Why do the Dai people have a sense of reverence for water?

Executive Summary: Water culture is a cultural phenomenon created by an ethnic group based on its knowledge and adaptation to the surrounding natural environment. It usually consists of three aspects: knowledge and beliefs about water resources and the water environment, techniques for utilizing water resources, and systems for managing water resources. In this organically integrated triadic structure, the knowledge and belief of water resources and water environment are in the core position, which is an important part of a nation's cosmology, worldview and values, and plays a key role in the final formation of a nation's water culture and its sustainable development. The case of Man Yuan Village shows that the water culture formed in the history of Dai ethnic group in Xishuangbanna has strongly guaranteed the harmonious development of man and nature in Xishuangbanna for thousands of years, making it the only remaining oasis on the Tropic of Cancer. In today's global water shortage, deteriorating water environment and increasingly serious water pollution, in-depth exploration and systematic summarization of the rationality and wisdom contained in the traditional water culture of the Dai ethnic group has important academic value and application value for the contemporary practice of sustainable development.

Water is indispensable to the survival of human beings. The Dai people living in Xishuangbanna are more closely connected with water. Mr. Gao Lishi, a famous Dai expert, pointed out, "As long as the history and culture of the Dai are mentioned, people will naturally think of water and water-related things first." The Dai people of Xishuangbanna live by the water and make a living by planting rice. The history book depicts them as having "ten baths a day", which is probably not an exaggeration. Another famous Dai expert, Prof. Huang Hui, pointed out that "water is the most appropriate way to describe the Dai." He also said, "The Dai live near water and grow rice. He also said, "When summarizing the general temperament of the Dai culture, I used the concept of 'water culture', which has not yet been replaced by a new concept."

What is water culture? The water culture of the Dai people has what connotation and characteristics? In my opinion, the so-called water culture is a cultural phenomenon created by an ethnic group based on the cognition and adaptation to the surrounding natural environment in the practice of utilizing and managing water resources for a long time. It usually includes a nation's knowledge and beliefs about water resources and water environment, the technology of utilizing water resources and the system of managing water resources, which is an organic integration of the three-dimensional structure of beliefs, technology and system. In this organic integration of the three-dimensional structure, the knowledge and belief of water resources and water environment is in the core position, which is the rational summary of a nation's practical experience for thousands of years, or the historical reality reflected through myths, legends and other forms of imagination and fantasy, and is an important part of a nation's cosmology and values. The technology of utilizing water resources and the system of managing water resources are gradually formed under the guidance of the core cultural concept of knowledge and belief about water. In this paper, we take the typical Dai village of Man Yuan Village, Menghan Town, Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture as an example, and on the basis of field research, we make a preliminary discussion on the tradition and change of its water culture from the perspective of the history of environmental ecology.

(I) Awareness of the importance of water

The Dai language calls water "Mangmu", rainwater "Mangfeng", well water "Mangchao", and water from mountain turnips "Mangmu". water as "Muhui", hot water as "Mangyong", cold water as "Manga", flood water as "Mulao", and rain as "Mulao". ", called the rain "wind more" ....... All these show that the Dai people have very careful observation and cognition of water. The Dai people call the wind "monopoly" and the gas "monopoly", and think that the wind and the gas blowing on the human body are cool and invisible water, and the wind and the gas will slowly change in the air from invisible to invisible and touchable to visible and touchable, and turn into fog and rain, and finally turn into water, which is indispensable for human survival. It has become an indispensable thing for the survival of human beings. (Note 8) According to the legend of the Dai people, the creator god of the Dai people, as well as the earth and human beings, all originated from water. There were seven suns in the universe, and the earth was baked into a fireball where everything could not survive, but it was only with the help of the gods that the rain was brought in to extinguish the fire, saving the earth and creating conditions for the growth of all things. (Note 9) Therefore, the Dai people have a natural sense of sacredness and reverence for water, and link water with land, forests, food, life and so on, forming a series of special awareness of the importance of water.

