Translation and annotation of the travel notes of a 33 mi 21 Cave written by He Xiudong Dongba

Introduction

Duoyun Fengshi 朵云封事 written by Li Zaizhong 李在中 (2018), the second son of Li Lincan 李霖灿, was published in September 2018 by Beijing Publishing House. Li Lincan was the former deputy director of Taipei Palace Museum. In this book, an article titled “Baishuitai and a³³mi²¹ Cave” 白水台与阿明洞 was written on 12 July 2005, which described the author’s visit to a³³mi²¹ Cave on 11 January ^{2005 with He Xiudong 和秀东 Dongba who came from Tacheng. An article titled Travel Notes to the a33mi21 Cave in Baidi 白地阿明洞游记, written by He Xiudong in Dongba script, together with a Chinese translation (Yu, 2016) are attached.}

a³³mi²¹ Cave is a cliff cave in the mountain opposite Baishuitai 白水台, Baidi Village 白地村, Sanba Naxi Township三坝纳西族乡, Shangri-la County, Yunnan. It is said that it was the place where the second generation of the founder of the Dongba religion, a³³mi²¹ʂɿ⁵⁵lo³³阿明什罗, practiced Buddhism and thus became the holy place of the Dongba religion. Dongba all over the country hope to visit the a³³mi²¹ Cave and hold the nʥʌr³¹ (investing with spirit power) ceremony, which is a religious ritual of praying to gods for divine power. They pray for the ancestors to grant them magic. Scholars such as Joseph Rock (1999), Tao Yunkui 陶云逵 and Li Lincan all visited a³³mi²¹ Cave for investigation. Li Lincan also wrote an inscription with a combination of Chinese and Dongba characters in the cave. He described the investigation in his diary.

He Xiudong Dongba is of Naxi nationality and was born in November 1980. He comes from Tacheng Village, Yulong Naxi Autonomous County玉龙纳西族自治县, Lijiang. His former name was [y²¹tsa³³] and his Dongba religious name is [y²¹te²¹sɿ⁵⁵tha⁵⁵] and [to³³y²¹]. As the ninth generation of Dongba in his family, he learned how to be a Dongba from his grandpa He Shun和顺when he was a child. Then he entered the Lijiang Dongba Culture Research Institute丽江东巴文化研究院 and followed Dongba He Kaixiang和开祥 and He Jigui和即贵. He mastered all kinds of Dongba ceremony, Dongba dance and Dongba painting. When he was 19 years old, he could perform the sacrifice ceremony independently. He had been to the United States and Taiwan to exchange Dongba culture and perform Dongba rituals, songs and dances in January 2003 and December 2004. In June 2012, he was honored as Dongba master by the Lijiang Naxi Dongba Cultural Heritage Association纳西东巴文化传承协会. ¹

Since Yu Suisheng喻遂生 (Yu, 2001) put forward the non-religious literature of the Naxi language, the collection, collation and research on the non-religious literature of the Naxi language have developed vigorously and achieved gratifying results in the past 20 years. So far, the field investigators have collected many land contracts, accounting books, letters, inscriptions, epitaphs, diaries, song books, medical books, documents and other Dongba script literature in Lijiang, Shangri-la, Ninglang宁蒗 of Yunan, and Muli木里, Yanyuan盐源 of Sichuan. However, we have never before found travel notes written in Dongba characters. Therefore, these travel notes written by He Xiudong are of great research value. At the same time, Li Zaizhong’s Chinese translation is only a summary of the general idea, not an accurate or complete translation. In order to facilitate its academic use, I am attempting to make a detailed interpretation of and preliminary research on this valuable text. ²

Interpretation of the travel notes

The following is the word-by-word interpretation and translation of this travel note. The sequence code of the lines is added by the author.OPEN IN VIEWER

Word explanation:

(1)

[ɑ³³] ah, like a voice in the mouth. It is used as phonetic symbol of the first syllable of [a³³mi²¹].

[mi³³] fire. It is used as the second syllable of [a³³mi²¹]. It is said that he was the second generation of the founder of the Dongba religion.

[ne³³] amaranth, the seed of amaranth. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “hide” [næ³³]. Amaranth is generally written as .

[kho³³] horn. It is used as a phonetic symbol of the first syllable of [a³³mi²¹næ³³kho³³] 阿明灵洞. The literal translation is a³³mi²¹’s hiding hole, which is generally called a³³mi²¹ Cave.

[ly²¹] look; a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of eye , and its sound is that of a spear [ly³³].

[gə²¹] above. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [gə³³].

[ku²¹] ginger. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the action of “passing on.”

[pɯ³³] Mugwort. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “story.”

(2)

[dʐu²¹] fall. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “companion” [dʐu³³]. This character is not found in the Dongba dictionaries.

