page_title: Nakhi people
section_title: Dongba
hierarchical_section_title: Nakhi people / Religion / Dongba
caption_attribution_description: Old guest-house in Li Jiang, Yunnan, PRC (China). Built around the beginning of the 20th century. The motifs and scripts made by pebble mosaic represent ancient Naxi beliefs in symbols and writing. The building on the right is for accommodation and on the left an implement shed. Behind the photographer is further accommodation and kitchen and to the left of the photographer is the external wall and gate.
context_page_description: The Nakhi or Nashi are an ethnic group inhabiting the foothills of the Himalayas in the northwestern part of Yunnan Province, as well as the southwestern part of Sichuan Province in China.
  The Nashi are thought to have come originally from northwestern China, migrating south toward Tibetan populated regions, and usually inhabiting the most fertile river-side land, driving the other competing tribes farther up the hillsides onto less fertile land. The Nashi, along with Bai and Tibetans, traded over the dangerous overland trading links with Lhasa and India, on the so-called Tea and Horse Caravan routes. They were brought to the attention of the Western world by two men: the American botanist Joseph Rock and the Russian traveller and writer Peter Goullart, both of whom lived in Lijiang and travelled throughout the area during the early 20th century. Peter Goullart's book Forgotten Kingdom describes the life and beliefs of the Nashi and neighbouring peoples, while Joseph Rock's legacy includes diaries, maps, and photographs of the region, many of which were published in National Geographic. The two were friends and left the region together when the Communist troops came in.
context_section_description: Dongba religion is rooted in the beliefs of the Tibetan Bön religion; the word "Dongba" literally means "wise man" in the Nakhi language. Nakhi legend traces Dongba's origins to a Bön shaman from eastern Tibet named Dongba Shilo (丁巴什罗), who lived in a cave near Baishuitai during the 12th century.
  Anthropologists claim that many of the Dongba rituals show strong influences from the Bön religion, and are not native in origin. Bön lamas are believed to have settled among the Nashi as farmers, and to have begun to practise exorcisms as a way of earning a little money on the side; they were thus in competition with the native ritual specialists, locally known as Llü-bu, or Ssan-nyi. This is disputed, largely because the Bon religion is so adulterated by Tibetan Buddhism today that it is difficult to find pure and authentic practitioners to use as a basis for comparison.
  Religious scriptures suggest that the Llü-bu were female shamans who practised divination, exorcism, and other rites in a trance. By the early nineteenth century, the Dongba priests had created a huge religious vocabulary accompanied by a variety of rituals, and had largely displaced the Llü-bu. This is certainly the case with Yi shamans, but the connection to dongba practices remains unclear.
  Adherents of Dongba had no places of worship, and so they were not officially recognized as a religion by the Communists following their arrival to the region. A Dongba shaman is merely a part-time practitioner priest, who is literate in Dongba religious texts that were unreadable by most Nashi, who are not usually taught to read their own language.
  The Dongba religion is based on the relationship between nature and man. In Dongba mythology, "Nature" and "Man" are half-brothers, having different mothers. According to the villagers of Shu Ming Village, nature is controlled by spirits called "Shv". These gods are depicted as human-snake chimeras. The Dongba priests practice rituals such as the "Shv Gu" to appease these spirits and prevent their anger from boiling into natural disasters such as earthquakes and droughts.
  Before communist rule in China, many villages still had shrines or places of worship dedicated to nature gods, such as Shu. Nakhi inhabitants of Tacheng, which is in the Lijiang-Nakhi Autonomous county, still profess belief in the "nature and man" relationship.
  Their attitude towards nature is clearly illustrated by the story of He Shun, a Dongba priest, who forbade his three sons to cut down more trees than they personally needed, as this would anger the gods and bring misfortune to his family.
  One of the most widely practised Dongba rituals, Zzerq Ciul Zhuaq (literally, to repay the debts of a tree), has been described in the village of Shuming. The ritual was conducted if somebody was stricken with illness or bad luck, when a Dongba priest would be consulted. On many occasions, the result would show that the person had carried out logging or washing of dirty things in the forest, and the family or person concerned would have to ask the Dongba priest to hold the ritual near where the activity had taken place, and apologise to the nature god Shu.
  Being a conservative people, the villagers prohibited logging, and even the cutting of tree branches and gathering of dry pine-needles from the coniferous trees wasn't generally allowed. The gathering of pine needles was only allowed in July, when the forests were lush and green. However, only one person from each household was allowed to do this job, in order to enforce fairness between households with more or fewer labourers. (Dry pine needles are mixed with pig manure for fertilizer. Green pine needles are used as a ground covering in courtyards during celebrations)
  The elders, locally known as Lao Min (老民), would watch all these activities. The elders also voluntarily carried out the public affairs of the village. Traditionally, they played an important role, which still influences many villages. 
  Especially in Longquan, the villagers have traditional regulations for logging and firewood collection. Known as Jj
caption: Old guest-house in Li Jiang, built around the beginning of the 20th century. The motifs and scripts made by pebble mosaic represent ancient Naxi beliefs in symbols and writing.
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