The Dai people call the land as "Mang Collar", in which "Mang" is water and "Collar" is soil, and water is placed before soil because the Dai people have realized in their long-term production practice that Because the Dai people have realized in their long-term production practice that plants cannot grow without water, and that only watered soil can be utilized.

The Dai proverbs say: "There is a field after the first ditch"; "There are forests and turnips in the walled village, and there are rivers and ditches in the building of the Meng"; "There are leaves in the trees and water in the ground". All these show that the Dai people have a full understanding of the importance of water in agricultural production and people's lives.

In the village of Man Yuan, "Bo Zhang", a priest who is well versed in the history and culture of his people and also plays the role of an intermediary between human beings and the gods, told me that among the Dai people, the ones that are most respected by the people are, in order of importance, Buddha (i.e., the Bodhisattva), the scriptures, the Buddha's master, the pagodas, and the Big Green Tree. Big Green Tree in all Dai areas are sacred trees, no one dares to cut, people once offended by the Big Green Tree, non-death that is sick; in the concept of the Dai people, forests, water, fields, food and other natural objects have the gods, people must ensure that the gods and these gods in harmony with the *** place, in order to survive under the blessing of the gods. If you do damage to natural objects, you will offend the gods, and will not only be retaliated against by nature, but will also be punished by the gods.

(2) Water Worship in Religious Beliefs and Water Customs in Festivals

Here, let's introduce the rituals of water worship in the traditional religious beliefs of the Dai people in Xishuangbanna.

There are many kinds of deity worship in the traditional religious beliefs of the Dai people in Man Yuan Village. Among them, the main rituals related to water worship are "seeking rain in August" and "seeking sunshine in January" in the activities of "Zai Shen". The "August Rain Festival" is held on August 8 of the Dai Calendar (June of the Gregorian calendar), which is the time of year when rice planting is in dire need of rain. Early in the morning on the day of the festival, all male members of the village gather at the altar of the god of the village - the "Rang Mountain" behind the village, and the sorcerer specializing in the worship of the god of the village, "Shao She", offers wine and meat, and then leads all the men of the village in kowtowing and praying. After offering meat and wine, the sorcerer led the men of the village to kowtow and pray. The prayer was along the lines of: "Please come down to the village god, we have prepared rich offerings and invite you to come down to eat. After you have eaten, please take good care of our Man Yuan, take good care of people, cows, pigs and chickens, don't get sick and don't die; take good care of the grain in the fields, let the rainfall be abundant, don't suffer from disasters, don't get sick, don't be eaten by insects, have a good harvest of grain, and have food for every family. Please drive away all disasters that harm people, animals, and rice. The festival of "Seeking clear weather in January" is held on January 8 of the Dai calendar (November of the Gregorian calendar), which is the time when the harvesting of paddy rice is in urgent need of clear weather. The content of the event is largely the same as the first one, but this time the prayer for "clear skies" has been added to the festival.

The following is an introduction to the water worship rituals of the Southern Theravada Buddhist faith and its festivals.

Every year, in the middle of June of the Dai calendar (mid-April of the Gregorian calendar), the Dai people celebrate the Dai New Year, which is also known as the Water Splashing Festival. In the village of Man Yuan, the day before the Water Festival, the whole village will pick water to the temple for the Buddha to bathe. On the day of the Water Splashing Festival, every family carries river sand and water on their backs, builds a sand pile next to the Buddhist temple, inserts a tree branch on the sand pile, and builds a sand platform in front of the sand pile, offering bamboo shoots, meat, rice and other offerings. The whole village first gathered in the Buddhist temple to worship Buddha, and then sat around the sand pile to listen to the Buddha recite the sutra, people listen to the sutra while sprinkling water on the sand pile and branches. After the fine Buddha ceremony, people pour water on each other for blessing. People believe that the New Year's day bath, fine Buddha, pile of sand dripping and splashing water on each other, to be able to pray for good weather, a good harvest.