[zo³³] man, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of man , and its sound is that of an urn [zo²¹].

[dʐu²¹] fall. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “companion” [dʐu³³].

[mi⁵⁵] female, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of female , and its sound is that of a fire [mi³³].

[ʂʅ³³] meat. It is used as the first syllable of “teacher” [ʂʅ²¹dzɿ³³]. The general form is .

[tsɿ⁵⁵] water hyacinth bird, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of bird , its sound is that of tie [tsɿ³³], and it is used as the second syllable of “teacher” [ʂʅ²¹dzɿ³³]. It is a Chinese loan word.

[dɯ²¹] big.

[tɕi⁵⁵] wool shear. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “small” [tɕi³³].

[dɯ²¹] big. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “one” [dɯ³³]. Its general form is .

[hua³³] silver pheasant. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the measure word of “group” [hua⁵⁵].

[be³³] do. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the adverbial particle of [be³³].

[i²¹] leakage. Its sound is used as the first syllable of [i³³gv³³dy²¹] 依古堆.

[kv³³] egg. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the “bending” [kv³³] whose sound is used as the second syllable of [i³³gv³³dy²¹].

[dy²¹] place. It is used as the third syllable of [i³³gv³³dy²¹]; it means the place where the river turns, referring to the Lijiang area.

[nɯ³³] heart. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the adverbial particle of [nɯ³³].

[tse⁵⁵be³³] axe, whose shape is used as the iron [ʂu²¹].

[ʐua³³dzæ³³] ride.

[dzæ³³] rich. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “drive” [dzæ³³].

[pu⁵⁵] send. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the tense auxiliary of [pu⁵⁵].

(3)

[bər²¹] rope. It is used as the first syllable of [bər³³dər³³] 白地.

[dər²¹] mule. It is used as the second syllable of [bər³³dər³³].

[pa³³] frog; its sound is used to indicate “the arrival” [pa³³].

[bər²¹] rope. It is used as the first syllable of [bər³³dər³³] 白地.

[dər²¹] mule. It is used as the second syllable of [bər³³dər³³].

[dy²¹] place.

[ȵə²¹] eye. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the “up” [ȵə²¹].

[thv²¹] barrel. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the “go” [thv³³].

[tʂhʅ³³] hang. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “this” [tʂhʅ³³].

[ȵi³³] sun; its shape is used to indicate the measure word of “day” [ȵi³³].

[li³³] Falun. It is used as the family name of Li of Han nationality.

[ʂʅ³³] meat, whose sound is used as the first syllable of “teacher” [ʂʅ²¹dzɿ³³].

[tsɿ⁵⁵] water hyacinth bird, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of bird , and its sound is that of tie [tsɿ³³]. Its sound is used as the second syllable of “teacher” [ʂʅ²¹dzɿ³³]. It is a Chinese loan word.

[tha²⁴] he; it is a Geba character哥巴文, which is the syllabic characters of Naxi nationality.

[mi⁵⁵] daughter, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of female , and its sound is that of a fire [mi³³].

[ŋə²¹] I, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of I , and its sound is that of a five [ŋə³³].

[dʐu²¹] fall. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “companion” [dʐu³³].

[dɯ²¹] big. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “one” [dɯ³³]. General writing is .

[hu²¹] night. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the measure word of “group” [hua⁵⁵].

[be³³] do. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the adverbial particle of [be³³].

(4)

[dʑi³³] walk, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of walk , and its sound is that of a sweet Chinese yeast [dʑi³³].

[le³³] Chinese river deer. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “again” [le³³].

[bər²¹] yak. It is used as the first syllable of [bər³³phər²¹tɯ³³] 白水台.

[phər²¹] untied. It is used as the second syllable of [bər³³phər²¹tɯ³³].

[tɯ³³] get up. It is used as the third syllable of [bər³³phər²¹tɯ³³], a place which is a huge spring landform and one of the cultural attractions of Baidi.

[ly²¹] look. It is used as the first syllable of [ly³³ly²¹].

[ly²¹] look. It is used as the second syllable of [ly³³ly²¹]. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “continuation and repetition” [ly³³ly²¹].

[bv³³] pot. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “enter.”

[bv³³] pot. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “enter.”

[hɯ³³] teeth. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “go.”

[ŋə²¹] I, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of I , and its sound is that of a five [ŋə³³].

[i²¹] leakage. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word connecting subject and predicate of [i²¹].

[dʑi³³] sweet Chinese yeast. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “go.”

[le³³] Chinese river deer. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “again”.

[be³³] snow. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “village”.

[ko⁵⁵] between. It is a Geba character.

[bv³³] pot. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “enter.”

[bv³³] pot. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “enter.”

