Episode 2 Class Clips

I'm Peter Owen Jones. I'm a vicar in the Church of England

and I've taken a year off from my parishes to see for myself

the richness of faith across six continents.

I'm going to witness rituals never seen before,

making people's journeys from birth to death.

I'm going to encounter strange and beautiful faiths,

expressing people's deepest hopes and fears.

How can you say such things?

My biggest hope is to understand humanity's timeless fascination with the divine..

Am I dreaming?

This part of America is famous for Evangelists,

whose preaching of traditional values keep the Bible Belt true to its name.

And I've been invited to meet with the Revered Jared Sawyer

and his family.

They're not here.

I've timed by arrival badly.

It's the school run, a daily chore for this renowned preacher.

-How are you?

-I'm doing good.

-I'm Pete.

-Nice to meet you.

-You Jared?

-Yes, sir.

'Jared believes that God has called him to preach.'

-Wow, so you must be going to public school.

-Yes, sir.

-When?

-Well, I started last Monday.

How did you feel... that you had to preach?

Well, I was sleeping one night and I had a dream.

I had a dream, I don't know if it was true

or if it were really a dream, but I was having a dream.

And I felt that God was calling me to be a minister.

I have my pencils and pens in here.

I have all of my sermons labelled.

-What's your favourite verse in the Bible?

-Philippians 4:13.

That says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

-Do you feel that?

-Yes, sir. If I want to be a pastor of my own church,

I can be a pastor of my own church, as long as I just believe it.

GOSPEL SINGING

Tonight Jared is guest preacher at a nearby Baptist church.

GOSPEL SINGING

Our topic for this evening is God's amazing grace.

-SHOUTING AND CHEERING

-First, what is amazing?

Well, man defines amazing as wonder.

Well, we know that our God fits this description.

-Uh-huh.

-Yeah.

I don't know about you, but he makes me wonder all the time.

We all need God's amazing Grace, in order for us to prosper.

It is your aid.

And unlike some aids that you can buy from the store,

-you can't buy grace.

-CHEERING

In these Baptist churches it's the style of preaching

that draws in the crowds.

And child preachers gain their authority from a Biblical custom

where God's spirit inspires children to preach.

..free us from sin.

Therefore do people in this place today know that you need the Lord.

You need God on a day-to-day basis to survive.

# We've come this far by faith

# Leading on the road. #

But surely only adults can be priests, can be ministers?

-No.

-No, no, God can use anybody.

-Amen.

God is using him. God is speaking through him.

He's just an instrument for the Lord.

-You did it good.

-Thank you.

Hidden away in this part of America

is a unique off-shoot of Pentecostal Protestant Christianity.

It takes a literal reading of the Bible to its very extreme.

Jimmy? Hi.

'Jimmy Morrow is the pastor of The Church of Jesus Name.

'He's so proud of his tradition, he's even got the T-shirt.'

Let's go and look at the snake hut.

'Jimmy's been a serpent handler for 40 years.'

Gordon Bennett.

Wow! What snakes are they?

How poisonous are they?

Right.

In the name of Jesus Christ.

-I think I'll leave this bit to you.

-OK.

'For Jimmy, the Bible is literally the Word of God

'to be followed to the letter.

'He bases his tradition on just two verses of Scripture.'

You've put the verse from Mark up here on the door.

Serpent handling services originated in Tennessee in 1908.

Reading the Bible literally

was part of a back to basics protest against moral decay.

However the serpents have claimed 100 lives, so far.

I was on life support one time for 28 hours,

I refused medical treatment, and when I passed out they took me

and I didn't want to go, but when you're passed out you don't know what's going on,

they do what they want to do. I was on a respirator

and I thought that would push me out of this,

but I'm still here doing it.

HE SINGS

Pentecostal worship sometimes includes such shaking and shouting,

the people around me believe that they are filled with the Holy Ghost.

Unless Jimmy too feels anointed by the Spirit,

the snakes will stay in the box.

Picking up serpents is seen as a literal sign of God's power.

Serpent handlers have no fear, they believe they are protected by God.

