An Account of the Tibetan Buddhist "Refuge Prayer" in Dongba Script
He Jiquan analyzes a Dongba manuscript from Ludian, Lijiang, that phonetically transcribes a Tibetan Buddhist "Refuge Prayer" using Naxi Dongba script -- the first Tibetan Buddhist scripture identified among Dongba documents. After describing the manuscript's physical form, the article works through several lines of the prayer, showing how Dongba pictographs were borrowed purely for their sound value (phonetic-loan characters) to render Tibetan syllables, arriving at a translation: taking refuge in Padmasambhava, the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, and Shakyamuni Buddha. It situates the find within debates over whether Dongba Tibetan-language scriptures derive from Bon religion, and argues the prayer likely reflects individual Dongba priests' personal incorporation of Tibetan Buddhist deities rather than systematic religious borrowing, illustrating Dongba religion's syncretic openness to outside traditions.
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