The Watchman in Cornfield of the Daliang Mountains— A Study of Luowu Laqie's Ecological Poems

Zhang Fang & Wei Zumei*

Abstract: The Daliang Mountains is a collection of Luowu Laqie's recent poems.Among the contemporary Yi poets using Chinese in poetic creations, Luowu Laqie has the most representative significance. The Daliang Mountains is an emotional and fluent work, which highlights the ecological atmosphere and poetic aesthetics by describing his personal life experience and wise thoughts on history. It creates poetic images through delicate narratives. Its poetic expressions are “brief and to the point”, exquisite and charming, giving full expression to the distinctive culture of the Yi ethnic group and the poet's modern thinking about ecological protection awareness.

Keywords: Luowu Laqie; The Daliang Mountains; watchman; ecological poems

The Daliang Mountains is a collection of poems written by Yi poet Luowu Laqie in recent years. It is deemed by readers and other poets to be systematic anthology of Luowu Laqie’s new poems that intensively display his pursuit of creation. As indicated by the subtitle– “Only in your bosom can I laugh, cry and sing”①Luowu, 2011. This version of book is the source of all verses quoted by the paper and will not be noted again for the following ones to which only a poem name is attached., this anthology meticulously depicts the landmark scenery of “the Daliang Mountains”, a theme followed from beginning to end. Written with the poet’s genuine passion and out-of-the-box inspiration,the poems present to us a fresh image of the Yi ethic group, and fully revive the image of its social landscape as well as the natural tastes that are fading away from our lives.With a good command the language, the poetry depends on the spiritual and physical worlds that are running in parallel and echoing each other. Its poetic style is nourished by Yi folk songs, featuring freshness, fluency and frequent repetitions and transitions.This work boasts of unique poetic landscapes and aesthetic scenery, and sings the praises of the rapidly-advancing Liangshan in the new era and its vision for a bright future. This theme is in line with the general direction of public opinion, philosophy and discretion in conduct such as “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”, “having green hills in sight, blue waters in view, and hometown in heart.” In the anthology,The Daliang Mountains serves as a major symbol and poetic embodiment in geography, through which Luowu Laqie expresses his sentimental attachment to his hometown.

Hills of the Daliang Mountains/Under the vast space of sky/The Daliang Mountains look like thousands of galloping steeds holding heads high/With snowy clouds/And the blue sky//Hills of Daliang Mountains/ Are the waves rippling on the horses’ backs/Shining forever like the sun and the moon/Illuminating the past and the present/Will definitely show up in glistening light and flickering shadow of waves//Hills of Daliang Mountains/Carry along with surging river/Heading for the sea/Which is under the remote and vast sky/Resembling thousands of galloping steeds//With snowy clouds/And the blue sea.-- Hills of Daliang Mountains

This paper is designed to interpret The Daliang Mountains from the perspectives of ecological aestheticism,ecological wisdom and “universal enlightenment”, and explore how The Daliang Mountains is constructed as a profound and sincere set of poems that records the progress and reflection of Yi people in modern life, and calls for harmony connoted in the national spirit and culture. Using simple, meaningful and fluent poetic words, the poet dynamically displays the rich implications of the poetic genre from multidimensional views.

Luowu Laqie is a representative Yi poet of the Daliang area in Sichuan province. His poems are adept at expressing daily feelings and poetic images inspired by wonderful things. He is also a good lyric writer whose works are often set to music and become popular songs. His works have become a geo-cultural element and symbol of Daliang Mountains.The name Luowu Laqie almost equals to the poetic spirituality of Liangshan region in the eyes of his close friends and regular readers. Rooted in Liangshan and holding fast to his hometown, the poet knows everything about the landscapes and local customs of such area in the Southern Silk Road, with high proficiency in depicting social pictures, and poetic refining of ecological civilization. In pursuit of aesthetic feelings about poems, he has formed a style of his own in a sufficient transfer from natural elements to social elements and art. The Daliang Mountains blends the poet’s own life experience and survival wisdom into his depiction of Yi regional landscape and culture. While constructing the poetic art form with diligent care, the poet also creates profound content by intensively showcasing and integrating social life so as to reflect more concentrated social information and modern spirit. His poems make people feel like sightseeing the local Liangshan landscape and cruising around a poetic context to find the spiritual habitat. The poet is undoubtedly “the Watchman in Cornfield” concerning Liangshan ecological environment and poetry.