Every year in September-December of the Dai calendar (July-October of the Gregorian calendar), it is the period of the Dai Closed Door Festival. On the day before the festival, every old man in Man Yuan village prepares a bucket of water and soaks a kind of incense bamboo unique to the area in the water until the water becomes fragrant, and then picks it up and takes it to the temple to bathe the Buddha statue. At three or four o'clock in the morning on the day of the Closed Door Festival, each family should send a representative to the well to fetch a bottle of fresh water, which, together with beeswax, meat, rice, flowers and other offerings already prepared, will be placed on a small gabion table and carried to the entrance of the Buddhist temple as early as possible to wait for the god of the heavens to be more favorably disposed to the earliest person who goes to the temple. When all the gabion tables of the village are set up around the statue of Buddha, and people have arrived, the priest "Bo Zhang" will announce the beginning of the ceremony of the festival of the closing of the door. First, Bo Zhang leads the whole village to pay homage to the Buddha, and then Bo Zhang conveys the people's secular requests for good weather, good fortune and peace of mind to the Great Buddha, and then the Great Buddha conveys them to the Buddha. At last, the Buddha leads the whole village to pay homage to the Buddha, and the whole village goes to the Buddha statue in order to honor the water. The afternoon of the third day of the festival, the old people again pick water to the temple, for the big Buddha and the young monks bathing, monks bathing, that is, to "close the door", can not go out or return home.

The Dai people also have the custom of washing towers to seek rain. Man Yuan village Bo Zhang old man told me that, according to Buddhist scriptures, a long time ago, for several years in the sky does not rain, so the people on the ground, ants, bees and other things of their respective masters will be united in the sky to go to the sky to negotiate with the god of the sky, "Paya day". Finally, an agreement was reached that the god of heaven would send rain during the rainy season every year, and that it should fall at night, not during the day, otherwise people would not be able to work. In the village of Man Yuen, if there is no rain at the time of rice planting, the people think that it must be due to the negligence of the God of Heaven and hold a ceremony to wash the pagoda and pray for rain. At that time, every family prepares straw hats and umbrellas to protect themselves from the rain, and then each family carries a bucket of water to the pagoda at the back of the village. A large basin of water is placed in front of the pagoda, and the bodhisattva from the temple, Mantorani, is invited. (Note 13) A fish is made out of wood, its scales are drawn on charcoal, and the Buddha holds the fish in his hands for a few rounds along the basin of water and recites sutras, and then washes the pagoda with the water, and the pagoda conveys people's wishes for rain to the God of Heaven. It is said that the pagoda in the village has a history of more than 1,000 years and is so spiritual that rain usually falls after people wash the pagoda with water.

(C) Water Customs in Life Rituals

Based on the belief in and worship of water, as well as the recognition of the importance of water, the Dai people of Man Yuan Village have formed water customs closely related to water worship at a series of important junctures in their lives. The following are the explanations in several aspects.

First, water is used at birth. Once the baby from the mother, croaked, the midwife and the family will rush to give the baby a bath with warm water, on the one hand, wash away the dirt, on the other hand, but also pray for the gods to bless the peace of the Qingji. If the mother lacks milk, people will go to find a small tree called "Pa Bin", which is not big enough to grow, and bring its bark and leaves to be boiled in rice water to make a medicine for the mother to drink, which is said to be able to stimulate the milk, and the mother will be able to produce a large amount of milk after drinking it.

Secondly, the water used by the monks, before the 1950s, the Dai men usually had a process of becoming monks in the temples, and then returning to the custom after a few years. Today, in Man Yuan village, about 50% of the men still follow the tradition of becoming monks for several years, so the ceremony of becoming a monk has become an important rite of passage for Dai men. A child who volunteers to become a monk has to choose a middle-aged man in the village and worship him as his godfather. On the first day of the ceremony, the godfather will take the child to his home, shave his head and bathe him. When bathing, the child stands under the balcony, the godparents stand on top of the balcony, and make a canal with banana leaves so that the water rushes down the canal, while the child's family members and relatives help to wash the child cleanly. Then, the godfather carries the child into the old man's house, which is the most private place in the family, and blesses the child with a string. The next day, the whole village will send the child to the Buddhist temple, held a formal worship and water ceremony, the child is officially become a monk, completing an important rite of passage in the life of a Dai man.

