six Yi clans, seven Qiang clans, and nine Di clans. The descendants of the Yi are the Yi, Naxi, Lahu, Hani, Lisu, and so on. The descendants of the Qiang are the Qiang and Pumi. The descendants of the Di are unknown. Probably they are absorbed into the Tujia, the ancient Ba, and the Han.

   The nomadic Qiang people went down, settled themselves in the plains or on lower hills, and became Di people, peasants and stock farmers. Some people claim ‘super ancient civilization’ at San-xing-dui ruins are built by the Di people. The heyday of the Di came during the era of the Five Barbarians and the Sixteen States; three states, Former Qing, Cheng Han, and Latter Liang were Di’s states. But in 383, they lost the battle at Fei-shui River. If they won it, they could have held hegemony all over China.

2.  Mysterious Geji people and stone coffin

   There is a well-known myth ‘The Battle against Geji’ in the Qiang in the north-west of Sichuan. In this myth the ancestors of the Qiang had migrated to the upper reaches of Min-jiang River (Yangtze River), they had fierce battle with native people, Geji. It is no doubt this battle really happened.

   According to this myth, the Geji people are short, but sturdy, with brows extruding, thick teeth, stocky neck, hairs like mane, and a tail. If his tail dries up, he could know his death is coming. They didn’t know how to raise crop and cattle, and make fire. They lack cooperativeness. They were cave dwellers and made stone coffins without bottom plait when the time of his death is coming and lay down in the coffin.

   The Geji people are described as barbarians completely from the conquerors point of view. But they are not isolated from the Yi and Di group and pushed out southward, absorbing into the native people in southwest of China.

3. The Myth of Monkey Ancestor

   What was the reaction of people in England to the news that human are the descendants of monkey? Although now we know more than 98% of our DNA is same with monkey, we still hesitate to admit it. That’s why we rarely hear the myth of monkey ancestor in the world. One of the rare myths is of Tibetan.

   In the folklore of Tibetan Kingdom, there was a monkey in Yarlung Valley. Then a yaksha came to there and married the monkey. They had six children. Three years later he came back and was surprised to find more than five hundred babies starving. So he took all of them to the hill where were enough wild crops. The problem of food was solved and their tails gradually disappeared, and they began to speak.

   Added the tinge of religion, the folklore becomes like this; in old times the snow land of Tibet was a country without Dharma. Amitabah could no longer stand it and sent Avalokiteshvara to the earth. When the Avalokiteshvara meditated in a rock cave figuring as a monkey, a demoness saw it and had sexual desire to him. But the demoness was also the emanation of goddess Tara. The children of this couple became the descendants of Tibetan.

   The myth of monkey ancestor is not rare in the Tibeto-Burman peoples. In the chapter of Tang-xiang (Tangut) of the History Book of the Northern Dynasties and the Sui, we find the passage ‘Tang-xiang Qiang, its branches are Tang-chang, Bai-lang, all of which belong to Mihou (monkeys)’.

   Sipi, the shaman of the Qiang, performs rites wearing a hat made of monkey’s hide. And, according to legend, the first ancestor on the father’s side is called Zanbia and on the mother’s side is called Mucheju. They got married and have a baby, who is the ancestor of Qiang.

   Not only Tibetan and the Qiang, also the Yi, Naxi, Lisu, Hani, Lahu, Pumi, Nu, Bai, Jingpo, Loba, and the Deng have similar myths. For example, a myth of the Naxi in Yong-ning, Yunnan, is an adulterous affair with a monkey. After the deluge, Tso-de-lu-zo (first man) got married to a celestial lady Tse-ho-jiji-me, but later she was cheated by a monkey and had a sexual relationship with it. They had two boys and two girls.

   In a dongba text after married to Tso-ze-liwu (first man), a celestial lady Tse-hu-bobo lived with a monkey with long arms at the border black and white. The Moso (a branch of the Naxi) have a similar adulterous legend. The husband found an adulterous baby, and burnt the hairs of the baby.

   For the Naxi people the sexual intercourse with monkeys is shameful and its shame is like the original sin.

   The most popular and typical motif (ex. Monpa) is that at first human was monkey, but making fire, eating cooked food, planting, and cultivating, the ‘civilized’ monkey became a man with a tail disappearing, hairs over the body falling out.

to be continued...........!

As continued..............!

4. Sky-worship and Mu

   When I visited a remote Naxi village, the villagers lamented the loss of the ritual for heaven, and the revival was a burning question. They were called ‘naxi-mupu-zo’, that is, the Naxi people are sky-worshipers. Although there is only one village beside Bai-shui-tai performing the rituals except the Dongba Institute, all the people know how important it is.

   Sky-worshipers are not only the Naxi, but also the Qiang, Yi, Lahu, Hani, and the Tibetan. Most of these people call sky or heaven ‘mu’ or words including ‘mu’.

   Therefore mu appearing in Tibetan documents may mean heaven. For example, mu-tak (dMu thag) was the rope linking heaven and earth, and by using it the seven Tibetan kings from Nyatri-tsanpo, the first king, could go back to heaven after death. ‘Mu’ (dMu or rMu) is one of the four clans in ancient Tibet and may be heaven worshippers. The holy mountain Murdo (rMu-rdo) in Kham (western Sichuan) especially for Bon-po may be related to heaven. Murge (dMu dge) is also a well-known place near Song-pan. We find a lot of place-names including ‘mu’ in the southeast of Tibet.

   The journey of the soul to the resting place of the Naxi collected by Li Li-tsan (1984) shows several stopovers before the final place include ‘mu’.

Mulu-tokupua (Muli County) → Mulu-chikoru → Mulu-shujizu (Wu-liang River) → Junarualua (final place)

   Those places exist in this real world, and same time, exist in the ‘mu’ heaven of the other world.