THE SINGING CONTINUES

Look, I'm English. We walk into church, we stand up,

we sit down, we pray, but apart from the Eucharist,

nothing really happens.

We don't ever do anything which threatens us.

'But maybe we should.'

Could I feel called to hold one of these things?

I don't think I'd do it in any other name.

Just hold your hand out if you want him.

Oh, Hallelujah.

They'll bite you...

Yeah. In Jesus name, Hallelujah.

In the name of Jesus Christ.

Thank you Lord.

I felt complete peace.

-I didn't feel fear.

-That's good.

Praise the Lord.

-HE SHOUTS IN PRAISE

-Yeah, come on!

It's easy to look at this as an act of maniacs,

but in fact, this about letting go of human power

and allowing yourself to be held by your faith, your belief in God.

So you come away from that experience not with a sense of power,

but with a sense of being...humbled.

I'm heading south to Italy.

This is the heartland of the oldest and largest faith in Europe... Catholicism.

It's a fact that the conversion of barbarian Europe to Christianity

was largely led by Benedictine monks.

So I've come to a monastery founded over 1,000 years ago.

Hello. Luigi.

-Father Luigi.

-Nice to meet you.

-Wonderful to meet you.

Welcome in Sacro Speco of St Benedict.

Men live here and devote their lives to serving God.

They believe that by obedience and prayer, their existence is beneficial to humanity.

Benedictine monks have to vow to stay in the monastery and give absolute obedience to the Abbot.

The rule that they live by was written by St Benedict who lived in Italy 1,500 years ago.

They live by a strict timetable, praying seven times a day, seven days a week,

starting with vigils at five in the morning.

The time given to God must not be wasted.

Now the monks have gone into what they call the great silence,

which means that there's no talking in the monastery whatsoever, so we've had to nip outside.

And then, I think after breakfast they're allowed to speak again, but they don't speak a great deal.

They tend to wander around in silence most of the time and when they say hello,

it's a brief sort of... so that's it.

BELL TOLLS

The monks start praying at five every morning.

Everything here has to run by the absolute minute.

These are the SAS of monks -

these are the hard guys, these are the hard cases.

You know, when you're a little boy, if you want to be a monk,

this is the monk you want to be cos these guys are the toughest monks...

..all dressed in black in their hoods.

This way of life is for someone who actually thrives on order.

At the height of its powers in the 14th century,

the Benedictine order had 37,000 monasteries across Europe.

Today, there are just over 150 left.

How many novices at the moment?

One, only one, that's the Korean, Matean.

The Korean.

We have only one. We don't have... much vocation for the moment.

-No young men, no young Italian men?

-Not for the moment.

They don't want to enter in the monastery at the moment because they prefer to be in life,

instead of to come inside and to be alone and quiet.

But what happens in 20 years' time? Many of the brothers here are quite old.

We have to pray that our Lord will send us vocation.

We have to pray.

I'm heading off to the land of the Sami -

nomadic reindeer herders now converted to Christianity.

It's their stories and traditional way of life

that inspired much of the Santa Claus legend.

BELLS RING

Oh, will you look at that?

Oh, look at that!

Christmas card.

This Protestant church, deep in what used to be the Sami homelands,

-caters exclusively to the Sami.

SINGING

Today, they are all wearing traditional costumes

because their priest is performing a baptism.

This little boy has 14 godparents.

This area has been Protestant for hundreds of years.

The Sami were forced to convert in the 18th Century as Lutheranism spread north from Germany.

Just over 40 years ago, an African American in Chicago

received a divine revelation that he should lead his people out of America and back to the Holy Land.

Many people believe that God speaks directly to them

and that ancient text contained prophecies that they are destined to fulfil.

Would you change your life because of something written thousands of years ago?

-Morning, how are you? Welcome to the Village of Peace.

-Thank you very much. It's a delight to be here.

The African Hebrew Israelites believe Africans are descended

from the ancient tribe of the Israelites whose history is recorded in the Hebrew Bible.

