Shen Tu and Gui Ban: A Study of Religious Incantations and Religious Paintings of the Liangshan Yi People

Author: Ba Mo Qu Bu Mo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: It is believed that everyone can answer the meaning of "fieldwork," but the academic term "field research" is not just a study of "fields, wilderness," but is instead rich in unique cultural connotations. As the renowned Taiwanese anthropologist Professor Lee I-hsien has pointed out: "Broadly speaking, all fieldwork can be called 'field research,' including social surveys, various questionnaire tests, archaeological field excavations, and ethnographic investigations and observations." Therefore, what is referred to as "cultural fieldwork" primarily refers to the environment in which humans produce and live, as well as the processes and outcomes of production and life in such an environment. Culture is one of the important markers that define what it means to be human. In recent years, with the acceleration of globalization and modernization, although the world has become a "global village," cultural barriers still persist. Thus, the diversity of cultures and the collisions and integrations between different ethnic cultures have made attention to culture, especially grassroots culture, increasingly important. Cross-cultural survival and cross-cultural thinking have become crucial themes of contemporary society. Many scholars have long been committed to cultural-themed field research and hope to have the opportunity to express their cultural reflections and life insights from their fieldwork. Coincidentally, Guangxi People's Publishing House also shared the same publishing intentions. After exchanges and discussions, a series of "Cultural Fieldwork Photo-Text Series" was eventually published.
The "Cultural Fieldwork Photo-Text Series" adopts a (s) writing style, conveying cultural messages from fieldwork through a visually engaging and illustrative format. While emphasizing factual details and vivid narratives, it also prioritizes concise and fluent writing. The treatment of images aims to use tangible design to express intangible language, seamlessly integrating pictures and text to achieve a perfect harmony of tradition and modernity. This series tells the stories and experiences that occur during fieldwork and records the people and events encountered. Its greatest strength lies in bringing people and objects from the field to life, as well as animating the scenes and emotions within it. Readers not only hear the personal monologues of the researchers but also the voices of the interviewees. They learn not only the results of the researchers' investigations but also see the interactions and exchanges between the researchers and the interviewees during the fieldwork. This provides readers with a wealth of cultural insights from the field and strong emotional resonance, allowing them to follow the authors on their journey through the cultural fields.
Given the rich and diverse content, the series is divided into two main parts: "Domestic" and "Overseas." The domestic part is further divided into "Eastern" and "Western" sections, forming a cohesive structure of the "Cultural Fieldwork Photo-Text Series: Western Fieldwork Subseries," "Cultural Fieldwork Photo-Text Series: Eastern Fieldwork Subseries," and "Cultural Fieldwork Photo-Text Series: Overseas Mirror Subseries."
"With my feet as your eyes, with your heart as my heart, let us step into the field and feel the culture."
A mythological narrative about "Beauty and the Ghost Source" led the author into the cultural heritage of the Yi shamanic tradition, which combines religious painting with blessing and curse poetry. "After focusing the investigation on the Yi people's beliefs in ghosts, blessing and curse rituals, and related blessing and curse literary phenomena, the days I spent alone in the mountains began to take on a special hue. During the Bimo ritual activities, I discovered religious artistic forms such as drawing ghost boards, making straw ghosts, sculpting mud ghosts, carving ancestral spirits, painting divine diagrams, and creating paper-cuttings. Overwhelmed with excitement, I began to seriously explore the Yi people's animistic worldview and their reverence for ghosts and gods, thoughtfully reflecting on the cultural connotations and folk sentiments embedded in every divine diagram and ghost board, and devotedly interpreting the survival challenges and life meanings recited in each curse scripture and curse verse."
The Yi poetic and pictorial divine diagrams and ghost boards are a profound and ancient indigenous religious painting art. With their archaic and profound verses, mysterious and enigmatic images, expressive brushstrokes, heavy and dense characters, and rustic and naive forms, they connect the intrinsic links between mythological archetypes and ritual symbols. From them, one can decipher many folk beliefs, customs, and traditional cultural concepts. Their themes have always been to celebrate the prosperity of human life and to express hopes for the ideal life of the ethnic group.
Through the author's years of fieldwork experience, this series opens a unique and enchanting gateway for readers to understand Yi traditional culture, ritual literature, and religious art.