(East-West Question) Yu Xinli: Why has yoga become a link between China and India in cultural exchanges?
China News Agency, Kunming, June 20th: Why has yoga become a link between China and India in cultural exchanges?
——Interview with Yu Xinli, Director of China-India People-to-People Exchange Center, Yunnan Nationalities University
Author Xiong Jiaxin
June 21st is International Yoga Day.
Yoga, which originated in ancient India, was introduced to China with Buddhism more than 2,000 years ago, with far-reaching influence.
What is yoga and how does yoga become the link between China and India in cultural exchanges?
Yu Xinli, director of the China-India People-to-People Exchange Center at Yunnan Nationalities University, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East-West Question".
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Agency reporter: Please briefly introduce the origin and development of yoga. Why is yoga the representative of Indian classical civilization?
Yu Xinli:
Yoga originated in ancient India.
The word "Yoga" is taken from the Rig Veda root word "Yuj", which means "connection, union, oneness".
Yoga, one of the six philosophies of ancient India, inherits the idea of the Upanishads "Brahma and I are one", and is the master of Indian classical philosophical practices.
What modern people call yoga mainly refers to yogic practices including asanas and pranayama, through practice to achieve the purpose of self-cultivation.
About 300 BC, Patanjali wrote the "Yoga Sutra" and identified the eight branches of yoga: precepts, diligent, asana, pranayama, sensory binding, concentration, meditation and samadhi. It is a progressive relationship, marking the formal formation of the Yoga School.
An Indian yoga master leads his disciples to teach the students.
Photo by China News Agency by Kun Min
Since the 19th century, modern Indian philosophers represented by Dianxi have merged the mainstream Indian philosophy Vedanta with yoga, forming the systematic development of modern yoga, making yoga a popular philosophy spread outside India and having a wide impact.
Yoga is the jewel of classical Indian civilization, and its philosophical roots are the Vedas.
As a collection of ancient Indian knowledge, the Vedas are also the foundation of Indian philosophy, religion and literature.
Yoga is extremely inclusive, and India has a practice of yoga whether it is orthodox or unorthodox philosophy.
In modern times, the confluence of yoga and Vedanta can be regarded as the confluence of the master of practice and the master of philosophy, which in fact has achieved the revival of traditional Indian civilization and thought.
Indian yoga masters perform in Dujiangyan, Sichuan.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Lang
China News Agency reporter: How has yoga spread and developed in China?
Yu Xinli:
More than 2,000 years ago, the idea and practice of yoga were introduced into China along with Buddhism.
Early yoga did not enter China as a separate philosophical sect. Its thoughts and practices were scattered in Buddhist scriptures. The Mahayana classic "Yogi's Land Treatise" describes the seventeen realms that yoga practice needs to experience.
Mahayana Buddhism has a yogic school, named after the practice of yoga, which has influenced Zen, Tiantai, Faxiang, Pure Land and Tantra in China.
The "Yi Jin Jing" created by Bodhidharma, the first ancestor of Zen Buddhism, also has something in common with the practice of yoga.
Yoga really entered the Chinese public view in the 1980s.
In 1985, the Zhang Huilan yoga series broadcast on CCTV became a hit.
Since then, yoga has entered the Chinese public's field of vision as a way of strengthening the body.
Entering the 21st century, yoga has developed rapidly in China on a large scale.
According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 150,000 yoga studios and yoga studios, 500,000 yoga teachers and more than 50 million yoga practitioners in China.
With the rise of online platforms, yoga spreads more widely and rapidly through the Internet.
Yoga lovers practice water paddle board yoga at Fengqi Lake in Huzhou, Zhejiang.
Photo by Xie Shangguo issued by China News Agency
However, with the rapid development, the yoga market has also experienced some situations, such as the lack of books on yoga philosophy and the inaccurate translation of related terms, the lack of professional guidance in the industry, the uneven level of coaches, and the excessive focus of practitioners on asanas cause bodily injury.
It can be said that the Chinese yoga market is in urgent need of regulation.
In June 2015, the China-India Yoga Institute was established in Yunnan Nationalities University. It is the first yoga institute outside of India, the founder of yoga education in Chinese colleges and universities.
Since its establishment, China-India Yoga Institute has cultivated many professionals with both theoretical literacy and practical skills.
