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Buddhism is on the rise once again, partly perhaps because its positive attitude feels well-suited to an emerging superpower.
佛教在此复兴部分原因，可能源于它的积极态度很适合崛起中的超级大国的需求。
Particularly popular is the Zen form of Buddhism.
佛教中的禅宗在这里尤为盛行。
Little surprise given that Zen, although now typically associated with Japan, started off life in China.
虽然现在一提到“禅”常常会联想到日本，但它最早起源于中国。这点并不让人意外。
And I'm going to explore Zen in one of the places in the world where it is most vigorous...Hong Kong.
接下来，我将去探寻世界上“禅”最为兴盛的地方之一——香港。
Our sixth wonder is the giant Buddha that overlooks this great Asian city.
我们来到的第六个圣地，就是俯瞰这座亚洲大都市的天坛大佛。
This mammoth bronze statue was completed in 1993.
这尊巨大的青铜佛像于1993年建成。
It symbolises the relationship between man and nature, people and religion.
他象征了人与自然的关系，以及人与宗教的关系。
The building of the giant Buddha in Hong Kong was a reassertion of an old Buddhist tradition of constructing massive Buddhist images.
这尊坐落在香港的巨大佛像，表明修筑巨型佛像这一佛教传统的回归。
And the monks who initiated the project in Hong Kong had visited Japan,
当年启动这一计划的香港僧侣们拜访了日本和中国大陆的许多地方，
and they'd visited various sites in mainland China and seen medieval massive images of Buddhas.
也参考了许多古代的巨型佛像造型。
And this was something they were trying to re-create in Lantan.
这就是他们想要在大屿山修建的佛像。
It's the only statue of Buddha to face north towards Beijing,
这是唯一座面向北方、遥望北京的佛像。
and is named Tian Tan after the Temple of Heaven in that city.
“天坛大佛”之名也是取自北京天坛。
When Buddhism first starts out, it seems that people actively choose not to represent the Buddha figuratively.
在佛教传播之初，人们刻意不去把佛陀的形象具体化。
But then as the philosophy passes through regions like Afghanistan,
但是当它传播到阿富汗等地时，
which had a really strong Greek influence, thanks to the invasion of Alexander the Great,
这些地方由于亚历山大大帝的入侵而深受希腊文化影响。
it becomes the done thing to represent the Buddha in human form.
在此影响下，人们开始用人类的形象来描绘佛陀的样貌就变得顺理成章了。
Now, once the belief system enters China, a new tradition gains popularity.
而当这种信仰体系进入中国时，一种新的做法流行开来。
Not just to represent the Buddha in human form, but to do so on a monumental scale.
即不仅用人的形象来表现佛陀的样貌，还把佛像的尺寸变得巨大。
And that's an art form that's now being revived here in Hong Kong.
如今这艺术形式在香港得到重生。