[khɯ³³] dog. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “go” [khɯ⁵⁵].

[se²¹] a perfect tense auxiliary; it is a Geba character.

[me³³] a modal particle at the end of a sentence; it is a Geba character.

(5)

[bər²¹] rope. It is used as the first syllable of [bər³³dər³³] 白地.

[dər²¹] mule. It is used as the second syllable of [bər³³dər³³].

[pa³³] frog; its sound is used to indicate “arrive”.

[tʂhʅ³³] hang. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “this”.

[ȵi³³] sun; its shape is used to indicate the measure word of “day” [ȵi³³].

[tʂhu²¹] string of beads. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “dinner”.

[dzɿ³³] eat.

[ho²¹] rib. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the “late.”

[i²¹] leakage. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the modal particle [i³³].

[dɯ²¹] big. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “one.”

[ha⁵⁵] night.

[the³³] flag. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “this” [the²¹].

[ȵə²¹] eye. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “inside”.

[ha⁵⁵] night. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “accommodation” [ha⁵⁵].

[se²¹] a perfect tense auxiliary; it is a Geba character.

[me³³] vulva. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the final modal particle [me³³].

The beginning symbol, generally placed in the beginning of the paragraph. From this note, it is placed at the end of the paragraph.

[miə²¹] eye. It is used as the first syllable of “dawn” [miə²¹do²¹].

[do²¹] see. It is used as the second syllable of “dawn” [miə²¹do²¹].

[mæ⁵⁵] tail, the extended meaning is “after”.

[tʂhʅ³³] hang. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “this.”

[so²¹] large scale. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “morning.”

[tshɿ³³] hot spring. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “breakfast.”

[dzɿ³³] eat.

[le⁵⁵] tea.

[tɕə²¹] leprosy. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “cook” [tɕə⁵⁵].

[pu⁵⁵] send. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the present continuous tense [pu⁵⁵].

(6)

[dʑi³³] walk, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of walk , and its sound is that of a sweet Chinese yeast [dʑi³³].

[le³³] Chinese river deer. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “again.” [ne³³] amaranth, the seed of amaranth. Its sound is used to indicate “hide.”

[kho³³] horn. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “hole.” [le³³] again; it is a Geba character.

[ly²¹] look, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of eye , and its sound is that of a spear [ly³³]. [hɯ⁵⁵] go, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of foot , and its sound is that of a dog .

[dʑi³³] sweet Chinese yeast. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “go.” [le³³] again; it is a Geba character.

[tho⁵⁵] hill, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of slope , and its sound is that of a wood [ to³³]. [khɯ³³] foot; the extended meaning is “the foot of the hill.”

[thv²¹] barrel. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “go” [thv³³]. [li³³] Falun. It is used as the family name of Li of Han nationality.

[ʂʅ³³] meat, whose sound is used as the first syllable of “teacher” [ʂʅ²¹dzɿ³³]. [tsɿ⁵⁵] water hyacinth bird, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of bird , and its sound is that of tie [tsɿ³³]. Its sound is used as the second syllable of “teacher” [ʂʅ²¹dzɿ³³]. It is a Chinese loan word.

[i³³] mountain mule. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [i³³]. [tho⁵⁵] hill, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of slope , and its sound is that of a wood [ to³³].

[tʂhua⁵⁵] six. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “climb”. [sa⁵⁵] breath. It is used as the first syllable of “out of breath” [sa⁵⁵lər²¹].

[lər²¹] cry. It is used as the second syllable of “out of breath” [sa⁵⁵lər²¹]. [ne³³] amaranth, the seed of amaranth. Its sound is used to indicate “now” [ne²¹].

[to³³] board. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the “hill” [tho⁵⁵]. [khɯ³³] foot; the extended meaning is “the foot of the hill.”

[ɕy⁵⁵] cypress. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “rest” [ɕə²¹]. [se²¹] a perfect tense auxiliary; it is a Geba character.

[iə²¹] tobacco. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word.

(7)

[tha⁵⁵] tower. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “he” [tha²⁴].

[mi⁵⁵] daughter, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of female , and its sound is that of a fire [mi³³].

[ŋə²¹] I, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of I , and its sound is that of a five [ŋə³³].

[tʂhʅ³³] hang. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the “this.”

[hua³³] silver pheasant. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the measure word of “group” [hua⁵⁵].

[dʑi³³] sweet Chinese yeast. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “go.”

[pu⁵⁵] send. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the present continuous tense [pu⁵⁵].

[ne³³] amaranth, the seed of amaranth. Its sound is used to indicate “hide.”

[kho³³] horn. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “hole.”

[lo²¹] valley. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “inside.”

[lɯ⁵⁵] ox louse. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [lɯ⁵⁵].