   After the invasion of the Mongol troops in the thirteenth century, the Mu clan got the Lijiang area under its control supported by the Mongol. Why Mu Tusi (provincial chief) chose the name mu, wood in Chinese. In the concept of the five elements, wood defeats water, and fire defeats wood. I suppose there was an implication; metal (Jin Dynasty) was defeated by water (Mongol) and water is defeated by wood (Mu), if they had ambition.

   Anyway, mu implied heaven. Mu Tian Wang, the king of heaven, whom people called, must have been heaven worshippers. And Moso, historical name for the Naxi, consists of mo (mu) and so (people). Most of the Tibeto-Burman peoples including the Limbu and Gurung in Nepal are heaven worshippers.

   In the Dunhuang documents there is an important one. A messenger from Pya was sent to the country of Mu (dMu). The messenger left Tsang-mad (rTsang rmad), but lost the way. He reached the country of demon (Srin), and was told to go to southeast. While Zuiho Yamaguchi regards Mu as having been in the West Tibet, some Chinese scholars insist it was located in the southeast of Tibet. As mentioned above, we find a lot of ‘mu’ in eastern Tibet, but not in western and central Tibet. The Limbu shamans in eastern Nepal say Mu-den (the area of Mu) means Tibet, that is, eastern Tibet. It is possible the Mu country is located in eastern and south-eastern Tibet.

 

5. The Mysterious Dichotomy of Black and White

   There is a dichotomy of black and white in the northwest and southwest of China. Most of the Tibeto-Burman peoples are classified black or white. And in Liang Shan, southern Sichuan, the ruling class was the Black Yi and the ruled class was the White Yi before 1956. At the same time there were many White Yi villages and Black Yi villages in Yunnan. What does it mean?

   Recently I met an old scholar, Chen Zong-xiang, who has studied about this. According to him, White People are the sheep-worshippers whom the Jingpo, Dulong, Kelao, Pumi, Bai, Piao (Bama, ancient Burmese) belong to, and Black People are the Cow-worshippers whom the Monpa, Achang, Lahu, Lisu, Hani, Nu, Naxi, Yi belong to.

   This dichotomy associates me with Levi-strauss’ dual organization. He found it among tribes in North America, South America, and Melanesia. Like this, we find dual organization in bigger scale. For example, the rival of the Naxi had been the Pumi and very often there were conflictions between them. As the Pumi worshipped white and selected the white side, the Naxi took the black side. Actually they are not black-worshippers, but white-worshippers.

   Looking at the history of Central Asia, we can find names of some countries with ‘kara’ like Kara Kitai or Kara Khan. Kara means black and also great. In this sense, Naxi means na (black) xi (people), and same time na (great) xi (people).

   How about the well-known myth of the Naxi ‘The Battle between Black and White’? Japanese scholar Tetsuro Suwa regarded black as nomads and white as peasants, and the Naxi scholar Hoo Shi-hua blamed at it. He claims that the original story is the battle between white (Shang Dynasty) and black (Xia Dynasty).

   I agree to the dominant opinion of western scholars. This myth is from the cosmogony of the Bon religion, which is from the cosmogony of the Persian religions like Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. Both of myths begin with cosmic eggs, black egg and white egg. And both prefer the number 365. Black and white is not darkness and light.

   The dongbas use this text when they treat patients or prevent disaster. It associates the modern treatment, the remedy of meditation. The procedure is to visualize the immune system and then to imagine white blood cells searching through the body to attack the cancer cells. Another method is to visualize white dogs consuming the cancer cells. (Kapleau 1989) Like this, in the imagination of a patient white defeats black, and this victory brings cure.

   The Qiang have a story of the battle between the black god and the white god. Sipi (shaman) sings; the white god is good, the black god is evil. The black god asks, “What are you doing” The white god answers, “People need me. With me, everybody will be rich and happy. By the way, what are you doing?” “I made a deal with a demon and keep company with a devil. I brought disasters to people; married couples quarrel, wife and mother-in-law conflict, and many cattle die by epidemics.” “Oh, it’s you that caused disaster.”

   Then the white god defeats the black god. It is the decided plot. At every ritual good defeats evil, and disaster and sickness are removed.

 

6. The Holy Number 9 for Men and 7 for Women

   Every people have holy or lucky number. But the case each sex has a fortune number is very rare. All of the Tibeto-Burman peoples in China have such numbers 9 for men and 7 for women. For example, at a Naxi village at cremation the corpse is put in the pyre made of nine (for men) or seven (for women) tiered piles. If the deceased is man (woman), the bereaved families circumambulate the pyre nine (seven) times. Nine (seven) flags for the male (female) deceased are erected on the tomb mound. Nine (seven) chunks of meat are offered for the male (female) ancestors. Like this, we find the combination of 9 and 7 everywhere.

   First of all we should check the custom of Han Chinese. The significant numbers of the funeral rituals are 9, 7, 5, and 3. According to the ‘Liji’ (The Book of Manner), the length of the flag for emperor on the tomb is 9 feet, for lords 7 feet, for higher officials 5 feet, and for lower officials 3 feet. Rice put into the mouth of the deceased is the same ratio. So the ratio of emperor to lord is man to woman. It is the typical discriminatory way of Confucianism.

   We find similar concept in the Mongol. While the Nu (Tibeto-Burman) express ‘the nine heavens, the seven earths’, the Mongol prefer ‘the ninety-nine heavens, the seventy-seven earths’. Some of the Tibeto-Burman peoples prefer 99 and 77. The Moso recite, “On the heavens there are 99 gods, on the earths 77 humans” “Going through 77 rock caves and 99 forests”. (Namu-Gatusa 1999)

   These numbers may be connected with the biorhythm found in the beginning of 20th century. There are emotional (female) cycle of 28 days and physical (male) cycle of 23 days. That time the ratio of still babies of boy to girl was almost 28 to 23. But we do not know what this ratio means except the period of the moon influential over women. Anyway, this ratio is close to the ratio of 9 to 7.

