Bouyei "mount By Language And Culture Studies

Mo Scriptures is a well recognized traditional Buyi Ethnic religious classic in the academia. Under the influence of Han culture, Buyi ethic people, since Tang and Song Dynasties, have creatively applied the phonology and radicals of Chinese characters (Hanzi) to record Buyi traditional religious scriptures which they already have. They used these records as scripture books for 'Bumuo', the Shaman, to chant in religious rites. These scripture books which are called Mo Scripture are critical for keeping and inheriting Buyi ethic culture and history. These scriptures intensively reflect Buyi ancestors' understanding towards the Sun, Moon and Stars, towards World Mountains and rivers, towards their ancestors and Gods, and towards ancient clans. They also reflected the reality of the social living of Buyi ethic people. The Mo Scripture does not only have great value to religious studies, but also has great academic value to linguistics, anthropology, history, national science and technology industry, literature and art.The author has carried out a long hard meticulous study, and went to remote mountainous areas to collect and take photos of the all the scripture books. He gave phonetic notation to every word and sentence by using Buyi language international phonetic alphabet according to the chanting and explanation from the local 'Bumuo'. In addition, he gave free translations and literal translations to every word and sentence, as well as explanatory notes for four Mo Scripture books, and recorded10,923the third Buyi local dialect words, such as [pe13kn11] shrine for ancestral worship,[pu42mu33] Shaman,[mu33ku13cie55] Gu Ye Wang Scripture,[mu33zu13fαn42o]the Spirit of Rice Scripture,[mu33tu42in11] Bronze Drum Worship Scripture and so on. He attended three grand Buyi religious rites, in which locals worship their ancestors by sacrificing an ox, and photographed the live-actions of how locals use Mo Scripture, therefore, extended the linguistic and cultural resource range of Mo Scripture. With the first hand materials, comprehensive study of previous research, and the reality of Buyi ethnic group, the author has carried out a thorough research on several subjects. This research has quite reflected the individuality of Buyi ethnic culture and the similarity in all Chinese ethnic people, and enriched traditional Chinese culture.