[thv²¹] barrel. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “go” [thv³³].

[tʂhu²¹] string of beads. It is used as the first syllable of “incense” [tʂhu⁵⁵pa³³].

[pa³³] frog. It is used as the second syllable of “incense” [tʂhu⁵⁵pa³³].

[tʂhu²¹pa³³dʑi⁵⁵] burning incense, not read here.

[dɯ²¹] large. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “one.”

[kha²¹] fence. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “moment.”

[dʑi⁵⁵] burn, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of fire , and its sound is that of a sweet Chinese yeast [dʑi³³].

[lv³³] stone. It is used as the first syllable of “kowtow rites” [lv⁵⁵pv³³], a Chinese loan word.

[pv⁵⁵] steamer. It is used as the second syllable of “kowtow rites” [lv⁵⁵pv³³].

[dɯ²¹] large. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “one.”

[kha³³] bitter. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the “time” [kha²¹].

(8)

[tshɿ⁵⁵] kneel.

[ty³³] knock, the extended meaning is kowtow.

[phi²¹] leg. It is used as the first syllable of “after” [phi⁵⁵se²⁴].

[se²¹] blue sheep. It is used as the second syllable of “after” [phi⁵⁵se²⁴].

[bv³³] pot. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “enter.”

[bv³³] pot. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “enter.”

[ly²¹] look.

[ly²¹] look.

[se²¹] a perfect tense auxiliary; it is a Geba character.

[khu³³] door. It is used as the first syllable of “after” [kho³³tho²¹].

[tho²¹] mould for making cakes. It is used as the second syllable of “after” [kho³³tho²¹].

[o²¹] turquoise. It is used as the first syllable of “shadow” [kho³³tho²¹].

[khv³³] harvest. It is used as the second syllable of “shadow” [kho³³tho²¹].

[he³³] moon. It is used as the first syllable of the “taking a photo” [he³³næ³³].

[næ³³] hide. It is used as the second syllable of “taking a photo” [he³³næ³³].

[ne³³] amaranth, the seed of amaranth. Its sound is used to indicate the symbol of the present continuous tense [ne²¹].

[tʂhʅ³³] hang. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “this.”

[kho²¹] fence. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the “between” [kho⁵⁵].

(9)

[li³³] Falun. It is used as the first syllable of the name of “Li Lincan 李霖灿” [li³³li²¹tshæ⁵⁵].

[li³³] Falun. It is used as the second syllable of the name “Li Lincan” [li³³li²¹tshæ⁵⁵].

[tshæ⁵⁵] woodworking drill. It is used as the third syllable of the name of “Li Lincan”[li³³li²¹tshæ⁵⁵].

[ʂʅ³³] meat, whose sound is used as the first syllable of “teacher” [ʂʅ²¹dzɿ³³].

[tsɿ⁵⁵] water hyacinth bird, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of bird , and its sound is that of tie [tsɿ³³]. It is used as the second syllable of “teacher”[ʂʅ²¹dzɿ³³].

[nɯ³³] heart. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the subject auxiliary word [nɯ³³].

[mɯ⁵⁵] bamboo. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “ink.” It is a Chinese loan word.

[na²¹] black; it is a Geba character.

[the³³] flag. It is used as the first syllable of the “character” [the³³ɣɯ³³].

[ɣɯ³³] good. It is used as the second syllable of the “character” [the³³ɣɯ³³].

[tɕə³³] leprosy. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the “character” [tɕə⁵⁵].

[lv³³] stone.

[ȵə²¹] eye. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “inside.”

[tshɿ³³] ploughshare. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “write” [tshɿ⁵⁵].

[iə²¹] tobacco. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “paint.”

[gə²¹] above. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [gə³³].

[ȵi³³me³³] sun. It is used as the first syllable of the “date” [ȵi⁵⁵ua³³].

[ua³³] five. It is used as the second syllable of the “date” [ȵi⁵⁵ua³³].

[dʐʅ²¹] time. It is used as the first syllable of the “date” [dʐʅ²¹khə²¹].

[khə⁵⁵] basket. It is used as the second syllable of the “date” [dʐʅ²¹khə²¹].

[tʂhʅ³³] hang. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “this.”.

(10)

[mi³³] fire. It is used as the first syllable of the “Minguo 民国” [mi²¹kuə²⁴].

[kuə⁵⁵] scraper. It is used as the second syllable of the “Minguo” [mi²¹kuə²⁴].

[sɿ³³ tshər²¹] thirty.

[fv⁵⁵] rat; the extended meaning is “year” [khv⁵⁵].

[nɯ³³] heart. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the adverbial particle of [nɯ³³].

[tɕə³³] leprosy. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “character” [tɕə⁵⁵].