1. A life-praising song and viewing angle of the Daliang Mountains

“contemporary ecological aesthetics is a new discipline combining ecology with aesthetics. Ecology is a natural science discipline that studies the correlation between creatures (including human being) and their living environments; aesthetics is a philosophy discipline that studies the aesthetic relationships between people and reality.These two disciplines have a special junction because of the correlation between human being and the environment.Ecological aesthetics develops from this junction.”①Peng, 2002.The aesthetic principles of eco-criticism are built on the such interdependency and harmonious unity between the two disciplines. In the mainstream narrative mode, the literature of ethnic minorities sets an “ideal state of harmony and balance between man and nature as the spiritual pillar and symbol which ethnic minorities can use to overcome suffering and face life positively untill complete recovery”②Qin, 2011.. The Yi people of Liangshan region do not “see the eco-nature” as a “passive product, but a creator full of vitality”③Zhang, 2016.and a parent body. In many places in the Daliang Mountains, most people worship and believe in a primal life and are used to turning the ecological world into a poetic and sacred place. Such a spiritual direction is undoubtedly a signature and trend in the creativity of Luowu Laqie and other poets. They are naturally filled with deep esteem, passion and sacred feelings towards nature, their hometowns, and history.

Excellent literary works are created based on diversified cultures, which reflect a particular historical environment and directly influence people’s spiritual lives. The literature of ethnic minorities pays attention to eco-nature throughout its development. In a sense, the diversified natural ecology and sincere feelings identified by writers are the ceaseless themes of their creations. The aesthetics of an ecoregion is an important principle of ecological aesthetics and is imprinted with the writers’ historical and cultural background and aesthetic totem. Luowu Laqie sets his literary creations in the Yi prefecture amidst rivers and mountains in southwest China with “the Daliang Mountains”as the prototype and establishes his “discourse system of the Daliang Mountains” in the vast “holy land of Yi culture.”He stands out as the representative poet of “ecological aesthetics” among the Yi poets using Chinese in poetic creation.His verses are a fountain of rich emotions, a tool to inherit, review and update culture, and a lament over the passage of time.

“We still seem to immediately immediately with poetry, music and dance as well as the Torch Festival at the mention of ‘Liangshan’, followed by their prototypes and symbolic meanings. These images have successfully constituted a series of semiological specimens for Liangshan, enabling a title to convey the explicit and implicit meanings of the indicated content.”④The poet directly uses his hometown’s natural landscapes to name his anthologies, making them highly-visualized poetic cultural symbols. This is virtually to imagine the space of and give modern meaning to a “Liangshan Image” under a diverse cultural background.

Abandoning themselves to nature and being grounded in their hometowns, the Yi people have simple ethics and sincere attachments to nature which contribute to their pure and solid poetic quality. Nature, in their eyes, has never been a land out of reach nor a simple work place. the Yi people firmly believe that mountains, rivers and soil are as vigorous as people who can breathe, live and die. This is not a simple concept of barter exchange, but a spiritual home internalized as a life meaning. Such a belief implants a deep-rooted land complex, hometown complex and nostalgic composite into the Yi people’s minds. In their life experience, the mountain ethnic group’s resilient character and the“Yi” culture flowing in their blood are fully integrated with the soil and water ecosystem. No matter how the outside world changes, and how globalization and homogenization sweep over the homestead like a flood, their feelings and faith are always rooted in a holy logic far from a single power of discourse, namely, “eco-nature.” In the Yi people’s eyes, this is truly their fundamental aim and spirit lodge.

