Tibetan Heroic Epic in China Epic

Author: Yang Hongen, a researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Literature, China Academy of Social Sciences.

Tibetans are a nation with a long history and ancient civilization. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the home where Tibetans were born and raised in Sri Lanka. For thousands of years, people in Xizang has created a unique plateau culture, which has been passed down from generation to generation and constantly innovated. Among them, the folk culture created, developed and prospered by the broad masses of the people is the most valuable part of the rich and splendid national culture with a long history. In the treasure house of Tibetan folk culture, there is a treasure comparable to the world's cultural products, which is the crystallization of the collective wisdom of the Tibetan people-the long heroic epic Biography of King Gesar (hereinafter referred to as Gesar).

This epic is not only widely spread in Tibetan, Mongolian, Turkish, Yugur, Naxi and other ethnic areas in China, but also becomes an important part of national literature. It has also spread across national borders to neighboring Mongolia, Buryatia, kalmyk, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal and other countries.

A masterpiece of great length.

Gesar is the longest epic in the world. Up to now, we have collected 289 manuscripts and woodcuts from various provinces (including Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan), excluding about 80 different texts. In other words, there are about 80 final versions of this epic recorded and written by literati. If each epic is calculated conservatively with 5,000 lines and 200,000 words, its total will be 400,000 lines and 6,543,800 words. In fact, the number of epics kept in the artist's mind is much larger than this figure: Zaba (1903~ 1986) can rap 42 songs, among which sects and small sects are not counted; Sang Zhu, an 85-year-old artist, can rap 63 movies. So far, 54 films have been recorded, accounting for more than 2,000 hours of tapes. Qinghai Tanggula artist Jean Wangdui rap148; Golog artist Geri Shen Jian can write 120 books. Only 400,000 lines of epic recorded in writing have far surpassed several famous epics in the world: Homer's Iliad has 15693 lines; India's longest epic Mahabharata has only 65,438+10,000 poems, accounting for more than 200,000 lines.

The theme of the epic is to express that King Gelsall pacified demons, eliminated violence, suppressed the strong and helped the weak, and established a unified and stable society. For this reason, it describes nearly 100 wars led by Gesar, large and small, which lasted for one hundred and twenty years (some departments say that Gesar lived for more than two hundred years). Besides describing wars frequently, epics also cover all aspects of social life of Tibetan people. The history of Tibet, which involves hundreds of years vertically, has at least two historical backgrounds: great division and great reunification. First, from the separatist movement from the 6th century to the 8th century to the unification of the Tubo dynasty; Second, from the 9th century A.D. to the separatist regime of A.D.13rd century A.D. to the unification of the Sakya Dynasty and its incorporation into the territory of the Yuan Dynasty. Horizontally, it involves hundreds of nationalities and tribes on thousands of kilometers of vast land in Fiona Fang. The long historical process and complex ethnic and tribal relations can only be covered by a large system.

People generally divide Gesar into three parts. The first part is the beginning, from the birth of a hero to the king of horse racing; The second part, the expedition part, has experienced several battles and is the core of the epic; The third part is the conclusion, including "stabilizing the three realms", "saving the mother (wife) from hell" and returning to heaven. Epic seems to have a strong stipulation for the first and third films, and there is not much difference between the artists' rap for these two films, but they are in a relatively fixed state. The open structure of epic is mainly manifested in the second part (middle part), which shows the difference in the number of parts and the complexity of the same part. This part of the structure is relatively loose, and the relationship between departments is not very close. As long as artists include the more important parts and connect the beginning and the end, they can become their own complete system. It is in this second part that the witty artists show their talents. In addition to rap, they also insert small sects between sects. These small sects are not independent wars again and again, but may be the continuation of the previous sects, and may also be the cause and foreshadowing of the next war. If the division is more detailed, the number of religious departments will increase and the length will naturally lengthen. In addition, some artists used their rich social, historical and geographical knowledge to create some new war plots with ingenious ideas. In this way, the second part of the epic will show different structures and lengths with different artists.

Creating such a huge and magnificent epic is by no means beyond the competence of a few people. It is the crystallization of people in Xizang's collective wisdom for centuries. The inclusive open structure is the best choice. It has both prescribed parts and free space, so rappers can easily create and perform. This is one of the important reasons why Gesar has become the longest epic in the world.