[be³³] do.

[the³³] flag. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [the²¹].

[tshɿ²¹] ghost. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “write” [tshɿ⁵⁵].

[gə²¹] above. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [gə³³].

[tɕə³³] leprosy. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “character” [tɕə⁵⁵].

[thɯ²¹] drink. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “that” [thɯ³³].

[tha⁵⁵] tower. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “he” [tha²⁴].

[lv³³] stone. It is used as the first syllable of “grand-daughter” [lv³³me³³].

[mi⁵⁵] female. It is used as the second syllable of “grand-daughter” [lv³³me³³].

[nɯ³³] heart. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the subject auxiliary word.

[o²¹] turquoise. It is used as the first syllable of “shadow” [kho³³tho²¹].

[khv³³] harvest. It is used as the second syllable of “shadow” [kho³³tho²¹].

[he³³] moon. It is used as the first syllable of “taking a photo” [he³³næ³³].

[næ³³] hide. It is used as the second syllable of “taking a photo” [he³³næ³³].

[pu⁵⁵] send. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the present continuous tense [pu⁵⁵].

(11)

[le³³] Chinese river deer. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “again.”

[hɯ³³] teeth. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “go.”

[tʂhʅ³³] hang. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “this.”

[ta⁵⁵] cabinet. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “only.”

[la³³] too; it is a Geba character.

[mə³³] no.

[za²¹] comet. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “only.”

[ə³³] ah. It is used as the first syllable of “ancient” [ə²¹be³³ʂə⁵⁵be³³].

[be³³] do. It is used as the second syllable of “ancient” [ə²¹be³³ʂə⁵⁵be³³].

[ʂə⁵⁵] above; it is a Geba character. It is used as the third syllable of “ancient” [ə²¹be³³ʂə⁵⁵be³³].

[be³³] do. It is used as the fourth syllable of “ancient” [ə²¹be³³ʂə⁵⁵be³³].

[gə²¹] above. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [gə³³].

[py³³bv²¹] Dongba.

[bv²¹] creep. It is used as the second syllable of “Dongba” [py³³bv²¹].

[dɯ²¹] large.

[tɕi⁵⁵] wool shear. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “small.”

[nɯ³³] a subject particle; it is a Geba character.

[tɕə³³] leprosy. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “character” [tɕə⁵⁵].

[be³³] do.

[the³³] flag. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [the²¹], which is placed before the verb to indicate the state of action.

[tshɿ³³] ploughshare. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “write” [tshɿ⁵⁵].

[dʑy²¹] bracelet. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the “have” [the²¹].

(12)

[ŋə²¹] I, a pictophonetic character. It takes the shape of I , and its sound is that of a five [ŋə³³].

[la³³] too; it is a Geba character.

[lv³³] stone.

[tɕər³³] neck. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “above.”

[the³³] flag. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [the²¹], which is placed before the verb to indicate the state of action.

[tshɿ³³] ploughshare. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “write” [tshɿ⁵⁵].

[se²¹] a perfect tense auxiliary; it is a Geba character.

[tɕə³³] leprosy. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “character” [tɕə⁵⁵].

[mu²¹] dustpan. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [mu³³].

[tɕə³³] leprosy. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “character” [tɕə⁵⁵].

[tʂhʅ³³] hang. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “this.”

[dʑy²¹] bracelet. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “have.”

[iə²¹] tobacco. It is used as the first syllable of the name of “Yang Xuecai 杨学才” [iə²¹ɕə²⁴tsha³³].

[ɕə³³ tɕhy²¹] Dapeng bird, the first sound is used as the second syllable of the name of “Yang Xuecai” [iə²¹ɕə²⁴tsha³³].

[tsha⁵⁵] bite. It is used as the third syllable of the name of “Yang Xuecai” [iə²¹ɕə²⁴tsha³³].

[li³³] Falun. It is used as the first syllable of the name of “Li Lincan 李霖灿” [li³³li²¹tshæ⁵⁵].

[li³³] Falun. It is used as the second syllable of the name of “Li Lincan” [li³³li²¹tshæ⁵⁵].

[tshæ⁵⁵] woodworking drill. It is used as the third syllable of the name of “Li Lincan” [li³³li²¹tshæ⁵⁵].

[py³³bv²¹] Dongba.

[bv²¹] creep. It is used as the second syllable of “Dongba” [py³³bv²¹].

[dɯ²¹] large.

[tɕi⁵⁵] wool shear. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “small.”

[nɯ³³] heart. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the subject auxiliary word.

[pər⁵⁵] write.

[gə²¹] above. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [gə³³].

(13)

[tɕə³³] leprosy. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “character” [tɕə⁵⁵].

[dɯ²¹] large. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “one.”