In The Daliang Mountains, the poet “sings the praise of the sun and the moon high above the sky of the hometown Liangshan Prefecture and holds it in awe from the deep heart. He puts these feelings and the sentimental attachment to the mountains and rivers into short traditional sentences which comes with the direct feelings for colors and the Yi people’s philosophy. The poet indulges in his laughs and tears, infatuation and love for Daliang Mountains”①Liang, 2012..His poems vividly describe the landscape typical of the Daliang Mountains in great details. Simply a tree, a flower,a flake of cloud and a hill can enable readers to have a taste of ecological atmosphere and natural image of “the Daliang Mountains”. Just as a critic said, the poet “Luowu Laqie is known as a ‘Singer at the Bridgehead of Time’,whose poems are called by researchers as ‘Ode to Nature’. He sets a good example for the modern Chinese poems created by the Yi poets. He opens a new way between the narrative tradition of the Yi ethnic group and the modern artistic spirit”②Ibid.. The poet refuses to stay on the rails. Through continuous exploration, his poems are obviously full of seemingly everlasting life experiences.

In my hometown the Daliang Mountains/In the embrace of the Daliang Mountains/My body, my heart and my mind/All stretch out under the sunlight/Happily sing and fly/Together with beautiful birds/Flow along with the rivers in the sunshine/…/From flatland to mountain ridge/From winter to spring/Passing through dense forests and valleys/Rainwater and snowflakes moisturize my body and soul/My mind/On the vast land of the Daliang Mountains/I grow together with every tree and crop-- My Mind Grows Together with Trees and Crops

His poems often use a technique close to “prose-poem” to directly express his feelings and the scenery along the way, like eulogizing mountains and rivers. “The Daliang Mountains is a piece of fertile soil giving birth to poems.On such land with relatively scarce resources but simple folkways and where Yi culture is aggregated, poems are the method that people use to call for the deities and release their imagination. This boundless and magnificent land is home to abundant poems. Bathed in his native language culture, Luowu Laqie incorporates the global elements in Han culture to signify Yi people’s national psychology, excavate the connotation of national aesthetics, and express Yi people’s unique views of nature and biology as his subject spirit and aesthetic characteristics. His poems take root in Liangshan and as he says, ‘the fact that my poetic creations are inseparable from the Daliang Mountains determines the composition of my poetic world -- the Daliang Mountains’ sky and earth, rolling hills and winding rivers, all animals and plants, long-standing history and culture as well as boundless real life.’”③Ibid.The life experience of the poet native to this land and his aesthetic feelings towards the mountains and rivers here are integrated with the poet’s particular temperament. The dialogue about clear water and green hills and the spiritual solace rendered therefrom are the poet’s garden for literary creation. This has not only originated from his love for the land of Liangshan, but also “sublimed into the highest-level artistic life and ideal spiritual home”④Luo & Liu, 2006.. In fact, Luowu Laqie could have left the Daliang Mountains, but his attachment to this land will keep him here from the middle age to senior age and until the end of life, after which his soul will still sing for his native land.

As the world and the will of people are changing, the poet depicts “the Daliang Mountains” ecosystem to ease the mental anxiety, help people get through predicaments, ease their mental anxiety and maintain the spiritual bond between modern and traditional. This shows that the poet’s attachment to his native land is deep down to the marrow.Such deep love is attributed not only to the contrast and confusion the poet felt after coming to the outside large cities,but also to the acknowledged geographic affinity being typical of “the Daliang Mountains” as well as the search for his “roots”. The poet’s disposition as one of Yi people and his reluctance to leave the native land are the reasons for his nostalgia for Liangshan even when he is in the central and eastern China or foreign countries. He always holds dear the attachments like sunflowers facing the sun, or clouds chasing the moon. In The Hometown’s Sun and Moon, he writes:

But only the Daliang Mountains’ sunlight/Shines over the Daliang Mountains’ hummocks and rivers/And me/Who walks on the river bank or stands high up on a hill/My body, my soul and my thoughts/Can then fully feel the warm sunlight/Having myself impregnated with the sunlight/And only the Daliang Mountains’ moon/Resembles the holy face of my beloved girl/That moon, hanging in the night sky of my hometown the Daliang Mountains/Resembles the holy face of my beloved girl/Every night rises over the sea of my heart/Over the sea of my mind, my soul and my thoughts/The whole world can see the moon rising over my sea Bimo Culture, based on Yi people’s deep-rooted understanding and concept, is the extensive and profound core culture of Yi people. Bimo is a word transliterated from Yi language, in which “Bi” refers to “sacred words”, while “Mo”refers to “knowledgeable elders”. Bimos are not only the presider and organizer of Yi people’s folk religious activities,but also the representative figures of Yi people’s religion and beliefs.①Liu, 2013.Bimos hold authority over religion, culture and education, and can speak to the deities and guide the mundane affairs and child-bearing. In Yi people’s mind, Bimos are the intellectuals in the Yi society and the defender, elder and disseminator in terms of Yi culture. Bimos are good at speaking in a poetic style, and they can help people forget about worldly uproar and material desires, return to one’s home,and feel no more secret worries brought by spiritual fault. No matter walking, stopping or reaching a destination.After all ,one can only cultivate himself and understand where he is when he is in his native land after all. Such hometown belief held by Chinese people for thousands of years,are simple and powerful, and more prominent as to Yi people in the southwest Sichuan. “One shall see clearly the future and remember the past history.” They often like to ask who “I” am,and where “my” ancestors came from, which can be summarized as Father-worshiping Complex. Luowu Laqie’s “Father’s Mountains” and other works intensively reflect such temperament of worshiping fathers and ancestors as heroes.Although experiencing migration and evolvement, one can never forget his hometown, because it symbolizes the Force of Father. Luowu Laqie’s deep feelings about such complex endows his poems with eternal life after composing them.Holding dear to family affection and homestead, Yi people, no matter whether immersing themselves in farming or eat meals with heads held low, will never forget to look up at the sky and listen to sounds of nature. When lowering heads to watch buckwheat, they also can hear the words uttered by their ancestors. Luowu Laqie uses “the free spirit longing to gallop” to express his true feeling towards the Earth Mother of Liangshan:

I am/The Son of the earth/Like animals and plants on the earth/I grow from generation to generation/On the earth/My soul/Is the strong and swift wind/Blowing freely over the earth.

-- I am the Son of the Earth

The poetic language with implied divine meaning clearly reveals the geographic significance of “the Daliang Mountains” and its blood ties according with the author’s identity. The description of “the Daliang Mountains”regional ecosystem can eliminate mental predicaments and therefore bring closer spiritual bond between modern and tradition.

Plants are connected with the earth/Through root hairs/I am on intimate terms with the earth/The earth has rock/And soil/I have flesh and bones/The earth has rivers/I have blood-- I am the Son of the Earth

This poem crosses the species barrier and integrates them into one, creating a true life experience. In such wonderful scenery, Luowu Laqie develops a deep affection towards “the Daliang Mountains” which he is reluctant to part with. The verses prove Yi people’s simple ideology, i.e., seeing themselves as an equal and ordinary member of the natural world, and communicating with the outside world through poems. “We can from these verses detect the tender and exquisite feelings hidden deep in the heart of such a bold and rough man of the Yi ethnic group…This son of the earth in the secluded Daliang Mountains does not pretentiously make a fuss about meaningless things, but uses a simple and unadorned poetic language to describe the essence of life in the poetic spirit as pure as the sun and the moon. He unleashes his soul to ‘freely pass through wind and sunlight’, ‘like a gust of strong and swift wind’, and lie in ‘the hometown’s warm arm’ singing without restraint.”①Liang, 2012.In summary, ecological aesthetics provides an incentive to and infiltrates these literary works.