   Recently I found there are these numbers in Nepal. At the funeral rituals the Tamu (officially Gurung) prefer the number 9 for men and 7 for women. The bereaved family put a bundle of nine (seven) threads on the neck of the male (female) deceased. They have nine male ancestors and seven female ancestors. In the holy place there are seven lakes surrounded by nine mountains. Apparently mountain represents man and lake represents woman.


To be continued...........!

as continued.........!!


7. A dying person and a person who has just died

Beyond the hills I reached a quiet Naxi village beside Lugu Lake, and found there are a dying person and a person who has just died.

A dying person was the forty-seven year old breadwinner. He looked a tough guy, but a week ago suddenly collapsed by a stroke. Death was coming just around corner.

A small dongba performed a lot of kinds of rituals, but we did not expect immediate effect. As modern medical science gave up treatment, the family has to rely on a folk remedy.

At midnight I heard a shrill voice reverberated and broke the stillness of the night.

“Ata, lalou, ata, lalou”.

It means “Daddy, come back”. His daughter was calling his soul. His soul was lost, so if she fails to retrieve his soul, he never comes back.

A person who had just died was a sixty-three year old man. The funeral rituals performed by a dongba and Buddhist monks continued whole three days. In a sense it is a compromise between Buddhism and folk religion. But how and where on earth do they send the soul of the deceased?

8. The Funeral Rituals of the Naxi

In a space, at the same time, a Naxi dongba and Tibetan Buddhist monks (ethnically Moso) perform for the same purpose, sending the soul of the deceased. The dongba is called bubu, corrupted form of bonpo. They perform in the Bon-po style holding a shang (Bon-po’s bell) and worship Tiba-shala, corrupted form of Tonba Shenrab, the master of the Bon religion. So the rivalry of Buddhism and Bon has reappeared here.

I entered the house of the deceased and in the courtyard found a cow tied by a hemp rope. I traced the rope and was led behind the main room. The other end of the rope was connected with the corpse which was put in the pit.

After a while the cow was dragged out to an empty lot and slaughtered. People believe that the cow is accompanied by him and is paid to officials as a bribe. While it was slaughtered, the bereaved family made a coffin and painted on the four sides. One of the four pictures painted is the portrait of the deceased.

The monks set up an altar hanging some thankas on the second floor of the stable. After reciting, they came to the main room and sat around the hearth on the higher floor. Then the dongba entered the room and stand on the lower floor reciting the dongba texts. These two performances are completely independent.

After the monks went back to their village, the dongba danced the special animal dance. He looked possessed by spirits and the atmosphere was spooky. And then young people went outside to courtyard, and danced around the fire with paper hats and holding paper swords.

Next morning the ritual of washing horses was held. Several horses decorated with papers of five colors were tethered on the shore of the Lugu Lake surrounded by onlookers, and the dongba and his two assistants (young apprentices) beat the drums and made people wait for the great moment. One of the horses suddenly began trembling. The shouts of joy arose from the people. It was the sign the deceased rode on the horseback. According to Yang Fu-quan, this ritual is the vestige of horse sacrifice on the basis of the Dunhuang documents. Probably it uses to be a custom of the ancient Tibeto-Burman peoples.

In the morning of the final day the funeral procession left the village for the cremation place on the foot of Mt Shizi (lion) or Mt Gumu (local goddess), a few kilometers away. All of the women fell down on the ground weeping because they were not allowed to join the cremation. The other people went on holding the house-like coffin and a long white hemp cloth on the shoulders. The monks were waiting for the procession at the cremation place and began drawing a mandala using colorful sand. This day dongbas did not join the rituals. In Lijiang area dongbas do everything, but here, performances are shared between dongbas and monks. The monks put the nine layered pyres on a mandala drawn on the ground, and the bereaved family and relatives moved the corpse in it. The deceased man bounded by a white cloth, in a posture of embryo, looked mummy. The monks had set an altar on the ground, recited prayers, and performed the Homa ritual. And a monk ignited the pyre and it flared up.

9. The Funeral Tells

After the man breathed a last breath, the bereaved family put a silver coin in his mouth. I found similar customs in the Tujia, Pumi, Hani, Lisu, Yi, Achang, Bai, Limbu, Magar, and so on. Actually it seems this custom came from far west. In ancient Greece and Rome coins were put under the tongue of the dead for the deceased must pay to the ferryman at the Styx River going to the Hades, the other world. In Central Asia and India also this custom was seen. (Kotani 1989)

Sheep is very important for the Tibeto-Burman peoples. Especially for the Qiang, if one dies, a sheep must be slaughtered. The sheep of guidance is called La-par-sar-ma-tchi in Qiang language. A male sheep for man, a female sheep for woman is prepared. The blood flowing down is received in a cup and infiltrated into straw grass. The priest daubs grass containing blood on the left (right) palm of the male (female) deceased. He noticed that a sheep guides him to the other world.

The sacrifice of sheep is important also for the Pumi. The traditional funeral ritual is called rangpi which is divided into three; 1) rangpi (offering sheep) 2) guidance for the soul of the deceased 3) burial

First of all they choose white sheep (male for men, female for women), and purify them by pure water from spring and smoke from burning juniper. The Sipi (priest) urge the sheep into the room of the dead. The bereaved families make sheep drink wine and slaughter them. They collect the heart and lever of sheep and thirteen pieces of bones, and put them in a hemp bag and make offering to the dead man who is estimated to ride on horseback. The Sipi send the soul, reciting the journey to the other world. After burial, they take hearts and levers from the bag and put these on the rod, and erect the rod on the tomb. If these are eaten by bird, they believe, it is auspicious. If not, it is ominous and brings disaster.