[hɯ³³] teeth. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “some” [hu³³].

[be³³] do.

[the³³] flag. It is used as the first syllable of “character” [the³³ɣɯ³³].

[ɣɯ³³] good. It is used as the second syllable of “character” [the³³ɣɯ³³].

[mɯ⁵⁵] bamboo. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the “ink.” It is a Chinese loan word.

[na²¹] black; it is a Geba character.

[tʂhər⁵⁵] generation.

[mə³³] no.

[bɯ²¹] exhausted.

[se²¹] blue sheep. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “modal particle.”

[tv²¹] thousand.

[tʂhər⁵⁵] generation.

[kho³³] horn. It is used as the first syllable of “proverb” [kho³³khu³³].

[khu³³] door. It is used as the second syllable of “proverb” [kho³³khu³³].

[mæ⁵⁵] tail; the extended meaning is “after.”

[the³³] flag. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [the²¹], which is placed before the verb to indicate the state of action.

[tɕi⁵⁵] wool shear. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate “remain.”

[se²¹] a perfect tense auxiliary; it is a Geba character.

[iə²¹] tobacco. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word.

The beginning symbol, generally placed at the beginning of the paragraph. From this note, it is placed at the end of the paragraph.

(14)

[sər³³] wood, one of the five elements.

[gə²¹] above. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the auxiliary word [gə³³].

[bu²¹] slope. It is used as the first syllable of “Bbuto布托” [bu³³tho²¹], which is a chronological method that matches the five elements and the twelve zodiac animals as 60.

[tho²¹] mould for making cakes. It is used as the second syllable of the “Bbuto” [bu³³tho²¹].

[ə³³] ah. It is used as a phonetic symbol to indicate the prefix.

[y²¹] monkey.

[fv⁵⁵] rat; the extended meaning is “year” [khv⁵⁵].

[da⁵⁵] cut. It is used as the first syllable of the “December” [da³³ua³³he³³].

[ua³³] five. It is used as the second syllable of the “December” [da³³ua³³he³³].

[he³³] moon. It is used as the third syllable of the “December” [da³³ua³³he³³].

[tshe³³] salt. It is used as the first syllable of the prefix of ordinal number [tshe³³do²¹].

[do²¹] see. It is used as the second syllable of the prefix of ordinal number [tshe³³do²¹].

[ua³³] five.

[ȵi³³] sun; the extended meaning is the measure word of “day.”

[y²¹] sheep. It is used as the first syllable of the name of [y²¹te²¹sɿ⁵⁵tha⁵⁵].

[te²¹] scissors. It is used as the second syllable of the name of [y²¹te²¹sɿ⁵⁵tha⁵⁵].

[sɿ⁵⁵] penates. It is used as the third syllable of the name of [y²¹te²¹sɿ⁵⁵tha⁵⁵].

[tha⁵⁵] tower. It is used as the fourth syllable of the name of [y²¹te²¹sɿ⁵⁵tha⁵⁵].

[to³³] board. It is used as the first syllable of the name of [to³³y²¹].

[y²¹] a Geba character哥巴文. It is used as the first syllable of the name of [to³³y²¹].

[pər⁵⁵] write.

He Xiudong’s seal with Chinese characters.

Dongba seal.

Translation

(1) The story of visiting the a³³mi²¹ Cave. (2) A group of companions, male and female, and teachers, adult and young, from i³³gv³³dy²¹ which was also called Lijiang to Baidi by car (3) arrived at Baidi. At that day, Mr. Li, his daughter and a group of people, (4) We went to Baishuitai to have a look. I went round the village again. (5) On that day, I was late for dinner and stayed here overnight. After daybreak, I cooked tea for breakfast this morning. (6) (Then) walked to the a³³mi²¹ Cave. At the foot of the slope, Mr. Li climbed the slope for breath and rested at the foot of the slope. (7) His daughter and our group, went to a³³mi²¹ Cave, burned incense for a while, (8) knelt and kowtowed, and then went in and out to have a look. Later, while photographing, (9) (found) ink mark left by Mr. Li Lincan on the stone. The date of writing is (10) those words written in the thirty years of the Republic of China. His granddaughter took a picture. (11) Not only that, but also the characters written by Dongba in the past. (12) I also wrote it on the stone. All the characters, written by Yang Xuecai, Li Lincan (13) some characters, have been lasting for thousands of generations, and the ancient sayings will be preserved for thousands of generations. (14) On the fifth day of the twelfth month of the year of Wooden Monkey, written by sɿ⁵⁵ tha⁵⁵to³³y²¹.

