Dongba
The term Dongba ( Nakhi : ²dto¹mba , Chinese 东巴 , Pinyin dōngbā ) refers to priests of the Naxi people in southwest China . They are regarded as masters of traditional Dongba culture, literature and the written language.
Role in society
The Dongba are priests of the Bon religion . They play an important role in the Naxi culture and preach harmony between man and nature. The priests' robes have a strong Tibetan influence and images of the Bon gods are part of their headdress. Tibetan prayer flags and Taoist offerings are used in the rituals of the Bon.
The priests also perform religious rituals to appease the spirits, as it was believed that they lived in every part of the natural world. The core of the Dongba religion is based on the belief that both man and nature are two half-brothers, born from two different mothers and the same father. It is through this connection that vengeance comes to those who use too many natural resources.
It is believed that before the Tibetan influence, the Nakhi priests were female llü-bu . At that time, statues and religious images were in many places.
A complete annotated translation of the ancient Nakhi Dongba books in 100 volumes has been published.
bibliography
- Xu Duoduo. (2015). A Comparison of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions Between Dabaism and Dongbaism . Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies, 3 (2015) 2: 61-81 (left: 1. academia.edu ; 2. Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ On the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions Systems in Dabaism and Dongbaism and on the analysis of the two writing systems according to an innovative interpretation, cf. XU Duoduo. (2015). A Comparison of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions Between Dabaism and Dongbaism . “Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies”, 3 (2015) 2: 61-81 (left: 1. academia.edu ; 2. Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies )
- ↑ 翻译 人 亡 技 绝 文献 变 "天书" ： 滇 抢救 少数民族 古籍 . In: dongnanyanet.com . Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ webmaster: 杨 一 奔 委员 ： 建议 抢救 性 翻译 《东巴 经》 - 中国 民族 宗教 网 . In: mzb.com.cn . Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Art related to the Dongba culture
- A series of works of art from the Dongba culture by the artist Cun Liusan.
- Edongba - Entry of Dongba hieroglyphs and Geba symbols.