Some of the Yi and Naxi still have the sacrificial rites of sheep, but in the south of Yunnan it is difficult to get sheep and have changed its custom. They go a long way to buy sheep, otherwise use goats, cows, pigs, or chickens instead.


10. The Route Found by Li Lin-tsan

While Joseph Rock (1884 - 1962) is the best scholar on the Naxi study from the West, Li Lin-tsan (1913 - 1999) is chosen from the other side. He was born in Henan Province, moved to Taiwan, and lived in comfort in Canada for the rest of his days. One of his major contributions is the finding of the routes of the soul. He showed two texts of the welcoming of ancestors and funeral rituals have routes of the soul and these are also migratory routes. These two routes are just in reverse order.

There are 102 place names in the text he found. The first is the Bai-luo village the deceased lived. And then the soul goes to a cave, under a big tree, the temple, hills, rivers, villages, and so on. We can not identify these names with real places, because descriptions are too much in detail.

The last five names are interesting.

Li Lin-tsan identified Mu-ru-to-ku-pur and Mu-ru-tsi-ko-zu with Muli, and so concluded that Mu-ru-shu-dzi-zu is the Wu-liang-he River and Ju-na-rua-rua is Mt Gongga (Gangs dKar).

As mentioned already, in this area many names contain ‘mu’ and the soul is almost reaching the celestial sphere. Li Li-tsan himself heard from a monk of the nyingmapa order that Ju-na-rua-rua is Guru Tise, Mt Kailash.

Probably Ju-na-rua-rua is identical with Mt Sumer. Juna, yina, or yuna means a big mountain (in Naxi, Namuyi, or Baima), and rua-rua may be from ri-rab (Sumer in Tibetan). Mt Kailash had been regarded Mt Sumer in India since ancient time.

as continued!


11. The Living Fossil, Oya Village

   In mid-April when going over the pass to Oya Village, I was almost meeting with accident by the blizzard. It was not easy to go to Oya Village like Joseph Rock who could not come to this village although he knew how important it is. The four Chinese scholars got injured on the way to Oya when for the first time they came for researching.

   Oya Village is like the open museum of social anthropology. During the Ming Dynasty era the Mu tusi was almost the king wielding a power in Lijiang. That time there was a minister called Wahokaja who visited Oya area every autumn and came back to Lijiang with game every spring. One day with the permission of Mu tusi he migrated to Oya accompanied by stock and horse farmers and a dongba.

   Between the jia-jing era (1522-1566) and wan-li era (1573 1620) the Mu State had some battles with Tibet supported by the Ming Dynasty. Oya Village was the frontier and fort.

   The descendants of Wahokaja have been called Mukua (the corruption of Mu kuan, Mu chief), and have played a role of chief. I visited the Mukua’s house several time and was shocked to see how they have fallen low. Before the Cultural Revolution the family had many servants, but now very difficult even to earn their keep.

   Under the influence of Tibetan culture, Mu tusi asked the Yuan and the Ming Dynasties patronage for their survival. Accordingly Lijiang, the capital of the Mu State, became a town influenced by Chinese culture. On the other hand, Oya Village was left behind and forgotten, keeping the customs of polyandry, polygamy, cross-cousin marriage, walking marriage, and so on. Therefore the village is like an open museum. As far as I know there are twelve dongbas in Oya.

   The route of the soul also must be older.

   <Oya-anawa → Chako-mu-tsudu (cremation place) → Burutozima (Dong-yi-he River) →……→ Mulu-shujima (Wu-liang-he River) →……→ Original place of the Su clan → Original place of the Ya clan → Original place of Ho clan → Original place of the Me clan →……→ Mulu-rutsesu →……→ Junaroloku →  Junarolutu → Junaroluka → Zunzuburuku>

   The soul goes northwards along Dong-yi-he River and Wu-liang-he River, and probably reaches northeastern Sichuan and Qinghai. In the ritual of sacrifice for heaven at Bai-di (Bai-shui-tai), a participant shouts, “Golo has come!”  The Golo (Golok) in Amdo (Qinghai) are notorious as fierce people and it meant the Naxi has migrated from Amdo. Each clan has its original place. It also means there were four tribes and they have become one tribe. Mulu-rutsesu is the original place of the Naxi where the first man Tsoze-livu married Tsehu-bobo from her father Zhula-abo of the heaven and lived. It is the nearest village to heaven and ancestors live together. Mt Junarolo is cosmic mountain and stairs between earth and heaven. Zunzuburuku is unknown, probably it is celestial palace.

12. Subuanawa, Moso’s Paradise

   Many of the Moso (a branch of the Naxi) live beside Lugu Lake, and kept traditional ways of walking marriage and matriarchal system which attracted not only tourists but writers, artists, and scholars.

   Every routes of the soul reaches Subanawa. For example, the route of Uluma Village is like this.

<Uluma → Arko → Uade →……→ Subuanawa → Ngubukualai →Hanyikuaruai → Yizuualezi → Yiheheleyi>

   There are four place names after Subuanawa, but we do not know where these are. If Subuanawa is a kind of utopia, where the ancestors dwell, the other places are where celestial beings dwell.

   According to Lamu Gatusa only good souls can go to Subanawa. If somebody can’t, it is most miserable for him. In Subanawa people can go flying anywhere as they want. There is no sickness, death, dissatisfaction, nor suffering, but beautiful melody floating and graceful smile filled. There are no flies, nor mosquitoes, but honeybees flapping and butterflies fluttering. There is no melancholy, nor lament, but flowers blooming with joy and never-ending fountain.

