1

at the very top you see there's a skinny man with gray hair on the both side ,
he was Sakyamuni. the founder of the Buddhism.
so what happened the story back to this way.
I would like to make it very simple for you.
Sakyamuni used to be the prince in one of the kindoms in ancient India.
he's been protected so well. never seen people suffer from disease.
but one day when he out of the kindom. he saw people dying suffered from the disease.
got puzzled questions oh my heart is broken. I don't want to be the prince anymore.
I want to go to the snow mountain to practice. to find the true religion to reduce my people's pain.
so he did he went to the snow mountain. practiced 8 years. and almost died.
but somehow he got survived. because take a look. on the top on his left side there was a deer. gave him milk
on his right side there was a monky, gave him peach. so he survived.
that's why he made the rules for the disciples. the buddhists. please no killing. animals are friends.
without animal helping me there's no Buddha. I could have already died already
so the Buddhist you can have the milk. you can take the fruits but no meat. animals are friend.
harmonies with creatures.that's from the philosophy

2

guys take a look in the central line, to get close look, come on
in the central line, the first one, the biggest one is bodhisattva.
we got a name for her the goddess of mercy. only she can conquer the crazy fish.
you see the fish she is standing on. the fish , the mouth looks like a duck mouth.
in mandarin we called aoyu鳌鱼. or we just simply translate in English that would be crazy fish.
this position right here, play a very important role in our Chinese culture.
why? in the Chinese new year's Eve, yeah nian nian you yu and also the merchants, the businessman
entrepreneurs. they would like to come here to burn the joss stick.
lit the joystick to get the first good luck for the next year.
in Mandrain we called duzhan antou独占鳌头
so that's why the prayers they want to do the business.
so the first joss stick is very important in the first of the year.

3

ladies and gentlemen welcome to Hangzhou. today we are going to visit the Linying Temple,
Linying Temple was the oldest one 1600 years in the south east of China,
the largest and oldest Buddhism Temple. and take a look.
there are four Chinese characters. 咫尺西天，what was the meaning of 咫尺，the meaning of 咫尺，means like a very short distance, that's the meaurement unit in later Zhou dynasty.
Xi'tian means western heaven where is the western heaven.
because according to the Buddhism. Up there's a western heaven.
where we have a nickname for that the pure land.
LingYing Temple we are going to visit today. Lingyin means soul retreat. where you can have your soul retreated.
very short distance, that means if you have any misery question. puzzled question.
very short distance that's the monastery佛教 world， the Buddihism Temple you go you get inside and light the joss stick. the smoke goes to western heaven the pure land where the Buddha is waiting for you. you talk to him via the smoke. so he will know that and you know.
just show your sincerely. then you will guide all the resolution. you will find out all right.
so very short distance to western heaven.

4

please take a look the lions on the both sides.
so question, which one is male and which one is female?
please check it and tell me. you think this is male.
look where are the balls? it must be somebody tell you.
because here's the ball. man kick the ball. and right here come on.
here's a baby lion.mama taking care of the baby lion.
when you get out of the house. women on the right side that means women are always right.

by the way
there are two more palaces standing in the outer court. the Middle Harmony中和殿，and this is the Preserving Harmony保和殿.
the Middle Harmony was the palaces where the emperor to take a rest. while on their way from the inner court to the outer court. which served as a super fancy vip resting chamber for the emperor. the building over here is called the Preserving Harmany. on the top there's a plaque with the blue as the background. that's the name of the building. Hall of Preserving Harmony. so that's the place where they, those people want to take a picture with you.
this also the place where the emperor held this famous imperial examination.
that examination worked out in this country for 1300 years.
that system helped the emperors to select the talents from their people. that was also the most important way , most important passage for those commoners to shift their social status.
from a commoner平民 to the ministers or officials.
so that's why they had to work really really hard tried to stand out in those examinations.
that system composed four levels. country level, provincial level, national level and imperial examination. imperial examination that is the highest level of examinations in this system.
which took place in this palace. emperor himself presided the examination.
three scholars who scored the highest, they would have the honor to walk through this marble passage. walked on this marble passage. and walked through that central gate.
which was deemed as the greatest honor for scholars in the past. and then they would become the officials and ministers. that is a great honor for that family too.
so that the family would encourage their boys did it really really hard.
tried to stand out in the examination. even though you passed though the first level of examination. like the coutry level. you have some privileges for not participating the military service or labor service. being exempted from miscellaneous taxed.
more important is, you don't need to drop you kneels to those magistrate to the officials.
not mentioning those provincial level. national level and imperial examination. they had many privileges. but did the emperor have any education? yeah , the education system for the emperor was very very tough. they could ony take three days off throughout the whole year.
they started their education at around five o'clock in the morning. very early, very tough.
the old emperors is like the best scholars from the country to be the teachers of those princes.
so most of the emperors were very knowledgeable. most of them, I would say, most of them are the artist.