Research on the travel note

The diary written by He Huating 和华亭 in Yang Zhonghong’s 杨仲鸿 About the Richness of Naxi Literature from Two Diaries of He Huating, the Naxi character teacher of Dr. Rock from America 从美国人骆克博士的纳西族文字教师和华亭的两则日记谈纳西族文献的丰富, recorded He Huating and Rock’s experience of collecting Dongba scriptures in Lijiang and Yongning永宁 and from Lijiang to Kunming. Although the diary was of the nature of travel notes, it mainly recorded daily life and work from 1932 to 1936, so this record cannot be regarded as a diary or travel notes in a strict sense. Therefore, He Xiudong’s journey to a³³mi²¹ Cave is the only one we have seen so far. The travel notes recorded the people and the journey of visiting a³³mi²¹ Cave. they are detailed and vivid, with a brief discussion. They reflected the new aspect of the usage of Naxi literature. The following are some preliminary studies on this travel note.

Author and time

The signature of the author’s name should be y²¹te²¹sɿ⁵⁵tha⁵⁵ to³³y²¹余得四塔东玉. Li Zaizhong wrote as yuyushitadongyu余竽士他东玉. Yu竽 should be the miswriting of deng等. At first, we thought that y²¹te²¹sɿ⁵⁵tha⁵⁵ was the Naxi name of He Xiudong. But the on the website of Dongba Horizon东巴视界 his Dongba name was defined as y²¹te²¹sɿ⁵⁵tha⁵⁵. to³³y²¹ is the typical form of Do+X of Dongba’s name. It shows that there are two Dongba names of He Xiudong. One may have two Dongba names. For example, the Dongba names of the famous great Dongba He Shijun和世俊 in Ludian鲁甸, Lijiang had the names of so³³bv³³y²¹te³³梭补余登 and to³³tsɿ³³东仔. In the postscript on page 126 of Volume 11 in An Annotated Collection of Naxi Dongba Manuscripts纳西东巴古籍译注全集, he called himself Dongba so³³bv³³y²¹te³³ to³³tsɿ³³.

The travel notes were written on “the 5th day of the twelfth month of the year of the Wooden Monkey year.” The year of the Wooden Monkey was part of the Tibetan calendar, which corresponds to the Jiashen甲申 year in the lunar calendar. The fifth day of the twelfth lunar month in the Jiashen year in this article was 14 January 2005. Li Zaizhong recorded that they went to a³³mi²¹ Cave on 11 January 2005. Therefore it indicated that these travel notes was written on the third day of their travel, which should be remembered accurately.

Paper and form

According to the photo, the travel note was written on an uncut piece of Dongba paper of unknown size. The writing style was not divided into columns and grids according to the Dongba scriptures; it was arranged in a linear line from left to right. The full text included 14 lines: one line for the title, 12 lines for the text, one for name and time. Due to the lack of space at the right edge of the paper in the vertical line, the words were written in a small size. In the horizontal arrangement, there were also some logograph lines as a triangle shape or an up–down structure, such as “Lijiang” (line 2), “go to somewhere” (line 3), “teacher” (line 3), “his daughter” (line 3), “see”(line 4), “stroll” (line 4), “dawn”(line 5), “out of breath” (line 6), “on the stone” (line 12), and so forth. Of course, some graphs with the same structure do not write a word or phrase, such as “modal particle” (line 5), “go” (line 6), and so on. In addition, this travel note also used two non-phonetic section markers , both placed at the end of the paragraph, which was different from the general Dongba scripture paragraph symbols placed at the beginning of the paragraph. This is rather special.

The frequency, amount and structure of characters

According to the statistics of character frequency, this travel note comprises 291 characters, comprised of 273 instances in Dongba characters (93.81%) and 18 in Geba characters (6.19%).

There were 132 different characters in the travel notes. Among them, 10 Geba characters were used 18 times; the frequency is listed in brackets, and characters without frequency markers appeared once, as follows: se²¹（6）, le³³（2）, na²¹（2）, la³³（2）, tha²⁴, ko⁵⁵, me³³, ʂə⁵⁵, nɯ³³, y²¹.

In total, 122 Dongba characters were used 273 times. Among them, 83 characters are pictographs, used 191 times; that is, the pictographs accounted for 68.03% of the total Dongba characters, and 69.96% of the total frequency of Dongba characters. The characters that were used more than five times are big（9）, leprosy（8）, flag（7）, high (6), wheel of Dharma (6), pot (6), amaranth（5）, heart（5）.

Four indicative characters were used six times. This accounts for 3.28% of the total Dongba characters, and 2.20% of the total frequency of Dongba characters. They are five (3), six, thirty, thousands.

Some 22 associative compound characters were used 52 times. This accounts for 18.03% of the total Dongba characters, and 19.05% of the total frequency of Dongba characters. They are hang (8), do (7), send (4), dzɿ³³ fall (3), leakage (3), (2), write (2), horse riding, knock, cut, and so forth.

