NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM 83 



A Lolo friend who lives near Fu-lin gave me the following list 

 of gods, which is evidently not complete. One is Mu Mi, which means 

 the sky, heaven, or the sky god, like the Chinese word Heaven. The 

 entire name is Mu-mi-shi, the word shi meaning god. Some Lolos 

 think that he rules the other gods and so is supreme. Wa Se is a god 

 of the house, or a house god, and there are many of them. Mi-er- 

 mi-shi means god of the mountains, and there are many of them also. 

 Another Lolo friend gave me the name of a god who, he said, was 

 a messenger between gods and men. Lin Kuang-tien, a local Lolo 

 ruler or headman near Yiieh-sui, who has written at least two small 

 books in Chinese about the Lolos, gave me the name of a creator god, 

 A-p'u-gga-sa, a sky god named Mong-mu, and a mountain god named 

 Mur-mi-si. 



A very interesting book is "A Study of the Lolo Manuscript Sii- 

 seo-bo-p'a, the Origin of the Gods from the Liang Mountain," by Fu 

 Mao-chi (1946). The following is a quotation from it: 



To the mind of the Lolo people the distinction between gods and other beings 

 (animate and inanimate) is not strictly observed. Therefore the Chinese official 

 Chu-ko Liang of the Han dynasty and some native chiefs in olden times such 

 as Lo-p'u-sho-to'y have been regarded as gods. Horses, insects, plants, the sun, 

 the moon, and the Golden Sand River have also been gods or the relatives of 

 gods (text, 16, 26, 127, 131, 135, 139). The Lolo word for god is Sii Zeu which 

 originally meant "the son of knowledge or of wisdom." There have been pic- 

 tures of gods but no idols in the real Lolo religion. The divine beings are not 

 represented in human form, although in time good and powerful men can develop 

 into gods. This text states that the mother of the sun and the moon had nine 

 feet, nine hands, and nine eyes. The picture of the god Chih-keo-a-rl at the end 

 of the text is somewhat like a frog. 



The Lolo people still think that the world is not only filled with gods, but 

 also with demons. The former are benevolent but the latter harmful. In order 

 to ward off the attacks of the demons, they have many prohibitions or taboos. 

 These taboos control the actions of the Lolos during religious ceremonies as 

 well as in daily life. When they happen to violate the taboo, they think that 

 the demon or demons will come to their home. For stopping or driving out 

 the demons they have to ask the pi mo (monk) to recite incantations or the su 

 gnie (wizard) to charm by sorcery. This manuscript gives the names of about 

 ninety gods and goddesses. 



In an unpublished manuscript by Cheng Chung-hsiang, from which 

 I am permitted to quote, there is an extensive study of Lolo religion 

 and culture, giving the mythological history of many of the Lolo 

 gods and demons. These Mr. Cheng classified as follows : 



I. Nature gods. There are many mountain gods, for every moun- 

 tain has its god. There is also the thunder god, the sun god, and the 

 moon god, meaning that the sun and the moon are gods. 



