I think it is very interesting how the Chinese worldview was applied to various aspects of life and culture. In the instructions for the Yan family, he talked about how environment affects one’s pronunciations. Typically, in Chinese culture, all things have affiliation with a certain direction, color, feeling, etc. So it makes sense that north and south and the different environments found there would be understood as connected to the ways that the people talk and act. This application of traditional beliefs extends to Buddhism, the ideas of which were merged with indigenous beliefs in order to form something new, a form of Buddhism that was uniquely suited to the Chinese and their understanding of the world and the afterlife.
Writing and other content