There are thousands of people in the epic, from the gods in heaven to the ghosts of Yamaraja in hell. The most high god has various forms and performs his duties; Demons in the world dominate each other and smear life with charcoal; Yamaraja boy in hell is in charge of people's destination in the underworld, which makes people suffer from reincarnation. The images of gods, demons and ghosts are unique and unique. However, people's images, especially the hero Gesar and his beloved princess Zhu Mu, are the most written and successfully shaped in the epic.

Gesar, as the son of the gods, was reincarnated into the world. After suffering, he became the king of Guo Ling after the horse race. From then on, he began a journey to complete the human mission. In the epic, he is portrayed as a mixed image of god and man. In him, we see the power of God, who can call the wind and rain and change endlessly, thus subduing all demons; At the same time, he has all the characteristics of ordinary people, eating fireworks and having secular desires. He is a tangible flesh and blood, and an amiable and respectable hero.

The most vivid and successful figure in the epic Gesar is King Gelsall's concubine Zhu Mu. "Zhu Mu" has become synonymous with beauty in people in Xizang's eyes. She is a person who combines beauty in appearance and beauty in mind. For thousands of years, people have dedicated all the beautiful words of praise in the world to Zhu Mu, and devoted infinite love.

Folk poetry god, snow elf

The rappers of Gesar are the creators, inheritors and disseminators of the epic, and they and the epic itself are of great value.

Tibetan "Gesar" rappers are generally called Zhongkan and Zhongba, meaning storytellers or people who are proficient in stories. The story here refers to Gesar. Judging from the current investigation, artists can be divided into five categories, namely, talented artists, learned artists, chanting artists, Tibetan digging artists and circus artists.

A talented artist. The epic they rap is called "Bazhong", which literally translates into a story that falls from the sky. Most of these artists claim that they had strange dreams in their childhood. After waking up, I began to rap without learning how to learn. The content and quantity of the rap part changed from less to more, and gradually became an artist. The content of their dreams is nothing more than some storylines in Gesar, or a god and hero in the epic instructed them to rap Gesar for their life, so they woke up and began to publicize the great achievements of Gesar according to the instructions. Because of their limited knowledge, there is no legal solution to the complex physiological phenomenon of dreams and their generation. Therefore, according to the traditional concept, the stories achieved in dreams are all attributed to the gift of Buddha, so they call themselves God-given artists. According to the author's investigation in 1980s, there are about 26 talented artists active in Tibetan areas, who live in Naqu and Qamdo areas in Tibet and Yushu and Guoluo areas in Qinghai. Today, most of these artists have passed away. There are still eight artists alive, but they are too old and sick to sing at all.

A talented artist has the following characteristics: First, he has an excellent memory. Most of them can't read or even write their own names, but they can output 10, 20 or even dozens or hundreds of fluent rap epics. The chapters of these epics are stored in their brains, so the audience can listen to which one, and the artist can sing the specified part just like extracting information from the database at will. Zaba, a famous Tibetan border dam artist, could rap 42 songs, but by the time 1986 died, Tibet University had recorded 26 of his rap songs, accounting for 998 hours of tapes. The 85-year-old Sangzhu artist was born in Dingqing County in northern Tibet and is still alive. He lived on the plateau by rap epic all his life, and then settled in Mozhugongka County. He reported that he could rap 63 songs. So far, the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences has recorded 54 songs, with more than 2,000 hours of tapes. In addition, Tanggula artists let Wang Dui rap 148 and so on. These illiterate folk artists are truly worthy of the title of "illiterate writers" awarded by Mr. Lu Xun. These artists are the carriers of epics and the treasure house of knowledge that epics have preserved to this day. Without their creation and singing from generation to generation, there would be no epic today.

Second, it is said that teenagers dream and start to rap after the dream. Even some artists are still dreaming, and the epic they rap comes from continuous dreams. Most of them live in ancestral artists' families or areas where Gesar is widely circulated. Many artists' grandparents or fathers were rappers, and they became artists under the subtle influence of family or epic rap environment. They all have special life experiences, their status as artists in the old society is very low, and their lives are extremely poor. Forced by life, they roam the plateau and rap epic poems for a living. Therefore, they are experienced and knowledgeable, and their rap epic has been enriched and refined in the communication with other artists. Therefore, this talented artist has become the most outstanding artist among the epic rap artists.

