Dongba ( Nakhi: ''²dto¹mba'', ) refers to both the religion and the priests of the

Nakhi people The Nakhi or Nashi (; Naxi: ; lit.: "Black people") are an East Asian 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 Nakh ...

of Southwest China.

Role in society

''Dongba'' is believed to have originated from the indigenous Tibetan Bon religion. According to Nakhi legend, these teachings first came to Yunnan from a Bon shaman from eastern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

named Dongba Shilo (丁巴什罗), a name similar to that of

Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche Tonpa Shenrab ( "Teacher Shenrab") or Shenrab Miwo ()—also called the Buddha Shenrab, Guru Shenrab and a number of other titles—is the legendary founder of the Bon tradition of Tibet. The story of Tonpa Shenrab was revealed in a fourtee ...

, the legendary founder of Bon. The strong Tibetan influence can be seen today in the rituals and costumes of the Dongba priests, who invoke Bon spirits and are often adorned with pictures of Bon gods on their headgear. Currently, the religion is deeply ingrained in Nakhi culture, with Dongba priests serving as the primary transmitters of traditional Nakhi culture, literature and the pictographic

Dongba symbols The Dongba, Tomba or Tompa or Mo-so symbols are a system of pictographic glyphs used by the '' ²dto¹mba'' (Bon priests) of the Naxi people in southern China. In the Naxi language it is called ''²ss ³dgyu'' 'wood records' or ''²lv ³dgyu'' ' ...

. The priests also conduct a variety of rituals to propitiate the many gods and spirits which are believed to play an active part in the natural world. 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. Prior to Tibetan influence, it is suggested that the original Nakhi priests were female ''llü-bu''. At that time, statues or religious images could be widely seen everywhere. A complete annotated translation of ancient Nashi 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 (links: 1
academia.edu
2
Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies
.

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External links

Dongba culture related art

A series of Dongba Culture artworks
by Dongba ethnic artist Cun Liusan.
Edongba
– Input Dongba hieroglyphs and Geba symbols. Shamanism in China zh:東巴教

Role in society

Bibliography

See also

Notes

External links