The Three Pagodas at Chongsheng temple were first built during the Tang dynasty (618-907)
Up till now it already has over 1300 years of history
The Three Pagodas act as the Buddhist Capitol for the whole of Southeast Asia
This is one of it's important functions
The second is that
In the past, Dali used to be a state of its own
Altogether it had 22 emperors
Among them, 9 emperors chose
to become a Buddhist monk here
As long as the pagoda is here, the whole country will be safe
So you can see
how special this place is, how important
how sacred
You can say it's reference point for Chinese Buddhist architecture
because it was once the temple for the imperial families
Feast your eyes upon its splendor!
Hello
Is this where the vegetarian food is?
Yes
Will it open at lunchtime?
It should do, yes
You haven't started believing yet, am I right?
Right, yeah we haven't
Since you've come to this temple, your fate is intwined with Buddhism
People who don't have a destiny with Buddhism won't be able to come inside
We want to understand
Understand, okay
I'll get a couple of my books to show you
Study this book
respectfully and it will make all your sufferings disappear
What about his one?
This book is more important
This book is the foundation of Buddhism
Ah, the foundation
Yes, the foundation of Buddhism
He (the squirrel) also has goodness in him
maybe he did something wrong in his last life
Now he's become a beast, but his destiny hasn't been lost
In his past life-- Right now he can listen to many Buddhist teachings
He can listen to lots about Amitabha Buddha, in the next life maybe he'll become a person again and practice Buddhism here
When a Buddhist looks at an alms bowl of water, he sees countless bacteria
If he doesn't chant (to send the bacteria to heaven), it's like eating a living being's flesh
That's buddhism...
Karma, some masters say
they only talk about karma, cause and effect
grow melons, get melons - grow beans, get beans
In the middle, there is destiny and supernatural power, but they don't talk about that
This karma, who controls it?
We control it ourselves
No one can intervene
Now
The director of a religious ceremony or an office worker comes
a leader comes
A local police chief comes
When a meeting is held, they're seated at the front
"Next I'd like to introduce myself, the chair of the meeting"
so-and-so leader, so-and-so leader, every leader stands at the top
Us monks line up at the back
It's not right
But right now it's the Final Epoch
What's the Final Epoch?
Buddhism has already reached it's final phase
Soon, in a few thousand years, it will be finished
We're going to eat the vegetarian food here
This is the vegetarian canteen here
Doesn't look bad at all
Actually, in Dali this isn't the only place you can eat vegetarian food
There's lots of places outside too
We'll take you guys to have a look
Hey guys
Hello
Are you guys queuing for the vegetarian food?
Yeah
Ah you are
It's free here, you don't have to pay anything
Do you guys comes here every lunchtime?
Yeah
I welcome you all to join us in carrying forward Chinese traditional culture
In carrying forward this vegetarian food
One bow
Rise
Three bows
Please put your palms together in front of you
Before the food recite "thankful words"
< Showing gratitude for the food >
After finishing, you're not allowed to grab anything else
Just now, I grabbed something, but I didn't know. They said
if you want to eat, you have to eat inside. You can't just grab something else
You're not allowed to waste any soup
If you leave soup, you can't pass through
You have to get your steamed bun and wipe the plate clean
and eat the bun
Anyway, the rules here are pretty strict
Right now we're at Dali's second vegetarian canteen
Yirantang
7RMB ($1.06)
Thanks
Our vegetarian food, our diet, what are we advocating?
Simplicity, health, environmental protection
These 6 characters
In any case, we're just a big family
Anyway, we all do whatever we need to
Why choose to not eat meat?
Raising animals
We waste so much grain
and waste our water sources
waste our soil
And finally our atmosphere will receive
all sorts of affects from animals
High above Yirantang canteen
it’s easy to see why so many of the people of Dali are so connected to nature
Cangshan mountain
Erhai Lake
are names so intwined with Dali
that despite development in the area
you cannot have one without the others
People flock from all over China
to settle down in this land of dreams
Coming here, it's not hard to understand
why Yunnan province is called the "South of Colourful Clouds"
You want three?
No, we only have three
How long have you guys been open here?
We've been here for nine years
Eight years in Xizhou?
Yeah, we were in Xizhou before for eight years
So 17 years altogether?
More
What time do you usually start in the morning?
4 o'clock
You start at 4am?
Yeah
Wow so early
Luckily, we joined the Posu pastries process in the early morning
Are you making salted twist rolls?
Now I'm making Xizhou pastries
Oh, you've started making the Xizhou Baba?
Did you just add salt?