Know artists. In Tibetan, it is called "pushing the bell", which means a well-known artist. They only rap when they hear others rap or when they see the book Gesar. These artists account for more than half of the total number of artists. Many can rap three or four, at least one or two, and some just rap some wonderful fragments of some chapters. Knowing that artists live in epic areas has played an important role in the wide spread of Gesar in Tibetan areas.

Recite artists. The Tibetan name is "Zhong Dan", which means an artist who follows the script. As the name implies, they all have the ability to read Tibetan, and the basis of their reading is mostly manuscripts and woodcuts widely circulated among the masses. After the founding of New China, especially in recent 20 years, a large number of printed editions of Gesar became the basis of their reading. Because it is scripted, the rap content is basically the same. In order to win the love of the masses, they worked hard on the tune. Zhong Dan not only inherited the traditional rap style of the epic, but also absorbed the essence of Tibetan folk songs, making the rap tunes of the epic more diverse and systematic. For example, in Yushu area, there are about 80 different tunes circulating. The chanting artists mainly live in areas with relatively developed transportation and good popularity of Tibetan. With the development of cultural education in Tibetan areas, more young epic lovers who know Tibetan will join the ranks of chanting artists.

Tibet excavator. Tibetan is called "Delzhong", which means the hidden story excavated. "Digging and hiding" is a term used by Ma Ning Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. They respect the old secret incantation handed down from the lotus nut, and have the tradition of excavating and inheriting the Tibetan scriptures buried by predecessors, and call these people who can excavate the treasure Tibetan scriptures diggers. Ma Ning School regarded King Gelsall as the embodiment of lotus peanuts and three treasures, so it believed in Gesar, and later there appeared Tibetans who excavated Gesar's treasures. At present, only a few Tibetan diggers mainly live in areas where the Ma Ning School is widely spread.

Round light artist. Tibetan is called "Zaba", which means fortune teller. Round light was originally a divination method for wizards and gods. It is said that Yuan people can see images or words that ordinary people can't see through bronze mirrors, and then perform divination accordingly. With the help of spells, the round-light artist "sees" epic words through the bronze mirror and then copies them. In 1980s, the author interviewed Kazazaba, a round light artist (dead) in Leiwuqi County, Qamdo Prefecture, Tibet. Since then, I have never seen other round artists.

In the rapidly developing modern society, the ancient epic tradition is being impacted. In recent years, the number of rappers has dropped sharply, and the epic oral tradition is gradually being replaced by written communication. Therefore, it is our unshirkable responsibility to effectively protect this endangered rap tradition and make it continue and pass on.

Since the establishment of the Tubo Dynasty and the creation of Tubo in the 7th century, the recorded history has been 1300 years. However, people know little about the long prehistoric history of Tibet before the 7th century. In recent years, archaeologists have successively excavated a number of cultural sites belonging to the Stone Age and tombs belonging to the Bronze Age on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, providing important information for understanding ancient Tibetan society. However, to understand the social structure, economic and military form, ideology and morality, folk customs, language, literature and art of ancient Tibetan society, it is far from enough to rely solely on archaeological materials, and more cultural remains are needed. A large number of oral literature works created by Tibetan people for a long time and passed down from generation to generation can provide us with strong evidence. Among them, Gesar is a rare treasure, showing people a historical picture of ancient Tibetan social life. It is precisely because of its multidisciplinary value that it deserves to be called "a classic of the whole nation with permanent value" (Hegelian) and is called the encyclopedia of ancient Tibetan society.

The heroic epic Gesar is deeply rooted in the fertile soil of Tibetan folk literature, inherits the excellent Tibetan cultural traditions, provides inexhaustible materials for later literary and artistic creation, and sets a glorious example. It is a wonderful flower in the garden of Chinese culture and an important contribution of Tibetan people to world culture. It is gratifying that Gesar was included in the list of China's intangible cultural heritage protection in 2006, which opened a new chapter in the rescue and protection of epic.