Thirdly, water is used to cure diseases. Since there is a sense of water worship in the traditional culture of the Dai people, it is widely believed that clear water can cure diseases, and soaking rice water with herbs can cure diseases even better.

In the village of Man Yuan, if someone feels pain in the body for no reason, or itchy skin, or pain in the eyes, he or she will ask the "Moya" (Dai doctor) or an old man who knows what he is doing to take a bottle of water, blow a breath of air into the water, and then wipe the affected area with water, and the water is said to be able to work. If someone has a stomach ache, please ask Moa or an old man who knows what he is doing to take a bottle of water, blow on it, recite a piece of oral tradition, and then let the patient drink it, which is said to be effective as well.

If someone accidentally fell and hurt his hands and feet, Moya will grab a handful of purple glutinous rice, plus a little pine shavings, chicken bones, sweet bamboo shoots and other leaves, all pounded fine, and then poured into the soaked rice water, and on the butter, will be well mixed, wrapped up in banana leaves and put on a fire slowly smoked. Then hold a cup of water or rice wine sitting next to the patient, blowing on the patient's injury while reading the oral sex, and then ask the patient to drink a mouthful of water or wine, Mo Ya then mouth a mouthful of water or wine sprayed on the patient's injury, and then the already hot roasted purple rice herbal medicine package on it. This method is said to be very effective in treating bruises.

Some people have malaria, if it is the old man, Moya will use water to soak a pot of glutinous rice, usually soak for more than 10 hours, until the soaking water is completely cloudy, before pouring out a bowl of rice water, plus garlic and opium soot, and soak for a few hours to let the patient drink; if it is a child, it is a kind of plant called "Hahoele" root, will be squeezed with a stone to make it more effective in the treatment of bruises. In the case of a child, the root of a plant called "Hahoele" was used, and water was squeezed out of it with a stone, added to lime water and stirred well, and then clarified and allowed to be drunk. It is said that this will control the disease.

Fourthly, water is used for building new houses and celebrating new houses. The water ceremony for building a new house of the Dai people in Man Yuan Village is mainly focused on the erection of two central pillars for men and women. The male column is called "copy wide" in Dai language, and the female column is called "copy mam" in Dai language, and it is necessary to choose a good "red hair tree" to make the center column. On the day the pillar is set up, the male and female hosts will personally scrub the pillar, which represents them, with clean water, and then wrap the pillar with their own clothes and banana stalks, sugar cane and other symbols of life, sweetness, and development, in order to seek peace and prosperity and to make everything go smoothly. Next, the Bozhang is asked to write prayers for good health and good fortune on two red cloths and two white cloths. Both the male and female center pillars are covered with white cloths at the bottom and red cloths at the top. White cloth represents the dragon's stomach, meaning the center column in the dragon's stomach; red cloth represents the dragon's head, meaning the dragon's head up the house. Elder Bozhang told me that the dragon lives in the water, and it is only with the water that the two center pillars come to life. The two columns in the dragon's stomach, it means that its life is still there, white ants will not dare to attack; with the dragon's head up the house, not afraid of wind, thunder, rain, the house will be stable here.

After the new house is built, before officially moving in, a ceremony will be held to congratulate the new house. In this ceremony, four big Buddhist monks and a number of small monks are invited to offer a "sacred tree" made of banana stalks with paper flowers of various colors, and offerings such as meat, rice and vegetables on a gabion table. At a distance of about 2 meters behind the offerings, a tripod is built with a banana pole and two sticks, on which a few pieces of white cloth are hung, and a white cotton thread is used to connect the sacred tree to the tripod. The tripod symbolizes the new house, meaning that the god will bless the new house with stability and the family living in the new house will prosper like trees and flowers. The owner of the new house kneels in the middle of the tripod, his children and parents kneel beside and behind the tripod, and other old people in the village kneel around.

