NAXI DONGBA
YUNNAN, SOUTHWEST CHINA
The Naxi Dongba Chinese minority are the last people on Earth to use a pictographic script in ceremonies. They use the script as mnemonic aid during rituals which celebrate the sacred relationship between humans and nature.
Death of Nature
China’s long history is defined by Other civilizations that developed independently, often in close contact with the Han Chinese (Loewe and Shaughnessy, 1999). The Chinese believe in the intricacy of being. The intricacy of being, the nature of existence, it’s complex and full beauty, are understood in quantum physics as being pure Consciousness. This underlying motif in Chinese ontology has far-reaching implications in Chinese culture, philosophy, epistemology, aesthetics, religion and ethics (Tu, 1989). It is this ancient knowledge, this ritualized archaic wisdom that inter-connects contemporary Naxi Dongba to early Chinese civilization. The Naxi Dongba are a Chinese ethnic minority with a population of 250,000 people living sustainably in remote mountain villages in Yunnan and Sichuan, provinces located in Southwestern China. Indigenous ecological ontology continues to be at the heart of the Naxi Dongba lifestyle in contemporary China today. This ecological ontology is expressed through sacred mythical narratives enacted through performative, colourful and highly ritualized ceremonies. “These priests of the Bön religion, a kind of shamanism that long ago spread to Naxi from pre-Buddhist Tibet, chant ancient legends and ceremonies using the pictographic texts as memory aids” (Ramsey, 1941). The Naxi Dongba are the last people on earth to use a pictographic script during rituals. Naxi Dongba rituals celebrate the sacred interconnections between humans and nature, the loss of which is documented, among others, by Carolyn Merchant in “The Death of Nature.” “Environmentalists are trying to develop an ecological ethic emphasizing the inter-connection between people and nature” (Merchant, 1989). And they “have suggested an image of stewardship in which we are not owners of nature but rather its temporary caretakers” (Ackerman and Heinzerling, 2004).
In May 2012, I travelled to Southwestern China for four months. The goal was to document the indigenous sustainable lifestyle of the Naxi Dongba people. I first went to the Naxi Donga Research Institute in the old city of Lijiang in Yunnan. I met Lidejing, the director of the institute. She organized my visits to two Naxi Dongba villages. She was supporting my strong interest in pursuing a PhD in interdisciplinary studies at the University of British-Columbia on the topic of the Naxi Dongba's eco-shamanic ontology. Through the support provided by Lidejing, I was the first Canadian to be invited to the Naxi Dongba village of Wuxi. My host told me that only one other foreigner had been invited to Wuxi before me. I was the second foreigner invited to Wuxi. Wuxi is a mountain village near the White-Water Terraces in Shangri-La County, with a population of a little over 400 people in 2012. My hosts, the Naxi Dongba priest and all the folks I came in contact with were happy to meet me, remarkably gentle, kind and generous. I was invited by a Naxi Dongba priests to document both a Naxi Dongba pictographic script class and a traditional dance ritual.
In May 2012, I travelled to Southwestern China for four months. The goal was to document the indigenous sustainable lifestyle of the Naxi Dongba people. I first went to the Naxi Donga Research Institute in the old city of Lijiang in Yunnan. I met Lidejing, the director of the institute. She organized my visits to two Naxi Dongba villages. She was supporting my strong interest in pursuing a PhD in interdisciplinary studies at the University of British-Columbia on the topic of the Naxi Dongba's eco-shamanic ontology. Through the support provided by Lidejing, I was the first Canadian to be invited to the Naxi Dongba village of Wuxi. My host told me that only one other foreigner had been invited to Wuxi before me. I was the second foreigner invited to Wuxi. Wuxi is a mountain village near the White-Water Terraces in Shangri-La County, with a population of a little over 400 people in 2012. My hosts, the Naxi Dongba priest and all the folks I came in contact with were happy to meet me, remarkably gentle, kind and generous. I was invited by a Naxi Dongba priests to document both a Naxi Dongba pictographic script class and a traditional dance ritual.