Baking soda
Oh soda
Xizhou, a small town about 15km from Dali
where this couple is from
is home to the famous Xizhou Baba
Due to the irresistible texture and taste of this pastry
it has since spread all through Yunnan
I'd like two salty ones and a sweet one
There's only sweet, no salty
This man simply can’t wait for them to be served!
Waited for the whole morning
my drool's already filled up a few buckets
We only have three
What do you call this?
Back-basket (beilanzi)
This
pea shoots-- luoluo
Oh, bamboo basket?
Yeah
I'm selling vegetables
Don't need any plastic?
THat's pretty great, good for the environment
Yeah
A quiet venture into the surrounding villages
gives a taste of what Dali Ancient Town may once have felt like
Life here is slow and calm
And even closer to nature
There are a lot of spiders here aren't there?
Yeah, there's a lot of spiders
"Turn your head around and see the coast"
This should be read from right to left
This is a Buddhist phraseology
The meaning is that to encourage people who have made a mistake
or anyone who's done something bad, to stop
All you have to do is stop and turn your head
and behind you is the shoreline
You can begin again and be a good person
So Sakyamuni (Buddhist patriarch) will always give you the opportunity to become a good person
He won't punish you, he will encourage you to start again and be a
good man
According to one historical tome we perused
in ancient times, only emperors were allowed to listen to monks recite Buddhist teachings in this sacred temple, Wuweisi
The original temple was built in the year 793AD
Commoners had to go to less significant temples
I heard before there were people
there was a disease before, so they come collect drinking water here?
Oh yeah that's right
By themselves, these temples have a lingering charm
If you look carefully you can see
Every brick, tile and the decorations on top
I just feel that compared to many places, there's a lot of temples here and they're actually genuine
We've been here for three hours
and still haven't seen another person
I never thought that I'd be able to see "wind-flower-snow-moon" in your hat!
The red is flowers, the white is the moon
What about wind?
This is wind
This is wind? Oh!
The moon?
Moon?
This is the moon
Oh the roundness is moon haha
So creative!
Because the Bodhisattva Guanyin is beautiful
Mhmm
He said "That girl is beautiful, if she could be my wife that would be great!"
If you can read the scriptures, I'll give you a few
Take as many as you want
Wow so many
Have a look
After reading these book, you'll know the benefits of taking kind actions
I'll have a look
Are these the same?
Oh, they're the same
There are literally 1000’s of celestial beings within Buddhism
They are decorated in gold
and positioned looking down onto us from their greatness
Reminding us...
of our mortality
In Dali Ancient town, the attention to detail and symbolism
is etched into everyday life
Ordinary houses are complete with artistry, calligraphy
and an impressive style
We visited a historical Baizu general’s house
which continues to echo these sentiments down through history
Yards like this are quadrangles
Here's there's three and four sided yards
because this place's (Dali's) fashion is
three house-facing sides and a wall, four house-facing sides and five skylights
This architecture is the style of a wealthy and influential family
but right now the number of five skylight type buildings that have been preserved
is virtually nothing. Maybe in Xizhou there's a few that have been saved
For example a mansion for the most successful candidate
An official position for whoever passed the imperial examinations
The number one scholar
But it's not certain that this was there's
This is Cangshan? You can see Cangshan from here
Yes, this is Cangshan
I feel like being inside this room has made me go back to ancient times
Undergoing 600 years baptism of wind and rain
means this is the only 300m or so of city wall left
Dali
Much is written about community in Dali
It’s clear
that many people here have an unapologetic sense of self
It’s inspiring
Here's the small one
Gosh!
So you're an artist?
I just paint things
In Guilin I've never seen a place like Dali Art Factory market
or like the Four Seasons Market
So I feel it's all very new
Really?
Yeah, for example you're making and selling paintings by hand
and those guys are making stuff
to sell themselves
an area like this
I've never seen a place like this where I've been before
There's a lot of market vendors here
Occasionally everyone will open a market and set up a place
to come and sell stuff ourselves
Then do you like selling things at the market?
Or you have to do it?
I don't have to sell things here
I paint if I'm not selling at the market
No one's looking after me
So it's actually because you like it that you come to sell at the market?
I like...
Painting
Yeah
Right
But I think this is able to let me live, I think it's pretty good
Yeah, it's pretty great!
Yeah
I just wanted to confirm with you, I think it's pretty great
Dali is a place where people come to make their dreams a reality
Whatever that dream might be
Maybe you can find the answers here
We will be releasing deleted scenes for YouTube members and Patreons soon
Stay tuned!