Thirteen pictophonetic characters were used 24 times. This accounts for 10.66% of the total Dongba characters, and 8.79% of the total frequency of Dongba characters. They are I (4), water hyacinth bird (4), daughter (3), look (2), walk (2), hill (2), son, tea, go, burn, female, bite, salt.

It can be seen that pictographs in Dongba character have a dominant position both in word number and number of usage.

Relationship between characters

This travel note has 291 syllables, and 291 characters which were used to write all the words. Travel notes are impromptu works, unlike the Dongba scriptures, which have fixed stories and conventions. One cannot express oneself without complete wording. Complete or basically complete recording of words is the feature that affected the relationship between characters in non-religious literature.

We learn from the analysis of the details that this travel note has three disyllabic words which were used four times. They were “ride a horse” [ʐua³³dzæ³³] (line 2), “thirty” [sɿ³³tshər²¹] (line 10), “Dongba” [py³³bv²¹] (line 11,12). In fact, as many as 287 characters (times) are able to record 291 syllables; however, 291 characters were used in this note. This is because “rich” [dzæ³³] (line 2) is used phonetically for “ride a horse” [dzæ³³] and “creep” [bv²¹] (line 11,12) for the second syllable of “Dongba” [py³³bv²¹]. “burning incense” [tʂhu²¹pa³³dʑi⁵⁵] (line 7) was repeated but not read out. The redundant three characters were subtracted four times. In fact, 291 syllables were recorded in 287 characters (including four disyllables).

If a vernacular written text aims to represent a complete phonetic record, then it will inevitably use a number of phonetic loans. The travel note has 291 syllables, all of which are represented by 273 Dongba characters and 18 Geba phonetic symbols. Among them, 75 characters (including four disyllabic words) were recorded with non-borrowing characters (with original meaning and extended meaning), and these characters recorded 79 syllables. That accounted for 28.94% of the total Dongba characters. There were 194 syllables recorded with the borrowing characters, accounting for 71.06% of the total number of syllables in Dongba characters. The proportion of borrowing characters of the total number of Dongba characters in the travel notes indicated that the proportion of borrowing characters in applied literature in Dongba is about 70%.

Variant characters and character conversion

Dongba scriptures are passed down by word of mouth between the master and the disciple. The writing style and form of Dongba scripture are quite casual. Dongba often added some original creation while writing scriptures, so there were many variant characters in the scriptures. There were some variant characters in the travel notes with slight differences in form and position, for instance, horn (line 1) and (line 7), big (line 2) and (line 2), teeth (line 4) and (line 13), flag (line 9) and (line 13), no (line 11) and (line 13), five (line 14) and (line 14), see (line 5) and (line 14), look (line 1) and (line 6), daughter (line 2) and (line 7). We also have a new discovery that the graph is used as “big.”

One word was often recorded with different characters in this travel note. For example, one character might be a borrowing character, and the other pictophonetic. For instance, “walk” [dʑi³³] was written as “sweet Chinese yeast” (line 4) and “walk” (line 4); “go” [khɯ⁵⁵] was written as “dog” (line 4) and “go” (line 6); “hill” [tho⁵⁵] was written as “board” (line 6) and “hill” (line 6).

Some words used borrowing Dongba characters. For example, “carve” [tshɿ⁵⁵] was written as “ploughshare” (line 9) and “ghost” (line 10); “group” [hua⁵⁵] was written as “silver pheasant bird” (line 2) and “night” (line 3); “time” [kha²¹] was written as “fence” (line 7) and “bitter” (line 7) and “the auxiliary word” [i³³] was written as “leakage” (line 4) and “mountain mule” (line 6).

Some words were represented with either borrowed Dongba characters or Geba characters. For example, “he” [tha²⁴] was written as “tower” (line 7) or Geba character (line 3); and “again” [le³³] was written as “roebuck” (line 4) or Geba character (line 6); “adverbial particle” [nɯ³³] was written as “heart” (line 9) or Geba character (line 11); “modal particle” [me³³] was written as “vulva” (line 5) or Geba character (line 4); “modal particle” [se²¹] was written as “blue sheep” (line 13) or Geba character (line 13).

The variation and transformation may appear within one line. For example, “big” was written as , in line 2, and “five” was written as ， in line 14. The word “walk” [dʑi³³] in line 4 used both a borrowing character and a pictophonetic character. And the word “time” [kha²¹] in line 7 was written with different characters. The word “modal particle” [se²¹] in line 13 used both a borrowing character and a Geba character. This phenomenon was not because of the usage confusion of Dongba characters, but a result of avoiding the repetition of characters and an intentional graphic variety.