Each of them holds a pair of bee bales in their hands and listens to the big Buddha and the little monk reciting blessings. Every time they recite a passage, Bozhang speaks a passage, and then one of the big Buddha masters sprinkles water on the new owner of the house with a twig, wishing him peace and good luck, and so on for four or five times. Then, the owner of the new house in the middle of the new house placed a basin of water, people participating in the ceremony to congratulate the new house, each with a cup of water, prayers and then slowly pour the water into the basin. At this point, the new house ceremony is over, and people begin to help the owner move things into the new house. At this time, the old man Bojang, holding a bowl of water and a branch of leaves, sprinkled water on each person who carried things to the new house and the things he carried, with the symbolism of driving away ghosts and bestowing blessings.

Fifth, water is used for funeral ceremonies. In the village of Manwon, when a person dies, the relatives of the family will bathe the deceased with warm water immediately so that he or she can go to the other world cleanly. At the same time, a basin should be filled with water, put a thorny branch, and hang it on the tree in front of the courtyard with a small gabion basket, so that relatives, friends and villagers who come to offer condolences and send the dead to the funeral can dip the branch in water and sprinkle it on their heads when they arrive and leave, which means to avoid evil spirits and seek peace and prosperity.

On the day of the funeral, four people holding four large banana leaves in front, a small monk pulling a hand tied to the coffin on the cotton thread, four people carrying the coffin followed the small monk forward. It is worth noting that there is a special person who carries a bottle of water soaked in glutinous rice, sprinkle a little in front of the bed of the deceased before the funeral, and after coming to the public **** cemetery, when friends and relatives stand around the coffin to listen to the little monks chanting, the person who carries the water will also sprinkle the water next to the casket and on the casket. I asked the old man Bo Zhang this why, he told me, soaking glutinous rice water is the Dai "shampoo", it has a clean, hair care and nourishing the human body, the cool clean Dai people often use soaking glutinous rice water to wash their heads. It is said that people who often wash their hair with glutinous rice water can have strong vitality. Since a person needs to wash his head with glutinous rice water when he is alive, he also needs to wash his head with glutinous rice water when he enters the world of ghosts after death. Therefore, when a person dies, it is necessary to bury him with glutinous rice water. After the monk finished reciting the sutra, the body was cremated.

The next morning, friends and relatives of the deceased and the villagers and beat gongs and drums to bring meat, rice, vegetables, fruits, water and other offerings to the Buddhist temple for the dead old man over fine. Over fine, the big Buddha with a small monk sitting against the Buddha, wave chapter leading others face Buddha and kneeling, offerings placed on a small gabion table, placed in front of the Buddha, everyone lit bee wax offerings in front of the Buddha. First of all, Bo Zhang spoke, he told the wishes of the people for the dead to ascend to heaven and for the living to be well and auspicious to the Great Buddha, and then the Great Buddha forwarded to the Buddha. After three or four times of this, everyone sprinkles the water from the bottle on the gabe table, meaning that the deceased will have water to drink in the other world. This is the end of the funeral ceremony.

(4) Changes in water worship

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially after the democratic reforms, the traditional water worship of the Dai people and its related rituals have been greatly affected by the vigorous campaigns for the elimination of superstitious beliefs and the dissemination of atheistic ideas. However, according to my investigation and observation in Man Yuan Village, since the reform and opening up, with the implementation of the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief and the policy of respecting the customs and habits of ethnic minorities, the deep-rooted sense of water worship in the hearts of the Dai people has been revived, and it is becoming an important resource for the promotion of the sustainable development of the Dai area in the present time. The above water customs related to the water worship, such as the closing festival, the celebration of the new house and the funeral rites, are what I have witnessed in my three field surveys. In addition, two more typical examples can be cited.