The rivers run over the mountains day and night/Holding in arm my hometown the Daliang Mountains/Holding in arm the Daliang Mountains’ aspiration and infinite yearning for the sun/Heading for the distant and mysterious ocean/My hometown the Daliang Mountains is of one blood with the vast ocean/It wants to hold the sun in its arm/The rivers are my hometown’s blood of /The rivers are the Daliang Mountains’ long arms-- The Rivers are My Hometown’s Blood

Such emotional agitation is quite close to the poetic expressions in Yi people’s Bimo scriptures, displaying the cultural ethos of the Yi ethnic group. The Daliang Mountains poetizes the native land, and appreciates the bounties and asylum bestowed by the Daliang Mountains on generations of Yi people. Mountain forest, rivers, fortresses and downtown streets are all the inspirational sources and illusionary prototypes of The Daliang Mountains. These natural landscapes and cultural traditions internally form the natural quality of the poems, with a sense of ethereality. It seems as if the poet is obliged to revive the most appropriate spirit of feelings and words to find an eternal spiritual home or“poetic habitat” for emotions.

2. Poetic interpretation of “Zen Ecological Wisdom”

“Zen is a doctrine about nature and temperament, which seeks sublimation in the mind through self-cultivation,and a cultural ideal that people are free of troubles and pursuing conscious lives and mental outlooks. ‘Nature,inherence and transcendence’ capture the essence of Zen’s human nature theory and cultural thoughts.”②Fang, 1995.The realm of Zen can be best manifested as the harmony between man and nature. “Zen’s ecological aesthetics advocates Lokayata sudden enlightenment. It teaches people to see the true meaning of life through a flash of thought in the real world for relieving and freeing the mind, and to pursue intuitive apprehension and unconditional free realm without causing psychological burdens.”③Pi, 2005.Zen Ecological Wisdom specifically refers to returning to nature, the home to freedom of mind in poetic creation or poetic expression, which is a creative attitude featuring union of causes and conditions and variation.④Ibid.Along with the social development, the connotations and denotations of Zen Ecological Wisdom have extended to the field of new poetry. It is used to interpret the new concepts regarding the man-nature relationship in terms of aesthetic taste, creation of artistic conception and enlightenment of life. The key to studies on Zen Ecological Wisdom lies in two aspects: self-examination respectively in a fickle and diversified world and remaining true to original aspiration while pressing ahead, from which the rebirth after secular education and cultural baptism is derived. As perceived at this level, Zen Ecological Wisdom is no doubt the best path and destination for modern poets to display their spiritual home, and also examine, reflect and introspect the self-aesthetic orientation in other’s positions. It aids us in mental recharging, to “renew ideas in a cycle of day or month.”

Luowu Laqie absorbs nutrients from Han culture and extracts its best part to create a new text form which is more diversified in style and with unique advantages in the field of Yi culture. Under the background of modern dissimilation and noises, he always adheres to an independent and sober style as well as a sincere attitude towards creation, holds high the torch of Yi culture inheritance, and explores the road of flourishing poetry for Yi culture.He writes about the civilization of the mountain tribes that is closely interdependent with the Daliang Mountains.The poet never ceases from exploration and has kept writing for over thirty years. He has been thinking over tender feelings among people and attachment to ethnic landscapes which are especially precious in modern civilization. He uses the Daliang Mountains as a culture symbol in expressing the main body of poems, and directs a brighter road ahead for the Daliang Mountains.