   I would show three more routes of the soul in Yimi Village.

(The Su clan) <Yimi-paduko →……→ Alo-gugaku (Mt Gongga) →……→Pur-rua-na-rua-dy (where black and white separate) →……→ Subuanawa →……→ Rualuaku (Mt Junarualua) →……→ Pula-mutotu (Celestial beings dwell) >

(The Ya clan) <Yimi-paduko →……→ Pur-rua-na-rua-dy →……→ Subuanawa →……→ Rualuahebuku >

(The A clan) <Yimi →……→ Pur-rua-na-rua-dy →……→ Subuanawa >

Subuanawa is the destination of the journey, but the soul must go furthermore through the celestial sphere. We don’t know what Pula-mutotu means, but as ‘pula’ means soul and ‘mu’ means heaven, it associates with celestial place. Interestingly, there is a junction, Pur-rua-na-rua-dy. You must choose the white (pur) way, not the black (na) way.

What does Subuanawa mean? I would show a quite different view. According to Zuihoh Yamaguchi, the Eastern Queen’s State, rGyal-mo-rong, in northwestern Sichuan, is related to another queen’s state Suvarnagotra in West Tibet or Ladakh. Suvarna means gold in Sanskrit. Suvarna-anawa may have changed to Subuanawa. And the Moso State had been the queen’s state as well as Suvarnagotra and rGyal-mo-rong.

13. The Way to Olmo-lung-ring

   After collecting the route of the soul to Subuanawa at Li-jia-zui Village, I moved to Boshu Village on the northern shore of Lugu Lake. I expected to hear the same kind of route.

   The twenty-seven year old Daba (the Moso priest), a young tough guy, mentioned fifty-five stopovers. Astonishingly, the last place was Omorola-di. Apparently Omorola-di was the corruption of Olmo-lung-ring. If you have some knowledge about the Bon religion, you must be surprised to hear this name. Olmo-lung-ring is the place of the Bon origins. As mentioned above, Subuanawa is possibly Suvarnagotra, and Suvarnagotra may be connected to Zhang-zhung, or identical with it. So, the soul is sent to the original place of the Bon or Zhang-zhung. It is the controversial point.

   Boshu Village, I must say, is a Bon village. I found a lot of Bon texts laid in stock rooms at houses of Bon families. It is possible they changed the routes of the soul and added Olmo-lung-ring.

14. The Short and Curving Way of the Yi

   I expected all routes of the soul should go a long way northwards, but most of the routes of the Yi go a short distance and reach a place near Zhao-tong, in the northeast of Yunnan or Kunming, provincial capital. Does it mean the Yi people are not the descendants of the proto-Qiang?

   The ancestors of the Yi, I suppose, came down to Sichuan and Yunnan thousands years ago, and the forming of a race happened just a few thousands years ago. At that time the six branches (clans) separated from a hero’s clan. His name is Dumu. I am not sure whether Dumu is related to Domi, ancient tribe in Qinghai and Tamu (Gurung) in Napal who came from Qinghai.

   It is likely, however, that the six clans separated at somewhere near Zhao-tong.

   The Yi people have numerous routes of the soul as many as the Naxi.

   The route of the Yi in Yuan-bian County, Sichuan is like this.

   <The house of the deceased →……→ Boshuwato (Yan-men Village) →……→ Ojoshumo (Qiong-hai Lake) →……→ Luvunabi →……→ Limumogu →……→ Guhochoni →……→ Muniruji →……→　Yichomuva →……→ Titugo-o →……→ Gulugaru (the land of the ancestors) >

   Ojoshumo is identical with Qiong area including Xichang City and Qiong-hai Lake. According to “Shiji” (the first history book in China), Zhang Quan was sent to the Central Asia and he was surprised to find bamboo sticks of Qiong in Daxia, present Afghanistan. Qiong (Xichang) was already the pivot of trading two thousands years ago.

   Both of Luvunabi and Limumogu are the place the junction of life and death. While the living must go back here, the dead must go on. The priest or shaman can sometimes come to here for sending the soul, but if without attention, he may be drawn to the other side of the world.

   Guhochoni is the place the Guho clan and the Choni clan separated. At Muniruji the Guho made horse rested and the Choni’s horse drank water. At Titugo-o still it’s possible to come back to this world. Titugo-o is identical to Zhuti written in the history books and present Zhao-tong.

Most of the souls go on guided by dogs, and enter into Gulugaru where the dead eats food in silver vessel and drink water in gold pail. If you take food and drink from the world of the death, you can not come back.

The spring appearing in the routes called Aliyuchu or Maloyutu exists to the northwest of Zhao-tong. It exists in this world, and same time, it exists in imaginary world. The dead must drink three sips of water here.

Like the route of the Moso, there is the place where the dead must choose black or white. Usually the choice is about cloth or salt. On the Meigu version the dead must choose one from the ways of red, white, and yellow. He must choose the white way going in the middle.

The soul of the dead reaches the resting place of the ancestors; Momu-guru (Puge), Momu-bugu (Xide), Yubo-liti and Ngumu-apu (Meigu). As Yubo-liti means the source of river, we expect it is the source of Minjiang River in Sichuan or Yellow River.

Momu-guru is described in detail.

