Hello, everyone. Last time, we simply introduced how Buddhism was introduced to China. This time, we will have a look at the features of Buddhism culture. It can be generalized as the following words. The first is ‘Empty’. our Noble Truths The third is cause and effect. And the fourth is transmigration. Air is the origin of “Empty.” This is the cosmology of Buddhism, also a noble one. The highest status of understanding. It is the truth to life. Everything in this world including mountain, river, earth, plants Human and animal and even dust Are originated from Karma's aggregation. And it will die out with disperse of Karma. So,all the existence we see Are born with Karma. Which means that the nature of everything is Actually 'Emptiness'. The theory of Karma can explain that everything in the world are Interdependent with each other. If there is not relationship and Karma, Nothing can exist. For example, if a person live on the world, He survive because some people grow crops. Because people weave, we can have clothes. Because people drive bus, We can take one. To every place we want to go. If there is no such Karma, We can’t survive. It is the Karma. So, in the Buddhism scripture, the Big Four are all vanity. So, what is the Big Four? Think. Actually, those refer to Earth, water ,fire, wind—the four elements to construct the world. Like our Five Elements, Which includes Wood, Fire, Earth, Gold and Water, The Indian Buddhism includes four elements. Which are earth, water , wind and fire. Here means the basic elements in physic world. If it is limited in such field, It develops into the materialism. So, these thoughts reflect some materialism. The big four mentioned in the Buddhism scripture, Follow the original meaning in India. And it was also made more profound and Buddhism. The Big Four elements are Cosmo-physic elements. The mountains and land belong to the “Big Earth”. Sea and river belong to the “Big Water”. Sun and heat belong to “Big Fire”. Wind and space belong to "Big Wind". It is such a concept. When it refer to the physiological status, Hair, bone and flesh belong to "Big Earth". Blood belongs to "Big Water". Temperature belongs to "Big Fire". Breath belongs to "Big Wind". From the aspect of matters, Hard things belong to "Big Earth" and humid things belong to "Big Water". There are many different explanations. Whatever the explanation is, The Big Four refers to the features of the natural materials. If the features of all the Big Four is vanity, Everything should be vanity. By looking through the vanity, Karma exists. When the Karma disappears, everything dies. There is nothing permanent. And everything will die out. What kind of truth it is? I think for human beings, One can truly understanding the nature of life by Penetrating this fact. We won't pursue immortality when we are Old enough. We won't do that. Because we know that we will die sooner or later. So, the vanity here is very Reasonable. The second topic is the Four Truths. It is the value of truth in Buddhism. Bitter Truth tells us to see the life as shipping in the sea of bitterness. The Buddhists think that The whole life of people, Is filled with all kinds of bitterness. There is eight bitterness. Like the Bitterness of Birth. When the infant was born, His skin and fresh are very fragile, It is painful to touch and adapt to the outside world. The first noise is cry Instead of laughter. The second is the bitterness of ageing. When one is old, he loses his hair teeth. He will also has difficulty in eating and walking. The Bitterness of Ageing is filled with all kinds of pains. The third is the bitterness of illness. It is caused by all kinds of diseases On our body. The fourth is the Bitterness of Death. When one is dying, he will fear the death Also, the desire for living will make him painful. Hatred will also make people painful. There also bitterness of love and separation And the bitterness of not getting. The mental pain when we cannot Do what we want to do or Pursue what we can't get. There are many such people nowadays. There is also the bitterness of collection. People's life is the collection of bitterness. This is what we call the truth of bitterness. The second Truth is called the Truth of Cause So, what causes bitterness? Why there are so many kind of bitterness? The Truth of Cause tells us that The cause is the “Ye” and “Huo”. “Ye”, refers to the evilness of body, mouth and thoughts. “Huo” refers to confusion. The third is the Truth of Extinction. It means to get rid of all the bitterness and its cause. It teaches people to learn, feel and practice. To pursue truth and to transcend the vulgar pursuit and get rid of the low level desire. And to pursue the integration and spiritual world. It is a kind of spiritual freedom. The fourth is the Magga-sacca It teaches us to drive the boat of life Away from the bitterness to the bank of happiness. Now people have known the bitterness and causes of it. If they are determined to get rid of all the bitterness, what should they do? “Magga-sacca” is consisted of methods and routines. There are 8 correct ways called the right view, the right thought, speech, work Life, meditation, tranquility and spirit. We will leave this And if you are interested in skandha, you can read some materials. We will not discuss this due to lack of time. The third feature is Samskaras It is the view of life of Buddhism. It's the most basic principles of Buddhism. “Karma” is the cause. “Effect” is the result. “Ye” refers all the behavior mentally and physically.. There are three “ye” “Effect” is the retribution of “Ye” It is the effect caused by the Three Ye. Cause is the Ye and the effect is the retribution. Inclusion, the goodness caused the good result and the evilness caused the bitter result. the specific goodness gain the specific bless And the specific evilness gain the specific bitterness. It is the law of cause and effect. So it is the basic thought. So, why the evil people will also gain the bless? Because it has done a lot of goodness in the past. There is an unexplainable phenomenon. Here are some examples. So it teaches people how to save themselves and others. We won't tack too much about the 12 Karma. The fourth aspect is the the six great divisions in the wheel of karma It is the manifesting way of cause and effect. There is cause and effect And it comes to the six wheels. It has many other names, and it Is how all the lives transmigrate. the six ways can be divided into three good ways and three evil ways. The three good ways include heaven, human and Asura. The three evil ways are Hell, Ghost of Starvation, Animosity A Buddhist thinks that dead people are truly dead. They transmigrate. So there are different destinations for transmigration, which Has been mentioned as the six ways. Asura is a good way, But it is not good as heaven. And it has more bitterness than people. So sometimes it is regarded an evil way. So the Buddhists believe that everybody should obey panca silani (the five percepts) So six roots makes people neat If one conducts the five percepts and the 10 goodness, He can be raised to the heaven, Which tells people How to restrict oneself in the daily life. So that one can own a different destination. However, this is not true By scientific analysis. Death is death. It is not the disappearance of karma. The disappeared body can't be transferred into another world. But we know that we fear When we are dying. So, in this perspective Those who are sick and dying Can be relieved, If he believe in this. It is valuable for terminal care. So, it has some positive effect In medical application. We set the science aside. In mental world, It has its own credits. So, we will talk about its ideological features. There are in general these four aspects. Let's talk about the influence of Buddhism culture on TCM.