THEY SING A HYMN

These African Americans say they're fulfilling a Biblical prophecy by returning to the Holy Land.

Today, about 1,200 Hebrew Israelites live here

and their commune interprets the Old Testament in some unique ways.

They follow a strict vegan diet and grow their own organic food.

Our worship is all encompassing.

It's holistic.

That relationship with the creator governs our agriculture.

Their spiritual connection with the Holy Land is based on the book of Genesis

that says God promised this land to their forefather Abraham.

Biblically we are tied to the land.

What influenced most of us to leave America and the cities there

was a calling to come back to what we considered our ancestral homeland.

I'm very happy doing this, I could do it all day.

I think the way in which people are living here is seeing

the land in this way and to see working on it as an act of worship.

I can't think of anything better.

Well, here's breakfast.

Ahmadiel has taken the idea of healthy living much further than I could have ever imagined.

We believe in eternal life.

We believe it is attainable objective and should we return back

to the proper cycles we can indeed, in these bodies,

continually renew ourselves, and we will put an end to the idea of death.

The Bible talks about death being the final victory, the victory over death.

We are living in that day.

Voila!

That's something to chew on, right?

That's quite big, that one.

As his children set off to school, Ahmadiel wants me to see for myself

the importance of faith in his community.

He introduces me to the gym teacher.

Those look pretty hideous.

Don't do this unless you got strong faith.

No.

Right.

I don't really want to do this.

Just there.

That's it.

Can you stand up straight?

-Then you've got to relax.

-Oh, man.

BBC...be basically calm!

THEY LAUGH

That's the consciousness that is moving throughout this anatomy, this temple...

In the evening I'm invited to attend a seminar in the village hall.

Hallelujah!

Studying the Old Testament is an important part of the African Hebrew Israelites' way of life,

but their Bible study group is a bit funkier than the ones I'm used to.

UP-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYS

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

The African Hebrew Israelites have created an inspiring model

for how to connect with God and how to live a good life.

But their return to the Promised Land is based on a literal reading of the stories of the Hebrew Bible.

The problem with this way of reading Biblical history

is that Jews, Christians and Muslims have all created their own competing claims to this land.

I set off to Palestine to visit a tribe who've taken a religious belief

in the unity of their tribe to such extreme lengths it has pushed them to the edge of extinction.

They're called the Samaritans and they've been living

on the West Bank of the Jordan River for over 3,000 years.

The Samaritans' unbending adherence to the rituals of the Old Testament

makes them a living embodiment of the ancient practice of Judaism.

I'm here to witness the Samaritan Passover.

The Samaritans are Palestinian but they are Jewish.

There are only 712 Samaritans left.

The name Samaritan means "keeper of the law".

They claim to uphold the true faith of the ancient Israelites.

Tonight, almost all of them are here on Mount Gerizim.

This is where the Samaritans believe Abraham came to sacrifice his son, Isaac.

The Samaritans believe in Mount Gerizim, the place where you are right now.

-This is a holy place for the Samaritans?

-Yeah, this is a holy place.

-Only 712?

-712, that is the number?

-Yeah, that's what I was told.

-It is the exact number?

-Unless someone's had a baby.

-Or somebody died.

-Or somebody died.

-What's going to happen this evening?

-There is going to be the sacrifice of Passover.

-Something the Samaritans do for 3,000 and more years.

-How many sheep?

-Between 40 and 50 sheep.

-Enough to feed a lot of people. It's bloody. It's brutal.

-Yeah.

-Lots of blood?

-Yeah. What can you do?

We're just waiting for sunset, which is getting pretty close.

Vegetarians turn away now.

Do you think there is still a place for such ancient rituals in our modern world?

This is a rite, practised by a people who trace their origins to the creation of man himself.

I'm 162 generations from Adam to me.

How I know, because I live here.

The Samaritans, this is the origin of the tribes of Israel.

When the Israel come here 3,646 years,

until now the Samaritans have not left the Holy Land. We live here.

The idea of sacrifice is deeply ingrained within monotheism,

within the traditions of monotheism, starting with Abraham's near murder of his own son Isaac.