<Momu-guru is a wonderful place. You can see the golden waves of the grain in front of the house and the golden waves of the buckwheat behind the house. Here is water, and fishes are leaping in water. Here is mountain, and beasts are gathering. Here is cliff, and honey is almost dripping. In the plains you plant rice, on hills you sow seeds of buckwheat, on the high land you raise cattle, on the mountains you go hunting, and at cliff you take honey. Here is your father, in front the father his son plays, and in front of the mother her daughter plays. You live here from now on forever. >

   Momu-guru means mo (heaven) mu (earth) guru (middle), that is, the center of the world. Momu-guru is identical to Zhao-tong, but this middle sized town is heaven? Actually Momu-guru is not the present Zhao-tong, but a beautified and idealized place through the filter of three thousand years.

15. The Early Stage of Guiding; the Qiang

   It is said most of the final places of the routes are in northwestern China. It means people living near or in the northwest of China do not have such routes. But the Qiang in the area of upper reaches of Minjiang River in the north of Sichuan have very short and simple one.

   In Wei-men-gao, the Mao-xian County, eight Shi (priest) and eight Gesa (general) take important roles at the funeral. On the third day after the dinner the eight Gesa enter into the room of the dead, and perform the ritual of sending horse. They believe their ancestors came from grassland in Songpan to Weimen through Jiao-chang and Tie-xi. The bereaved family must go to Songpan to buy a horse, for the soul goes to the western paradise on horseback. But actually going to Songpan is not easy. Instead, using the meat of pig’s head and dried tofu, they announce they went to Songpan and bought a horse.

   On the fourth day the coffin is carried to the graveyard, and buried. Duangong (shaman) or Gesa kills a cock (if the deceased is man) and pour blood around the tomb. Then the Duangong performs the ritual of invoking the soul. As the soul is wandering in the grassland, he retrieves it and comes back from Songpan to Weimen. It is not the typical route, but following it we can know how the ancestors came from far north.


...........to be continued!!

As continued............!

16. Nostalgia for the north; the Pumi

   From the linguistic point of view, the Pumi are close to the Qiang, namely, they are the mainstream among the various Qiang group. They succeeded the worship of white and sacrifice of sheep as well as the Minyak, Ersu, Dosu, Lusu, Namuyi and so on who are all called ‘Xi-fan’, western barbarian. Tracing back to the Tang Dynasty, Baima (white horse), Bailang (white wolf), Bailan (white orchid), recorded in history books, are the ancestors of the Pumi. According to the Book of the Latter Han, during the era of the spring and autumn the Pan-mu migrated to northwestern Sichuan and united with Bailan.

   Next, I show the routes of the soul of the Pumi.

   <Bodo → Bibado →……→ Lugu lake →……→ Yongning temple →……→ Lechon temple →……→ Muli monastery →……→ Mayajichen →……→ Jupuzhidong >

   The last place, Jupuzhidong means the place where snow and water gather, and is estimated the Bayan-kara Mountains. There are four roads connected with Jupuzhidong; O-nye-lye-kye-gong (the mountain of red tiger), Bur-nya-sum-gyong (the mountain of black panther), Saya-penma-gong (the mountain of flower seed), and Yala-datse-gong. Only Yala-datse-gong remains in Qinghai, and the others moved to Sichuan and Yunnan.

   The routes of the soul in Ning-lang (Yunnan) and Yan-yuan (Sichuan) are like this.

   <Lakua (Ning-lang) →……→ Lugu Lake →……→ Wujiao (Muli County) →……→ Tong-tian-he River →……→ Laze Mountain →……→ Xiang-cheng County →……→ Dao-cheng County →……→ Mudu-siu>

   <Buruju (Yan-yuan) →……→ Doshe →……→ Daze →……→ Qian-suo →……→ Yong-ning hot spring →……→ Wujiao →……→ Tong-tian-he River →……→ Laze Mountain →……→ Mudu-siu>

   Yang Xue-zheng who collected these routes estimates the final place Mudu-siu is somewhere among Sichuan, Qinghai, and Xizang (Tibet Autonomous Region).

   The Pumi who have been influenced by Bon religion as well as Tibetan Buddhism may have a route of Bon style. I suppose ‘mudu’ is related to the holy mountain for Bon-po Murdo (dMu rDo), and ‘siu’ gSer (gold).

   As mentioned in Introduction, the guide song of offering sheep sung by the Sipi (priest) brings the soul of the deceased to the celestial mountains. The mountains are probably Qilian Mountains spread over Qinghai and Gansu. The route of the soul in Lan-ping is like this.

   <Home → A big rock at Luo-gu-qing Village → Mount Lapa → Shigu → A mountain between Yongning and Labo → Yongning → Muli → River and Lake → Desert → Grassland → A village of each clan >

   The guide song is sung like this.

   <Oh, dead man. (the legendary person Malyan) Listen to me carefully. Reaching the other world, the king will ask you, “Where are you from”. You should answer honestly. Don’t be afraid. If the king wants chain you, you present a silver ware to him. If he wants to punish you, you give fried noodle and butter to him. After visiting the palace of the other world, you go outside from the exit where a python lays. And turn right, you reach a dense forest. Then you find a lake for the dead people. When crossing the lake, catch the wool of the back of a sheep you ride on. If severe wind blows, hide yourself under the wool of belly of a sheep. Listen to me. After crossing the lake, you will reach the high mountain. After climbing over the ridge of the high mountain, you will reach the place where heaven and earth border. There is a junction of three roads; the way to upper is miscellaneous color, for the celestial, mountain, and dragon deities, the way to lower is black, for the beasts with carapaces, claws, and hooves, and the way to middle is white, for the human, your ancestors took.