Ecological extinction is often accompanied by cultural extinction, vanishment of natural villages, lost ancient technology, deepening inter-generational estrangement of blood relationships, misunderstanding and conflicts among ethnic groups, all of which are inevitable modern diseases. These phenomena will arouse the poet’s concern and thoughts in his creation, so he will naturally discuss these issues and give a historical contemplation in his work.As the verses in A Hamlet Where My grandpa was Born go:

I once saw off in the distance/The hamlet where my grandpa was born/Following an elder’s pointing finger/I saw off in the distance/A hamlet at the foot of a hill/Like a pair of eyes/Looking at me/Friendly and graciously//The place where my grandpa was born was later/Built into a reservoir/That hamlet/Lying deep in the water/Still look at me/With an agitated fluid glance/Gentle and bright

In the context of urbanization, the homesteads mountain residents live by will naturally be squeezed, reduced and marginalized, followed by further modern and post-modern assimilation, decaying spatial memory and diminishing emotional memory, which are defined as an ecological problem facing the planet. To realize an economic boom, the Daliang Mountains also has to face such perplexities and problems. The designers and poets of Liangshan are all pondering over such a question that is to safeguard ecological environment and follow the macro guide of “having green hills in sight, blue waters in view, and hometown in heart”, also “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.” They have enthusiastically committed themselves to innovation and protection at the turn of the century.Luowu Laqie’s poems about his hometown vividly describe the ecological relationship and the watchman’s emotions.For example, Yuere’s Singing Like a Lonely Cloud:

Yuere says/Walking on the streets of Chengdu/Makes one feel more lonely than walking on the wilderness of Liangshan/…/Yuere says too many people are on the streets of Chengdu/It is not hard to read people’s mind/But hard to find the milk of human kindness/Yuere while walking on the streets of Chengdu/Finds no one friendly/He misses the lover in his heart all the more/…/Yuere says walking on the streets of Chengdu/He really turns into a sheep/A lonely sheep singing songs

With the alternation of names of the place and objects, the poem is expressed in a skillful and witty way, which induces a knowing smile from people and makes them feel about the poet’s secret worry and emotional burden.“Learning from nature”, the material abundance cannot replace the ecological significance of hometown in most cases.

My heart is about to/Overflow with reminders/And will never/Be cautious again/…/For several times/I almost /Lost myself/…/Because every time when I leave /I already/Have/Everything inside of home/On my shoulder/In my hands/The sky at home/The earth at home/Are packed in my heart/In which the hometown’s river/Is still flowing-- I Once Almost Lost Myself

The complicated and rapid changes even make the senior Yi people feel a touch of melancholy:

He cannot be friend with/The trees/And stones in cities/…/The elders, once in the cities/Will lose their/Natural spirituality/Maybe/Natural spirituality/Only belongs to Mt. Tuowu/Or maybe /Only belongs to the elders on Mt. Tuowu-- On Mt. Tuowu

How to achieve integration of urban and rural construction and how to “furnish the new as the old” and retain the ecological system and emotional memory are the motif often discussed in Luowu Laqie’s poems.

Through poems, the poet has built a bridge to the heart fortress between the present and the past, as well as innovation and tradition. By poetic interpretation of Zen Ecological Wisdom, he rediscovers the nature, understands and transforms himself. This might have certain significance in fighting against or soothing the widespread modern anxiety and crisis. The poet is not shortsighted or reluctant to accept modern civilization. He uses poems to improve his homestead, just because he does not want to indulge himself in carnival of the material world, and as a member of Yi people, he worries about the homogenization and deindividuation of the world and other phenomena. As an intellectual, he also has his own angle of view and interpretation or statements. Within his range of observation, he will discover and point out problems. He wishes to find an interdependent but opposite civilization form by singing poetry and rebuild the positive value of culture with the ecological wisdoms similar to Zen’s. He wants to participate in the interactive, intertextual and responsive process of multi-cultural integration, and find out the reality-oriented balance point in the binary opposition of urban and rural areas, and the eternal “Tree of Life” ideally planted in a fresh and natural environment.