From there, sacrifice has been deeply rooted

within the monotheistic faith, leading up to and perhaps evolving into the crucifixion of Christ.

I wonder whether the reason there are so few Samaritans left in the world

is that they have not adapted their beliefs and practices to reflect the modern world.

And I can't help wondering how much longer they can survive with their attachment

to their own genetic identity and to this piece of land.

Islam is a religion with Semitic roots and a global, 21st Century identity.

Muslims around the world differ greatly in their cultural practices.

However they are united in the basic creed

and tenets of the faith as a way of life.

One of the Muslim traditions I find most intriguing is the mystical faith of the Sufis.

These are Muslims who seek a direct spiritual union with God.

Sufi Muslims can come from either the Sunni or the Shia traditions

One of the most famous Sufi sects is the Mevlevi sect, better known as the Whirling Dervishes.

I head north, to the ancient Ottoman city of Aleppo.

I want to find out what lies behind the Whirling Dervishes' famous dance.

Though they often appear on tourist brochures, Whirling Dervishes

are actually viewed with suspicion by many Middle Eastern governments.

Wandering through the narrow streets of the Old City, I come across a tiny mosque.

1394, this is a Sufi mosque.

And it's been here since 1394.

The issue with Sufism is that slowly it's become more and more frowned upon by mainstream Islam.

And it's here, hidden, tucked away now in the back streets of Aleppo.

We've come here to this house which is attached to the mosque next door,

and we're awaiting the arrival of a Mevlevi Sufi, someone that we know as a Whirling Dervish.

But I want to find out why.

Why is this whirling necessary, what's the spiritual purpose of it?

HE SINGS IN ARABIC

Within this state, you reach eternity - a joining of God and man.

The Dervishes have found a niche to practise their rich spiritual tradition,

despite the mistrust of mainstream Islam, and of many secular governments in the Middle East.

We're just coming in to Istanbul.

It's a city I've always wanted to go to, but what I didn't know

is that here in Turkey, there is a religion with 20 million followers called Alevi,

that I'd never heard of before, and it's that religion that I've come to find out about.

Alevism is Turkey's second largest religion, and possibly its oldest, but they've suffered

a history of discrimination and violent attacks that has made them very cautious of outsiders.

As I head off to attend a weekly meeting of Alevis in the suburbs of Istanbul,

I discover even the Turks don't know much about them.

Alevism is a folk religion that started some time before Islam

in the villages of Anatolia, a rural region of central Turkey.

It shares many beliefs with Shia Islam and Christianity.

But most Muslims regard them as heretics.

The first difference I notice from Islam is that this private ceremony

takes place not in a mosque, but an ordinary house.

The next big difference is that men and women worship together.

Like many Alevis, Ayse's life has been shaped by her faith.

Is it difficult being an Alevi?

Yes, at school my mum said, "Don't say you are an Alevi. Don't say."

-Why?

-I don't know why she said that sentence.

But nowadays, it's becoming dangerous.

But in my opinion, the main rule is to love everyone. Everyone.

Alevism is based on an oral tradition, not a sacred book.

One of the most important symbols in their songs is the crane.

This folk tradition is surviving in Turkey, despite a history of intolerance.

How do Buddhists get to heaven?

How do they escape the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth?

I am travelling to a village

in the Himalayan mountains called Jomsom,

to visit a Buddhist monastery.

What fascinates me about the Indian religion is their idea of the afterlife.

Christians like me believe the soul has one earthly life

and after death it is reunited with God in heaven.

Indian faiths believe in the transmigration of the soul.

Everyone's soul is trapped in a long cycle of birth and rebirth,

and it might take generations before the soul

is reunited with the ultimate source of being,

Brahman, or God in the case of Hinduism.

Or extinguished, in nirvana, in the case of Buddhism.

What I want to ask the Lama, and the monks there,

is about this notion of eternity, the notion of the wheel of life,

the notion that when we die,

rather than going to this paradise called heaven, we actually return here.