   Listen to me carefully. After the junction of three roads, you go furthermore towards your ancestors lived and celestial gods dwell. Go towards Shesuyala grassland. You will see many cows, horses, and sheep. You go towards rainbow. You go towards Shodon the dead people go to. You will go to the village of the Xiong clan, of the He clan, of the Lu clan, of the Yang clan, of another Yang clan, of the Hu clan, and of another Xiong clan. It is the place the sun and the moon rise and your ancestors lived. >

   They (Pumi in Lan-ping County) migrated from far north, that’s why they feel nostalgia for the grassland of the north. According to legend, they had a battle with Naxi people, and lost this war, and were forced to move more to Lan-ping. But after the death, their souls are sent to the original place in the north, and they live eternal lives in the happy land.

17. The Guide Song Sung for Seven Days and Nights; the Lisu

   In a Lisu Village in Lu-quan County, Yunnan, the Sibo (priest) sings mecha-abosu, the guide song for the dead for seven days and nights. Mentioning stopovers and descriptions, the Sibo sends the soul to the resting place through various obstacles.

   <Floor → House → Barn → Shidaren (the Buddha-inscribed rock) → The junction of stone-paved roads → Xiang-jie Mountain → The citadel of Kunming → Wu-ding → Zaka (you take arrest here) → Dali March Fair → Yao-an → Momianga-adai → Zhiro-sabado → Maro-sanido (these three places are unknown) → The palace of the other world (you meet Yamma) → 90 bridges and 70 creeks → 70 water sources → Big gate → The two dragon springs beside the big gate (there are bitter water and sweet water. The dead must drink bitter)

   The soul goes to Kunming nearly 100 km to the south of Lu-quan and comes back to Wu-ding, next to Lu-quan, and moved to Dali 300 km to the west of Lu-quan and Wu-ding. Dali March fair is very famous and there come not only tourists and merchants, but also the people from the other world. The fair is crowded with the living and the dead. The set of 90 bridges and 70 creeks is associated with male 9 and female 7.

   Another route of the soul is found in Nu jiang (Salwin). At the feneral two Biba (priest) sing the Tso-su-wa-sungo (guide song) alternately.

   <The death bed → Hearth → Barn → Meadow → Riverside → High mountains → Lakeside → The place the sun rises >

18. Mini-toko, the Lahu’s Original Place

   As mentioned already when I heard a couple of the Lahu called themselves ‘Mussuo’ in Xi-shuang-ban-na, Yunnan, it reminded me of the ancient Moso-man (barbarian). The ancestors of the Lahu were part of the Moso-man, separated from the Suo tribe and the Kunming tribe, and became the Guo-tso or Gu-zong tribe. In Kam (southwest of Sichuan) there are still the people (Kam-pa) called Guzhon, and in Zhong-dian, Yunnan, the Tibetan called Guzu which may be related to the Lahu.

   If somebody is sick, Mopa (priest) performs the ritual of retrieving the soul. The Mopa choose chestnut as the tree of soul, and makes the stairs of soul with seven steps. Singing the song of retrieving the soul, the Mopa fly to Mini-toko where the celestial god Wusa dwells along the migratory route. He must catch up with the soul before it goes over the border.

   The place where the ancestors of the Lahu lived earlier is Mini-toko which means the plateau or high mountain of red clay, surrounded by the huge salt lake called Noheshupo. Then they built a big village called Peti-nati where the Han Chinese lived together. (Some say Peti-nati is Beijing-Nanjing!) Each people lived led by their leader independently. But there happened a confliction between them as the population had increased. The Lahu were defeated and left for a long journey. They found the Awo-aka Mountain which had rich soil, and lived a good life for a while, but, again, were pushed out by the Han dynasty. They went through Komasikoti-lomasikoti (where nine mountains and seven rivers cross) and arrived at Mumie-mimie (Lin-tsang County) now they live.

   According to “The Cultural History of the Lahu”, Noheshupo is the same with Muni-shushoku-lopa-shushoku (where the sun and moon take a bath) and identical to Qinghai Lake. Peti-nati consists of peti (tsaidam) and nati (Golmud). Awo-aka is near Xi-chang City and Pulo-silo is Jinsha River (Yangtze River).

19. The Culture of Migration; the Hani

   The custom of death of the Hani gave me a great shock. When an old man leaves this world, his son succeeds his last breath. Literally his son inhales the last breath. It is called ‘satsepa’. ‘Sa’ of ‘satsepa’ means breathing or life, identified with Tibetan ‘sok (srog)’. ‘Tse’ means to cut off. ‘Pa’ means to support.

   At a Hani Village in Yuan-yang County the eldest son supports the neck of his dying father, gets the last breath by his sleeve, and inhales from the sleeve. In Hong-he County the eldest son gets the last breath of his father and stocks it in a box. We breathe a billion times in one life time usually, but the last one is very special for the Hani.

   It is no wonder that the Hani have a lot of epics containing migratory journeys like “Ape-tson-popo” “Yaniya-gatsenga” “Puga-naga”.

   According to “Ape-tson-popo”, the place the ancestors lived in early days is Huni-huna (Bayan-kara Mountains or the sources of the Yellow or Yantze River) which means the mound mixed with red stones and black stones. As the population had increased, they migrated southwards, and lived beside the Shesi Lake. Then they suffered the disaster of nature like fire in the forest, and moved to bamboo forest in Gar-gatse, in northwestern Sichuan. But there was a confliction with the Atso people, so moved to Lolo-puchu. The relationship with the Atso and Puni was good but later epidemics came and many died. So crossing the big river, they moved to Noma-ami where they developed agriculture. But as invaded by the Lapo, they moved to Sewo-tso-nya (Dali). Furthermore, escaping from the war, they moved to Guha-micha (Kunming). They settled with native Puni in Guha-micha, but battle with the Puni, and moved to the Ailau-shan area through Nato (Tong-hai) and Suchi (Shi-ping).