One of the examples is the protection of the forest cover of the ridge in Manwon Village. The forest vegetation in Manwon Village is not allowed to be cut down because it is the place where people worship the god of the village during the activities of "seeking rain in August" and "seeking sunshine in January," and although the iron and steel production in 1958 and the campaign of eliminating superstitious beliefs afterward caused some damage to the forests in the village, the forests in the village have not been destroyed. In 1958, the iron smelting and the subsequent campaign to eliminate superstitions caused some damage to the village's forests, but thanks to the efforts of the village elders, a large part of the village's forests have been preserved. According to the old man Bozhang, who has high prestige in the village, said to me, in 1958, some young people in the village, under the influence of foreign villages, were going to cut down the trees on Rangsan Mountain to set up a timber processing factory, but the "old bo-tao" (male old man) in the village gathered on Rangsan Mountain after hearing the news and told the young people the advantages and disadvantages with the national traditions, thus stopping the cutting down of the trees and preserving Rangsan Mountain. In 1985, in order to rebuild the Buddhist temple, which was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, the whole village had to cut down three century-old trees from the ridge to make pillars for the temple. However, soon after the construction of the temple was completed, two of the three young men who were directly involved in the axe cutting of the trees met with bad luck: one died for unknown reasons, and the other went mad for unknown reasons. This incident immediately shocked the whole village, and the whole village seemed to feel the power of the ridge and the god of the village once again, and no one dared to touch a single blade of grass or a single piece of wood on the ridge thereafter. Therefore, although the large-scale development of rubber plantation since the 1980s has caused serious damage to the forest vegetation in Man Yuen Village, the ridge behind the village is still lush, dozens of hundreds of years old tree spreading in the wind, becoming a green landscape in Man Yuen Village.

The second example is the birth and circulation of a modern "water myth" in Man Yuan village. There is a mountain in the west of Man Yuan village, which is the highest mountain in the village, with the top of the mountain over 900 meters above sea level, and it belongs to the boundary of Kino Mountain after crossing the top of the mountain. According to the old people, until the 1960s, this mountain was still covered with ancient trees, and large trees that could not be hugged by several people could be seen everywhere. During the period of "Cultural Revolution", some people started to cut down trees here to build houses, but until the 1980s, this place was still covered by dense forests, and a bowl-thick water source had been preserved, which flowed into the fish pond in the village and was released into the paddy fields of the dam, and it became an important source of water for rice planting and seedling preservation before the rainfall every year. However, after the contracting of "two mountains and one land" (Note 14) to households in 1983, the trees on the mountains were completely cut down by the contractors and pineapples were planted, so the water source became only as thick as a finger, and in May 1994, after a not-so-large rainfall, a mudslide erupted here, filling the fish ponds with sediment and rushing into the rice paddies, giving the contractors a great deal of water. The water filled the fishpond with mud and sand and washed into the paddy fields, causing great damage to the contractors. Nature's punishment drew the attention of the village's old people's association, which believed that cutting down the trees had offended the gods of the mountains, trees and water, and that sacrifices and protection measures must be taken in order to prevent these supernatural spirits from punishing them again. Therefore, under the specific organization of the four leaders of the Elderly Association, all the families in the village chipped in to build two dragons at the exit of the water source in the mountain to draw water down from the dragon's mouth, and built an altar and a pavilion next to it. On the day of the completion of the project, the whole village came here to hold a grand sacrificial ceremony and stipulated that no one would be allowed to cut down trees near the water source in the future. Surprisingly, in less than half a year after the ceremony, various "myths" about the water spread around. It is said that the water flowing from the dragon's mouth becomes "medicine", which can cure headache, stomachache, foot pain, deafness, blurred eyes, blisters on the feet and other illnesses; want to take the water, you need to bring a pair of beeswax to the old man in the wave chapter, by the wave chapter of the blessing of its prayers, and then personally go to take the water for them, so as to cure the disease. After the spread of the "myth", Menghai, Mengla, Jinghong, Menghang town and many people in the Kino Mountains have come here to get water to cure their illnesses, and no one dares to touch the trees around the water source. This "myth" can be interpreted as an ingenious and superior wisdom of the Dai elders to protect the water source by utilizing the supernatural deterrent power and the Dai people's consciousness of water worship. The Dai elders of Man Yuan Village may not consciously realize this, but they do receive the actual effect of water protection.