The Kutsab Ternga monastery sits on a high bluff overlooking the village.

That's the monastery up there.

The head monk has told me I can join one of their rituals.

It's a tough two-hour walk up to the top...

through a timeless landscape.

What happens in the afterlife is the fundamental basis

of most Indian religion.

Earthly life is seen as short, and full of suffering.

Faith offers a chance to escape from that suffering,

but Hindus and Buddhists provide different solutions.

Although Buddhism originated in India in the 6th century BC,

in its purest form, it no longer exists in the subcontinent.

Instead, they have Tibetan Buddhism, which arrived here

in Nepal in the 9th century AD.

CHANTING

All Buddhists believe that suffering and the cycle of reincarnation

is caused by our attachment to people and things.

Escape from the cycle is possible

through a life of meditation, and ultimately, enlightenment.

BELLS RING, DRUMS BEAT

THEY CHANT

The monastic life is a tough regime that few are capable of following,

but Tibetan Buddhism offers an attractive outcome.

Monks can accumulate good actions,

what Indian religion calls "good karma," and gradually

inch their way up the cycle of death and rebirth towards nirvana.

During another break for tea,

one of the senior monks answers my questions.

What is it to have good karma?

If I have bad karma in my life,

in my next life, what can I expect to happen?

I see.

Do animals have karma? Does that horse have karma?

So he could have been a woman or a man in a previous life?

I'm surprised at how young so many of the monks are here.

They are drawn from the surrounding villages.

And clearly, this is still a thriving religion.

One of them invites me to his cell on the second floor of this 14th-century monastery.

To my astonishment, it's like any teenager's bedroom at home.

-Is this your room?

-Yes.

-And your room?.

-Yes.

-So you both share?

-Yes, share.

-OK.

-How long have you been here?

-I've been here seven years.

-Seven years?

-Yes.

-In this room?

-Yes.

OK. Why have you got a picture of London Bridge on your wall?

How do you see your life from now on? What will you do?

I will...

-I hope.

-Are you going to be a monk?

-Yeah.

So, no girlfriends?

-No, no.

-No, no. Just a very strict, disciplined life.

OK.

It's a difficult thing to do.

-Yes. Very difficult.

-Very difficult.

-Yes.

For the monks, there is a world of difference between here and Tibet.

In Nepal, they are free to practise as they wish.

Just a few miles north in Tibet, Buddhism has come under sustained

attack from a secular Chinese government ever since it annexed the country in 1950.

The Tibetan Buddhist precepts of non-violent resistance now symbolise

a worldwide protest led by their exiled leader, the 14th Dalai Lama.

The Buddhists' way of deliverance from reincarnation is a demanding one.

Not all can manage the difficult path of these Tibetan Buddhist monks.

What fascinates me about the Indian religions is their idea of the afterlife.

Followers of religion are often forced to choose between following their religious leaders

and obeying their government.

I'm travelling to the Kalmyk Republic which used to be part of the Soviet Union.

The Kalmyk people originally came to this area of Southern Russia in the 17th century.

During the 2nd World War, Stalin deported the entire population to Siberia, where 50% of them perished.

They returned here in 1957, and really this whole landscape

must have seemed familiar to them,

must have reminded them of the Mongolian steppes from where they came.

And once again, the Kalmyk people can proudly boast to be the only Buddhist state in Europe.

They revere the Dalai Lama and frankly, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Tibet!

CHANTING

From a grey Russian winter...

..to tropical colour.

How wonderful.

The idea behind repeating the same chant is to actually fall into a meditative state,

where almost the words of the chant become immaterial,

and by taking it in

you are cleansed from samsara,

which is, what... the general state of being human.

The joy, the anguish, the pain, the dichotomy, the frustration,

and this process of meditation, meditative chanting,

-LOUD METALLIC BANGING

-..and banging of cymbals...

..cleanses you and leads you into a state where you're free.

It's remarkable to see Tibetan Buddhism flourishing far away from its homeland,

but even Russian tolerance has its limits.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists across the world.

A visit from him would give a great boost in confidence to the Kalmyk people.

