Posted by: JPEG May 17, 2009
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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!!
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!!