Teachers and students of the China-India Yoga Institute of Yunnan Nationalities University practice yoga.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Jiaxian
In June 2018, Yunnan Nationalities University and Nehru University in India jointly established the China-India People-to-People Exchange Center.
The center has carried out in-depth research work to promote the cultural exchanges between China and India, and is committed to the study of the history of yoga philosophy.
Brochures and textbooks of the China-India People-to-People Exchange Center of Yunnan Nationalities University.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Jiaxian
China News Agency reporter: What is the significance of the spread of yoga in China for the people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and India?
Yu Xinli:
On the philosophical level, yoga and Chinese Taoism have something in common, which lays the foundation for mutual learning between the two major civilizations of China and India.
Yoga inherits the idea of "Brahma and I are one" in the Upanishads.
In fact, the philosophical concept of Brahman in the Upanishads is consistent with the philosophical concept of Tao in the Tao Te Ching.
In the Tao Te Ching, "Dao produces one, one produces two, two produces three, and three produces all things", which is similar to the concept of "the world originates from Brahman" in the Upanishads.
The spread and development of yoga in China has far-reaching influence.
The two major civilizations of China and India exchange and learn from each other, and it is necessary to strengthen dialogue and promote people-to-people bonds. In this context, yoga has become an excellent way for the Chinese people to understand India.
On the one hand, yoga conforms to the national fitness boom, and is easy to accept and widely respected among the people; on the other hand, as a representative of Indian classical civilization, the profound philosophical thoughts contained in yoga are an effective way to understand India.
On August 25, 2018, the "Zen Yoga Culture Festival" was held in Songshan, Henan Province, and an Indian yoga instructor demonstrated yoga in front of the mountain gate of the Shaolin Temple.
Photo by Wang Zhongju issued by China News Agency
At the same time, exchanges and mutual learning in the fields of yoga, Tai Chi, and traditional Chinese medicine have continued to develop, bringing new opportunities for China-India people-to-people and cultural exchanges.
Yoga is popular in China, and Tai Chi is also popular in India.
Yoga and Ayurveda are both ancient Indian traditional medical treatments. The mutual learning between the two and traditional Chinese medicine promotes the development of cultural exchanges between China and India. At the moment when global public health cooperation is facing severe challenges, it is also conducive to promoting the cause of human health. development of.
China News Service: What is your outlook on the cultural exchanges between China and India based on yoga?
Yu Xinli:
China and India are in the same eastern civilization system and have many similarities. There have always been close dialogues and exchanges in the long history, which is conducive to expanding common interests, enhancing cultural resonance, and promoting the stable and healthy development of bilateral relations. .
In the future, yoga is expected to become a stronger bond for people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and India.
In the future, more research should be done from the perspective of the exchanges between the two major civilizations of China and India, especially the in-depth study of Indian philosophical thought from the perspective of Eastern philosophy, focusing on the comparative study of Chinese and Indian philosophical thought.
At the same time, promoting the sinicization and localization of yoga will become the main direction in the future.
The so-called sinicization and localization are based on maintaining the essence of yoga thought, combined with the concept and inheritance of traditional Chinese culture, to improve the public's in-depth understanding of yoga, and to continuously expand the audience and influence.
At the same time, China and India should further deepen exchanges and cooperation in yoga, jointly promote the industrialization of yoga, make full use of new media resources to promote the widespread dissemination of yoga, promote the integration of sports and education, and promote the integration of yoga with Tai Chi and traditional Chinese medicine. Development drives the overall awareness of yoga in society.
It is expected that more yoga practitioners will become the messengers of China-India people-to-people and cultural exchanges in the future. The China-India people-to-people exchanges with yoga as a link have broad prospects.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Jiaxian
Yu Xinli, Director of the China-India People-to-People Exchange Center at Yunnan Minzu University, Master Supervisor of China-India Yoga Institute, Chinese Collaborative Supervisor of Ph.D. Associate researcher.
He has been engaged in international exchanges for more than 30 years. In recent years, he has devoted himself to the study of China-India people-to-people and cultural exchanges and Indian philosophy. He has compiled a series of books on China-India people-to-people exchanges, "Knocking on the Door of China-India Great Harmony", "India in the Eyes of Chinese Youth" and "China in the Eyes of Indian Youth" , wrote "Yoga History Outline" and many other academic works.