Religion of Lijiang

Religion of Naxi
In Lijiang, while believing in the local Dongba Religion, the Naxi also accept lamaism, Buddhisma, Taoism and Confucianism. We can say that the Naxi people are not believer of all the religions that have spread into this area, because the Dongba Religion had dominated this place for a long time in the history. For Naxi people, religious activities are more like a kind of external behavior, not an internal belief.

That is to say, they divide the religions according to their need. For example, Buddhism is quite useful when holding funerals and praying for soul of the dead to get rest. Taoism caters to people's desire for the mysterious and aesthetic feeling. The worship for the ancestors is the necessary approach for the live to keep in with the dead. Polytheism is the people's understanding and explanation for the wisdom and mysterious power of the nature. At the same time, it also provides them a way to deal with the unexplained.

Besides all these religions, the Naxis have inherited a very deep-rooted and practical philosophy from their ancestors. They believe that the happiness of life is the core of living. At this regard, we can say that the Naxi people have reached their philosophic goal.

Dongba Religion
It is local religion of the Naxi people. Before the Yuan Dynasty, Dongba Religion had dominated the whole Naxi area. The Holy Land of Religion is Baidi. The Mosuo people near the Lugu Lake also have an ancient belief of Daba. Daba wears the same hat as the one that Dongba wears. The difference is that Daba has no written words; all the prayers are chanted from memory.

In the worship of the spirits of the nature, the Naxi people created their own riligion, Dongba Religion. It was born in Baidi, which lies at the foot of Haba Snow Mountain by the Jinshajiang River. It has developed from the ancient worship for the nature in the period of united tribes. In the long history of its development, Dongba Religion absorbed some ideas of the ancient Tibetan religions and Lamaism and finally formed its own unique ethnic style. Dongba Religion holds that all living things have spirits. It advocates worship of the nature and the ancestors and to keep a harmonious relationship with the nature.

Despite the absence of particular organization and temples of Dongba Religion, its abundant written scripts and unified forms of religious ceremonies have greatly influenced the Naxi people's life. The Scripture of Dongba Religion recorded one of the founders of Dongba Religion, Aming Shiluo who left Baidi and brought it to Lijiang.

The first Place where he arrived and preached was Baisha. He opened schools here to spread the creed of Dongba Religion. He had many disciples. It was in Baisha that he standardized the Naxi pictographic writing and wrote the scripture of Dongba Religion. With the populization of this religion, the Naxi had a unified spiritual mainstay.

The legends, rituals and religious ceremonies influenced life of the people. Thus, the brilliant and mysterious Dongba culture developed. The Naxi people's protection of water and forest is originated from this religious belief. The Naxi bless and protect ever y grass and tree with their instincts and believe that all living thing are embodiments of the gods. The unsophisticated affection awarded by the nature and makes Lijiang a most beautiful homeland that god shares with people.

Buddhism
It is very interesting: Lamaism spread from the north to the south and stopped in Lijiang while the same thing happened on Buddhism on its south to north proceeding in China. Because of this, we can see a great number of Buddhism temples and Lamaseries in Lijiang.

Confucianism
From the Ming Dynasty, the chieftain of Lijiang began to learn from the Han culture and increastingly communicat with the midland. After the policy had been changed in the Qing Dynasty, Confucianism got flourished and a class of the intellectual in Lijiang appeared. From then on, the Naxi formed the habit of reading books and respecting the teachers. Today, some people even call this place "Noah'sark of Confucianism".