Ge Agan (R) shows the reporter the existing Dongba materials.
He wrote poems, novels in the early years and collected the Dongba Scripture. Studying and inheriting Naxi culture was a journey that seldom people would choose to. Ge Agan, 76 years old, is one of the few world existing Dongba, also known as wise men. Mentioning about the difficulties of inheritance of Dongba culture, Ge said: “So far, there are few Naxi people who are able to read, recite and explain Dongba script among nearly 300,000 Naxi people, a result of the Dongba script on the extinction.”
The core of the Dongba religion is based on the belief that both man and nature are two half-brothers born of two mothers and the same father. This creates revenge from heaven, which befalls upon humans who use up too much natural resources. Religious rituals are also conducted by the priests to propitiate the spirits, as they were believed to be living in every part of the natural world.
Ge Agan whose primitive name is He Zongren,(和崇仁) was born in a common Naxi family. Ge Agan was named after a sheepherder, meaning God of War. He was not excited about the rite presided by Dongba when he was a boy, but scared by Dongba’s waving bow and arrow at a ritual.
In the tradition of ancient Naxi culture, a reputable Dongba should be qualified with high moral standard. Dongba families carry the status on from generation to generation, and it is in line with the custom of male-only succession. The senior Dongba observe and select young generations every a few years, in accordance with the high folk moral standards.
After leaning Dongba script from He Kaixiang (和开祥), a senior Dongba, Ge Agan was announced to be a qualified Dongba, since he was able to read, write Dongba pictographic characters, dance, sing and recite in Dongba language.
Qualified Dongba are believed to be the priests of the Bön religion. They play a major role in the Naxi culture, and preach harmony between man and nature. Their costumes show strong Tibetan influence, and pictures of Bön gods can be seen on their headgear. Tibetan prayer flags and Taoist offerings can be seen in their rituals. Ge is the one who is capable of doing all of these Dongba-related rituals.
Actually, a Dongba is not only a believer of primitive religion of Naxi, but also the core of the creation of Naxi culture. They created and handed the knowledge down, including literature, history, geography, art and astronomy. To some extent, Ge is one with high status: a writer based on creation materials of Naxi ethnic group.
He has won this status since 1956 when he translated three love songs that his grandmother used to sing in Naxi language. As a senior high school student, his translations were published on Beijing Literature and Art, a magazine.
An affirmative expression to Ge’s status as a “modern Dongba” from Tang Shijie (汤世杰), a writer in Yunnan: “He is not only a folk intellectual of Naxi culture, but an inheritor of Naxi culture. He has been devoting himself in studying and inheriting Naxi culute.”
The Naxi Dongba script (a.k.a. Tomba or dto-mba) was reputedly invented by King Moubao Azong in the 13th century. It is used exclusively by the Dongba (shamans/priests) as an aid to the recitation of ritual texts during religious ceremonies and shamanistic rituals.
In the language system of Naxi Dongba, they call the Dongba pictographic characters “Sen Jiu Lu Jiu” which means traces left on the wood and the stone. According to scholars, Dongba pictographic character is one of the few existing hieroglyphs on the world now, therefore, it is also named the living fossil of human language. With the extinction of Dongba, the living fossils are also on the edge of dying out. However, it is lucky that Ge has kept some taping records.
The record was taken in the summer of 1988 when He Kaixiang recited 24 books written for ancient ritual. The tapes were 360 minutes long.
“I was fascinated by the beautiful pictographic images and the melodious rhythm when reading,” said Ge who has traveled around inhabitations, collecting over 500 copies of Dongba Scripts and more than 15G taping materials of Dongba Scripts.
“I conducted on-the-spot investigation at that time. I was aware of the sense of crisis when seeing those seniors who were in their sixties,” said Ge. Today, Ge’s collected Dongba Scripts have covered a huge part of the existing materials.
If not studied Naxi culture, Ge was supposed to be a painting trader. Dongba pictographic characters were main materials for Ge’s paintings which were popular. He even held exhibitions of paintings in Beijing and Shenzhen.
Dongba painting, the oldest and most representative religious painting of the ancient Naxi people, is also their most special and characteristic artistic legacy. It is mainly found in the Naxi region of Lijiang City
Dongba painting originated from ancient Dongba hieroglyphs as well as from various Dongba religious activities. For instance, during the sacrificial ceremonies, the ceremony masters had to dress like Buddha, gods, animals, plants, or even demons. Dongba artists then would draw these images down on paper, creating a primitive form of today's Dongba painting.
Ge has managed common methods to promote Naxi culture. He built a house in Lijiang in 1995 and organized villagers to learn Naxi music, dance and characters. He Xiaoxu (和晓迅), Ge’s daughter, assisted him and said: “It is not a career that can be achieved and completed by singles, so we hope all people who are interested in Naxi culture can join in us.”
He Xiaoxun has travelled around Europe and was impressed by museums for ancient culture. She has made a plan for Ge’s lifelong collections: “Building a three-dimensional museum and storing the original culture.” But she meets difficulties in finding a cooperation partner.
So far, there has been less than ten Dongba on the world. She has witnessed her father’s cultivation of inheritors. Unlucky, no one succeeded. The main obstacle lied in the language difficulty. Even some foreigners came to Ger to learn Dongba characters, but all of them failed. Several years ago, Ge’s nephew had learned Dongba characters for three years, but was opposed by his families and gave up.
“Dongba among Naxi people depends on the real social environment and even the surrounding zoology may affect the existing of Dongba,” said He Xiaoxun, Dongba are flamen but not full-time clergy. Traditional Dongba had multiple statuses. They could be a farmer, a husband, a father, a teacher and sometimes a doctor. During the harvesting seasons, famers presented their vegetables, fruits and grains to Dongba for appreciation. They had their own lives and had to win people’s respect and trust. “Today, few people think of Dongba when facing events and no one provides Dongba with daily necessities for free either.”
“The ancient culture should be taught, learnt and inherited.” (Editors:Lynn, Minnie)
Click here to view Chinese report
