Concepts:Masling/Sutej Hugu

Masling is a special word used to praise the soundscape of waterfalls and the swarming of honeybees—sounds that inspired the legendary group singing Pasibutbut of the Bunun Isbukun people. Over time, it has come to serve as a unique metaphor and symbol for the highest inner qualities of a person: an unconditional calm and creativity that reframes difficulties into potential solutions, and the capacity to turn a world vision into action—transforming an unjust world order while sustaining dynamic balance and dialectical harmony.

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Sutej Hugu

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"When we speak of embeddedness and connectedness, we mean that Indigenous peoples live within interspecies habitats, bound to all beings around us."

Concepts:Masling

Masling

Origin of the concept and practice Masling is a special term in Bunun Isbukun language that refers to the euphonious harmonies we experienced from the sounds of nature or human choral singing. In the traditional storytelling of Bunun Isbukun, they are inspired to learn the way of good group singing only by the natural revelations from the magnificent soundscape of big waterfalls in the mountain and the thrill humming of honey bees’ swarming in the forest. According to Western musicology, the Bunun Isbukun ritual chanting “Pasibutbut” (pray for a bumper harvest of millet) is a three-parts mix choir with polyphonic overtone effect performed by eight to twelve men. But for the Bunun Isbukun communities, a successful chanting of Pasibutbut can be emerging only from our embeddedness and connectedness as an embodiment of the rooted relationship between nature and people, and we say that’s Masling to be achieved. Transform into an action framework of sustainable self-determination Around the 1990s, Indigenous Taiwan poet-activist Bukun Ismahasan Islituan extended the meaning of Masling to “keep dynamic balance and dialectic harmony through all disasters we encountered in natural disturbances and the colonial oppressions in the last four centuries. It is proposed for us to achieve the inner quality of unconditional calm and creativity for reframing the encountered difficulties with potential solutions, and the capacity to implement the world vision in transforming the injustice world order. We first adopted it in the leading group for building up the Taiwan Indigenous Conserved Territories Union (TICTU) 2014 and followed by organizing the Indigenous Taiwan Self-Determination Alliance (ITWSDA) 2019. It has been thoroughly shared and discussed in our study circle for tribal activists. We defined together the kernel ideas of Masling to be the following key points as an action framework for sustainable self-determination: Based on Indigenous world vision, we set our movement to be struggling and striving for nature sovereignty over state sovereignty, following the Indigenous traditional knowledge and institutions as custodians for our territories of life to conserve the trinity of language, cultural and biological diversity, and promote an inclusive new nation-building for all creatures and all beings. We observe and respect the autonomy of all creatures, and we are embedded in the inter-species habitats and connected to all beings around us. The strength and resilience for survival and revival can only come out from this deep-rooted embeddedness and connectedness. Our seasonal livelihood laboring works with the natural rhythm and cycle of the eco-system. But we know very well also the natural disturbances that include typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, and pandemics which our ancestors have encountered with cautious preparation and held in awe and veneration with highest solidarity. While climate change may push natural disturbances to extremes, we need adaptation and innovation in our living tradition for the new situation. From imperialist exploitation and modernist extractivism to settler colonialism today, it’s most important to learn from the 400 years history of the colonial oppressions for Indigenous Taiwan that started from the Dutch East India Company’s occupation in early 17th century. Let’s evolve from our cultural heritages, the alternative knowledge system and institutions to the dominant colonial state and capitalist market. Develop a self-strengthening program for tribal activists We all grow up in the historical process and through environmental events which greatly influenced the character setting and capacity building of our tribal activists. Following the KMT regime of Taiwan lifted the martial law of 38 years long in 1987, came the booming of all kinds of social movements including the struggle of rights for Indigenous peoples. The main force of the current Indigenous Taiwan movement was born in the martial law period (May 1949 to July 1987). We were then baptized by the critical environmental disasters in Indigenous areas in the following decades. The 1999 Jiji earthquake, also known as 921 Earthquake, was a 7.3 ML or 7.7 Mw earthquake which occurred in Jiji, Nantou County, Taiwan on 21 September 1999 at 01:47:12 local time. 2,415 people were killed, 11,305 injured, and NT$300 billion worth of damage was done. Then, August 7, 2009: typhoon Morakot made landfall just before midnight. August 8, 2009: After midnight, most of the districts in south Taiwan recorded heavy rainfall, and wrought catastrophic damage. The disaster resulted in a total of 728 deaths and caused roughly NT$110 billion in damages. Most recently we went through the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan as part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). From its outbreak on 21 January 2020 to 19 March 2023, confirmed cases have been 10,239,998 with 19,005 deaths in Taiwan. The restoration efforts following these disasters created a vital opportunity for Indigenous activists to return to their tribal communities and engage in solidarity actions. These included mapping traditional