Three, Water Conservancy Technology

(1) Traditional Water Conservancy Technology

While Xishuangbanna is rich in annual rainfall and surface water resources, due to its uneven distribution, the development of Dai paddy rice farming is still more dependent on artificial water irrigation facilities. In Man Yuan Village, the irrigation of paddy fields relies on natural rainfall, three small rivers flowing down from Jinuo Mountain - "Wei Nai", "Wei Da" and "Wei Meng" - and three small rivers flowing down from Jinuo Mountain - "Wei Nai", "Wei Da" and "Wei Meng" - and three small rivers flowing down from Jinuo Mountain - "Wei Nai", "Wei Da" and "Wei Meng". ", three rely on the village farmers to build their own network of artificial ditches.

Before the 1950s, every year, before planting rice seedlings, the President of the Council Court under the direct leadership of the "call piece of leadership" (note 15) issued an order to repair the ditches, requiring each Meng "call Meng" (note 16) to send officials in charge of water conservancy to the villages and villages to organize and supervise water conservancy. (Note 16) Each village was asked to send officials in charge of water conservancy to organize and supervise the annual repair of water conservancy and irrigation projects. (Footnote 17) Upon receiving the order, the head of the village community, Paya, and the village water conservancy administrator, Panmouman (Footnote 18), organized all the households in the village community to contribute to the construction of dams to store water and to repair the ditches in the three creeks, using bamboo, wood, stones, and mud. Man Yuen village's own mountainous area and the Kino mountainous area behind it were still covered by dense virgin forests, in which thick piles of dead leaves and humus were piled up, which, through the rainy season and the gurgling water coming down from the mountains in the normal course of the year, entered the paddy fields along the creeks, rivers, and manmade ditches to become high-quality natural fertilizers. Heavy rains also bring human and animal waste and soil from around the villages into the fields, fertilizing and improving the soil.

(2)Contemporary Water Conservancy Technology

In the past, although the Dai farmers in Man Yuan Village regularly repaired the ditches every year and diverted water from the dam to irrigate the paddy fields, they had no reservoirs and thus had a weak ability to regulate the water resources. Whenever there are heavy rains, the water will roll down the mountain, and people often have no choice but to destroy the dikes and dams and let the water flow down the river. When it comes to the planting season, once the rain fails to come down in time, it is difficult to ensure full planting by relying only on the gurgling brooks. Although the tradition of building water conservancy has a long history, but only a few fields near the water by the mountains can really guarantee a good harvest, so there is the Dai "August for rain" and "January for sunshine" ritual activities.

Summary, in the cosmology and values of the Dai people, water occupies a very important position and plays a very important role. Under the guidance of this core cultural concept, the Dai people of Xishuangbanna have formed a series of religious rituals and water customs closely related to water, and a whole set of technologies and systems for sustainable utilization and management of water resources, which have strongly guaranteed the harmonious development of man and nature in Xishuangbanna over the past thousands of years, making Xishuangbanna the only remaining oasis on the Tropic of Cancer of the Earth. However, with the large-scale development of rubber plantation since the 1980s, Xishuangbanna has also experienced serious problems that are not conducive to sustainable development, such as increased soil erosion, climate anomalies, reduced water sources, and destruction of biodiversity. At the same time, with the pure pursuit of economic growth, industrialization, modernization mode of global expansion, water shortages, deterioration of the water environment, water pollution is becoming increasingly serious has become the whole world and the whole of mankind **** the same crisis. In the face of this crisis, we should y explore and systematically summarize the rationality and wisdom contained in the traditional water culture of the Dai people to guide the practice of sustainable development today.