3. Poetic construction of “universal enlightenment”

Yi people’s traditional beliefs are all distinctive for the image and concept of “universal enlightenment”. Such theoretical system incorporates the reverence for the nature, which includes the natural beings, crops, rivers and mountains gestated by particular geographies and land features. Yi people live in harmony with the eco-nature,actively participate in environmental protection and balance, maintain the law and cycle that bring out the best in each other, and create a system of their own through pains and gains. The key idea inherited by generations of Yi people for enlightenment of descendants is:

When playing a sheepskin drum/Sing passionately/Dance passionately/Face the ghosts/Face the gods/Face the universe/Wish everyone/Wish all living things happiness and health/Good fortune as one wishes

-- When Playing a Sheepskin Drum

With sincere wish for every life form, every life experience is improved with the greatest zest, making one see himself, all living creatures and the universe. The “universal enlightenment” repeatedly expressed in the tradition of the Yi ethnic group reveals to us “the original image of colorful Yi culture, from which we can feel the original charm of traditional Yi culture”①Asuo, 2014.. It also urges us to reflect our own position and necessary role in the natural world,and restrain our selfish desire and greed, so that the homestead we live by can exist long and prosper. It is true that “universal enlightenment” is also the valuable result obtained on the premise of “such cultural background,ideological foundation, spiritual direction and artistic pursuit. The poet tries to practice his poetic skills and achieve self-transcendence in terms of deep philosophical thought, strong emotions, pure language and lofty artistic ambiance.”②Luo, 1999.Universal enlightenment is the embodiment of introspective spirit. However, the externalization of such spiritual world is no longer manifested as the objective description of the natural world or the nostalgia for the hometown’s landscapes, but sublimed into religious poetization, coincidence of the world view and active dialogue.The relationship between man and nature is subtle and miraculous in life and work. “Universal enlightenment”is expected to bring safety, health, bumper harvest and thriving domestic animals. The “animism” derived from universal enlightenment is not simply superstitious belief, but artless and sustainable views of life and world that the clansmen pray for harmonious coexistence with the nature to express their gratitude and heart of awe. This is because such mutual benefits constitute the basic principles of life existence. In Yi people’s opinion:

Crops, trees and pasture also have eyes/And ears/In the arm of my hometown the Daliang Mountains/All plants have eyes and ears/I understand the words heard by those ears/I can see the ears, just like those of flocks and herds/Are hung with the sun and the moon

-- Crops and Trees also Have Eyes and Ears

So Yi people believe in “magic branch leading the way” and “animism”. Although with a touch of idealism and fatalism, Yi people use such artless idea of unity between man and nature to encourage struggle for life, lead the road ahead, and put the nature and human being in a conversation where all living creatures enjoy equality. In this way, Yi people show their open-minded attitude and hard-bitten character, which is exactly an irony of helpless people facing the ecological crisis in the present world. Yi people believe in “universal enlightenment”, respect and mutual act of giving, and harmonious co-existence among living creatures. If everybody has an open mind, and if everybody has a sincere heart, the deities’ eyes then become compassionate:

Only a warm smile remains in the deities’ eyes/Not a bit of sternness, pain and sadness/…/The deities’ eyes accompany the human’s growth/Watching people kill each other/Watching people’s endless pillage/If virtue lives in everyone’s heart/If kindness lives in everyone’s heart/The deities’ eyes then will have a bed for ever sleeping-- The Deities’ Eyes

Liangshan Yi ethnic group is significantly characterized by the Daliang Mountains’ landscapes, farming work, life necessities, folkways, weddings and funerals, traditional culture and every other aspect. These “natural things” represent an ideological system full of philosophic thoughts and imaginations constructed by Yi people. In the construction of life circle by Yi people, after an equal dialogue between man and nature, people get gifts from the deities; in return, after accepting the natural blessings, only when people work harder and thank for the hardwon happiness and peace can they have even greater rewards in the coming year or the next world. In this way, the ecological balance can therefore be maintained. The communication between the soul of all things on earth that are enlightened and human being is conducted on an equal footing. They bring different spiritual attributes to everything in this world, cross the boundary of species and communicate with human being at a spiritual level, even if it is a small rock in remote mountains:

It can understand/The words I utter aloud/And also can hear/those I keep to myself//When I talk to it/I seem to be/A clear spring/Flowing gently in remote mountains/…/It reveals/Girly shyness and sensitivity/All is quiet/Between heaven and earth/Only its breath/Knocks my heart so deeply

-- A Rock in Remote Mountains

In poetic creation, universal enlightenment will become the stabilizing agent soothing the soul and a clear spring in the spiritual world. Coming from mountains, forests, the sky, the earth, the sun, the moon and stars of the natural world, it appears to the poet either a mother’s bosom, or a silent mentor’s wordless edification, an everlasting spiritual highland. Only by treasuring the natural things gestated by this land can people effectively restrain their behavior and lay a solid foundation for the poetic world. No matter coming back or leaving, the poet only has an affinity to the native land whose image never fades away. In a meaningful and thought-provoking way, Luowu Laqie depicts the Daliang Mountains with such words:

As long as I can see my hometown/The sky there/The clouds there/The mountains there/The rivers there/

My breath gradually calms down/My heart is filled with the atmosphere of my loved ones/And caressed by feathers gently/Feeling so warm and sweet/…/Every time coming home/Also makes me feel good

-- Leaving or Coming Home: Feeling Good

Animals, plants, world of man, mountains and rivers all enjoy an equal position and share the same deities. The colorful scene and cheerful mood in the blossom time of Suoma Flower (Azalea) are described in some poems.Suoma Flower, the Yi name of Azalea, is important because it can guide Yi people to delightfully welcome important guests from afar, indicating the splendidness of life. Its blooming implies the short glorious youth and also Yi people’s expectation for bright future life.

When Suoma Flower are in full bloom/Our lines of sight gather into one road/Beautiful flowers and flowery

beauty/From then on walk into our hearts/And blossom everyday/On the land of heart

-- When Suoma Flower are in Full Bloom

On the whole, the prominent image in the poet’s description of the Daliang Mountains is universal enlightenment.“Natural things” is a term directly speaking the poet’s mind, and also a cultural symbol of various living creatures in the poems, which is not only the exhibition of unique Yi geographic features but also an important carrier of poetic expression. Universal enlightenment, as a special model for poetry and classical prototype image, has become the poet’s cultural label and motive power for creation. Enlightenment fundamentally aims to clearly reflect the interactions and mutual effects between man and nature, and to accurately describe the overall appearance and style of a social ecosystem, and express the poet’s interpretation of the worldly environment. Luowu Laqie appropriately blends Yi people’s life beliefs in his poems, and writes verses as a broad-minded modern poet who stands at the highland of poetic life and a communist’s advanced standpoint. The poems are undoubtedly composed under the theme of dedication and esteem.

Conclusion

The poetic creation from the view of ecological aesthetics is neither a simple ode to pastoral life, nor rude repulse for blindly escaping from the modern civilization and returning to the primitive society. Ecological aesthetics is more of modern reconstruction, returning and protection, upholding and calling for value of wonderful things. Just like a watchman in cornfield of his hometown, Luowu Laqie, with keen insight and apprehensiveness, broadens his mind through poetry on the proposition, namely, the survival of human in the nature. His poems feature unflagging passions and understandable wording, and draws upon the direct statements and sentence pattern with multiple metaphors and the art essence of repetitions and transitions from Liangshan folk songs and Yi poetic scriptures. He describes the relationships between man and nature, far and near, modern and primitive simplicity. His “ecological wisdom” poems get popular in Yi Prefecture and the rest of China for their original style, modern thinking,smartness, joy and Yi people’s survival wisdom. The ecological ideal for a poetic habitat is simple and near at hand.The constructor’s thinking over the relationship with the nature is active and firm. All of the above reasons have contributed to the glittering original poems in The Daliang Mountains.