territories, rebuilding community self-governing bodies, learning from heritage keepers about traditional labor practices and storytelling, and rethinking our conditioned relationship to the state and market in search of creative alternatives. Most importantly, these actions inspired and encouraged a new generation of tribal activists. Furthermore, the Chernobyl disaster of 26 April 1986 and the Fukushima nuclear accident of 11 March 2011 became integral reference points that strengthened and energized the anti–nuclear waste dumping movement on Pongso no Tao. This, in turn, contributed to the self-empowerment of the Tao people, enabling them to negotiate collectively for an alternative future. When we speak of embeddedness and connectedness, we mean that Indigenous peoples live within interspecies habitats, bound to all beings around us. This relationship must be embodied and enacted in our daily lives, our collective livelihoods, and our seasonal production activities—guided by Indigenous ecological knowledge and institutions, and initiated through ceremonies and rituals in every place of work. Tribal activists are engaged in a process of self-learning, building the strength to resist and the resilience to endure, ultimately becoming Indigenous revivers with the inner qualities and practical capacities of Masling. The broken environment and the crisis within our communities present both challenges and opportunities to restore our roots in the Indigenous bio-cultural matrix. In this journey, embodiment precedes implementation—it is the foundation of self-strengthening and capacity-building. For mobilization and organization, we rely on spontaneous initiative, voluntary teamwork, resource pooling, and consensus-making as guiding principles in the Indigenous Taiwan movement. These approaches allow us to avoid dependence on Western-style funding and the hierarchies of managerial control. The path of the Indigenous reviver moves through stages: embedded and connected; exploring and evolving; channeling and visioning; revolving and restoring. From a deep-rooted bond with the land, nature, ancestral domains, and the spiritual realms, we draw forth a system of meaning and values to which we are bound: we depend upon and engage with it; we love and cherish it; we respect and hold it in sacred awe. Here, we cultivate our unique tribal-habitat knowledge systems—traditional subsistence practices, earth-sea ethics, and sacred taboos. Through them, we gain the energy to act, the wisdom to adapt, and the will to endure. Through free association and self-organization, a new core of Indigenous resurgence is emerging—a collective of tribal organizers and action coordinators. Together, we initiate survival-based eco-occupations and direct self-governance. We develop collaborative economies and sustainable collective livelihoods. We build tribal governance structures, laying the foundations for an Indigenous political entity grounded in custodianship of our territories of life and in nature’s sovereignty. We are brothers and sisters not by blood or shared water source, but by a shared vision and sacred purpose—as comrades in spirit and praxis. We forge a self-determined Indigenous union for our common future. We gather as Indigenous revivers to ignite a wildfire of collective momentum, carrying forward the work of revolution and restoration. Ours is a way of collective subsistence in harmony with the ecological system—a way of living that reveals the mysteries of life itself. Challenge to seek for a fresh turning point This is a perennial struggle—to break free from the sweeping colonial exploitation of natural ecosystems and biodiversity by industrial “civilization” and capitalism, and to end the ongoing colonial oppression of Indigenous peoples by modern nation-states. The heart of our actions and practices lies in working together to dismantle the collective relationship of domination between colonizers and the colonized—both people and nature—that so deeply distorts our shared humanity and spirituality. For post-traditional Indigenous revivers, the challenge is to reorient ourselves in a chaotic, post-colonial and post-modern world. We carry a deep understanding of history—from the violence of colonial conflicts and oppression to the unaddressed wounds of transitional injustice—and we seek a reconciliation between nature and people, a healing of trauma for all. Our traditional knowledge systems are rooted in the rhythmic cycles of ecological life, attuned not only to balance and renewal but also to the realities of catastrophic natural disturbances. Masling offers a simple yet profound path, embracing the diversity and complexity that both nature and culture must achieve. In envisioning a common future for humankind, we move from the strictly Indigenous to the intentionally inclusive—turning from the sole preservation of diverse Indigenous traditions toward the embrace of pluralistic, intentional alternatives. Grounded in Indigenous decolonization and the sustainable self-determination of all ethnic groups in Taiwan, we are initiating an inclusive nation-building process for all beings and all forms of life. Its aim is to affirm the sovereignty of Nature on Earth, safeguarding the trinity of linguistic, cultural, and biological diversity. This is both the fundamental challenge and the great opportunity for the coming generations of Indigenous revivers. Sources & References: Pasibutbut (pray for a bumper harvest of millet) as a good example of Masling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ggweiEVd8U Tradition et Transformation : Le Pasi but but, Un Chant Polyphonique Des Bunun de Taiwan [Tradition and Transformation : Pasibutbut, a Polyphony of the Bunun of Taiwan]. by Wu, Rongshun. Paris 10, 1996. http://www.theses.fr/1996PA100121. The Moon Traveling Through Space-Time. by Lin Tai, Li Wensu, Lin Shengxian, Morning Star Publication, February 1998 (a Bunun Isbukun collection of traditional storytelling in IPA transcription and Traditional Chinese translation.)