   At the funeral rituals the Iala (soul) is sent to Dachua where ancestors gather. Dachua and Lolo-puchu are probably the same. It is the ideal place where all ancestors live happy lives for ever.

20. Inferiority Complex and Migratory Route; the Jinuo

   The Jinuo’s myths and legends are tinged with ethnic complex. According to their tradition, their ancestors are the soldiers who were left behind by the troops of the very famous and popular general Zhe Ke-liang of the Shu Kingdom in the beginning of the third century. They came to the south of Yunnan as the troops of Shu, but one day slept long time and could not catch up with the other soldiers.

   How about their route?

   <House → The gate of village → Pond beside the village → Junction　→ Where stray cats sit → Musiade Mountain → Lomo-meni Rock (the point men and demons separated) →……→ Memota (entrance to Jejo) → Jejo-asujemi (the god of Mt Jejo dwells) → Ant mound →……→ Junction of nine roads → Entrance to Sujejomi → Meadow → Village of still babies → Fountain → Where people of Sujejomi raise pigs → Su-jejo-mi Village → The house of the late parents >

   Su-jejo-mi is the resting place where the ancestors gather. Mt Su-jejo-mi exists, but only 60 km away from the main village Baya. Is the original place very near? We find a key which is an old song.

   <Our ancestors came to Mt Jejo from far away. At the top of Mt Jejo is Deba-dechen, where the first female ancestor dwells. Gamimi and Mopude, our gods of village are working very hard. Time passed and offspring flourished. A thousand years have passed, and many villages remain on the mountains. >

   According to legend, during the time of Mt Jejo, ten of thousands of troops invaded this area, and they had to move. It is the attack by the troops of the state of Xishuang-ban-na during 1252-1325.

   Su-jejo-mi is very near, and the same time, very far, like Mt Juna-rualua of the Naxi. Probably Su-jejo-mi and Jejo are the same. The top of Mt Jejo is adjacent to Deba-dechen which may be identical to Debachen, Western Paradise in Tibetan.

21. Magnificent myths; the Jingpo

   The myth of the Jingpo tells the story from the birth of human to the present day through the long migration. If it is correct (I still doubt if it is concocted) it is the missing link of the history of the Tibeto-Burman peoples.

   The magnificent myth of the Jingpo is;

   <1656 years after the birth of the earth, there was a deluge which covered all surface of the earth. Hking Seng Shabrang, the ancestor of human beings, and his family survived getting on a wooden drum, and floated onto Mt Ara-rat Bum. The peak of Mt Ara-rat was flat, so it was suitable for human beings, and human beings have prospered. Another name of this mountain is Pamira Bum Ga, the honorable flat-peak mountain of eye-ball size, or Nyik-lum Chyunghui Mau, the region of men with the same liver.

   From the ancestor Hking Seng Shabrang derived the eldest yellow people in Asha Dan, the second black people in Ahpriga Dan, and the third white people in Uropa Dan. It happened in the 22nd or 21st B.C.

   Around 221 B.C. the descendants of yellow people, a branch of the Qiang, and the ancestors of the Jingpo, left Monggo-liya for Majoi Shingra-gaji, or Hkyen-hko-majoi, the area of snow and ice. Another name is Jinlum Pyi-pyit Mau, the kidney-shaped area between two mountain ranges.

   Majoi Shingra is called Hpokyu Sangse Mau, a place drifted with leaves. Or it is called Ntot-jara-masha-ni, a place of heavy snow outside the gate where the Ntot people live. The Ntot people left Majoi Shingra for Majoi Tingke, and reached Bumlai-hkyet in Tsangpo gorge which Tibetan call beyul, hidden land.

   It was only a weasel which could cross the gorge, climbing the tree and using creeper. Shawa Gam Mon, the leader of the Ntot clan suggested that they cut trees and make a bridge. The brothers of Ntot clan shouted when crossing this dangerous bridge, from which the names of clan derived.

   Around 100 A.D., crossing Tsangpo gorge, the ancestor of the Ntot clan reached Mali-hku-majoi, where Myanmar, India, and China border. It is the upper reaches of Malikha River. It is also called Mali-tingke (gorge), or Hundung Yangdan Mau, grass plains of source, or Shinggyim Yang, high land where human beings can prosper. Mali-hku-majoi is the first place the ancient Jingpo people prospered.

   After living in Mali-hku-majoi for a long time, they began to migrate. Crossing Malihka River and Mali-hku-hpung Non (marsh), they reached the great grass land Nanja Pa during the Sui and Tang Dynasty era in China.

   Then they began to migrate and through Kabat Dan, arrived at Pang-hkai Ga, great plain. They cultivated here. Then they move again and reached Nkhong Yang and lived for a long time. >

   We have an impression that this legend is a concoction, but no doubt they left Mongol and went through Qinghai and Gansu, eastern Tibet, and turned eastward at the Himalayas, reached the north of Myanmar.

   Some of them came down to the Chinese side. The route of the soul below shows they came from Yun-long County which is the place the ancestors stayed for a long time.

   <Beng-dong → Wa-weng-beng →……→ Sadung (many stopovers in Myanmar) →……→ Upper reaches of Nu jiang River → La-meng (Yun-long county) >

   Like this, people have forgotten a long version of the route of the soul, but keep only a short version. This tendency shows the custom of sending a soul is diminishing in the Jingpo.



to be continue.............

Yawn.........I wonder how many people would read whole thing

LOL i was thinking the same thing

A thesis is for university degree not for sajha readers. if possible put an abstract

 

real phsyco crap

well by now everyone would have known how smart and intellect you are, fair enough no?  understand where to put these kind of  stuff, just claiming oneself great does not make any great, and at this context ...you are just making mockery of yourself. an insult to those who have done actual research. stop it copy and paste master!

all bull..