When you walk into Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, you will be dazzled by the dazzling array of handicrafts in front of you. However, while admiring it, the reporter discovered that many handicrafts are engraved with patterns similar to oracle bone inscriptions. Such patterns can be found on wind chimes and jewelry, as well as on sneakers and T-shirts. They can even be found on the walls of the ancient city of Lijiang. Similar patterns can be seen. Some of these patterns resemble characters in comics, some resemble quaint houses, some resemble cattle, and some resemble knives. The Naxi people told reporters that this is the writing of the Naxi people - pictographs. Some people also call it Dongba script or Dongba pictographs.
It is still unclear when the Dongba hieroglyphs originated. The traditional religion of the Naxi people is Dongba religion, and the name of Dongba believers is Dongba. During the development of Dongba Religion, Dongba successively carved hieroglyphics and syllabic characters, and used these characters to write Dongba Religion scriptures. Therefore, these texts are called Dongba script, and these scriptures are called Dongba Sutra. In the minds of the ancient Naxi people, Dongba can know the heaven and earth, predict misfortunes and fortunes, cast down ghosts and exorcise evil spirits, and seek good luck to eliminate disasters.
When Western explorers and missionaries entered the area where the Naxi people lived at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, they discovered that this ancient nation actually used hieroglyphics, so they called the area where the Naxi people lived. "The Ancient Country of Hieroglyphics". When this discovery was reported, it immediately caused a sensation all over the world.
In the Naxi language, they call this pictograph "Senjuluqiu", which means "marks on wood and stone" or "records on wood and stone". Wood and stone are two mysterious symbols with profound religious meanings in Naxi Dongba religion. Wood is the symbol of Shen, the female god of creation, while stone is the male god of creation. Dong symbol.
The ancient Naxi people believed that all the rules and knowledge in the world were created by these two gods, and regarded them as the enlighteners of wisdom and the origin of the world. Therefore, until now, this kind of Dongba writing is still the most common on wood products or stone products.