But Russian has denied permission for the Dalai Lama to visit them,

despite having built an enormous apartment on top of the temple especially for him.

This is very swish.

'But he hasn't even seen it.'

Dalai Lama bedroom.

Yup, Dalai Lama bathroom.

Dalai Lama meditation.

Yup. Meditation.

No-one, no-one else is allowed to stay here. We've been very privileged to be able to come here,

but he hasn't been here yet - it's been sitting here for two years.

No-one's sat on the sofas, no-one's turned the telly on,

No-one's turned the kettle on... Yet.

Indian society is divided into many castes.

A glance at the matrimonial pages in the newspapers shows exactly how many.

There is every caste represented here.

Punjabi, Sikh, Rajput, NRI - Non-Residents in India.

But, so far as I can see, there is no section for Parsis.

The Parsi population is shrinking and a Parsi wedding

is...is becoming an incredibly rare event...

and we're going to one!

1,300 years ago, the Zoroastrians or Parsis arrived in Mumbai

from Persia, fleeing Muslim persecution.

They were granted asylum so long as they did not seek to convert Hindus,

and this ancient promise is their historic problem.

Their numbers are dwindling.

I've come to the wedding to find out why.

So you have to be born, otherwise you can't join?

The wedding will take place behind the closed doors of the fire temple,

a place always absolutely forbidden to outsiders.

Zoroastrian fire temple. We're not really supposed to be filming here.

I've just been told it's not allowed.

Enigmatic!

Luckily, we find a Parsi cameraman

to give us a brief insight into this ancient monotheistic faith.

Have you used a camera like this before, Sir?

-Have you used a camera like this?

-No.

So we just have to hope that our cameraman-cum-wedding video bloke

does a good job.

'The ritual is ancient.

'At first, the bride and bridegroom are divided by a sheet,

'indicating their former separation.

'But then they are encircled by seven threads -

'each one easy enough to break in itself

'but when joined together, symbolising an unbreakable union.'

Keeping to the ancient promise not to convert has created a dilemma

for Zoroastrians, one which makes this orthodox marriage especially joyful.

Even the fathers accept that their other children

may well marry out of caste.

No, a heavy heart!

Love knows no boundaries!

-Because of the ancient promise.

-Yes, the promise.

-HE SNIFFS

-You can smell...

You can smell...burning flesh.

After death the bodies of most Hindus are cremated.

This takes place in sacred areas called ghats.

The cremation ghats in one particular place in India called Tarapeeth are unique.

Bodies are often only partially burnt

before being buried in shallow graves.

It means that they are accessible to Aghoris, who make their homes

among the cremation grounds.

Aghoris are holy men,

followers of the creator and destroyer god, Shiva.

Hindus see life and death as part of a cycle.

The gods create,

sustain and destroy the universe.

Shiva, the destroyer, is a key player in this cycle.

Aghoris believe all of creation is perfect, even death and decay.

To show their devotion, and to overcome their fear,

they will embrace death by being close to it.

'I'm expecting to meet a man, but instead I meet a holy woman.'

'This is Gauri Karima,

'who lives with her disciple just yards from the fires.'

I can't take my eyes off her necklace of skulls

carved from human bone.

In Hinduism one way of earning good karma is to devote your life to a holy cause.

And some Hindus feel called to do things that we would consider extraordinary.

Why do you choose to live around death?

In Hinduism many of the rules and laws are not written down.

Instead sacred knowledge is passed down

from generation to generation by wise holy people known as gurus.

To submit yourself to following this spiritual teaching of a particular guru

is seen as a very worthy thing to do.

Gauri came here because so many gurus have lived their lives here before she did.

By living close to death and the souls of her predecessors Gauri believes

that she will earn a better life for herself next time.

Many sects within Hinduism follow the teachings of different gurus,

spiritual leaders who interpret how the religion should be practiced.

If their message is popular, they can have thousands of devotees

and even start their own branch of the faith.

I'm off to the desert in Rajastan to meet a Hindu sect

whose followers are prepared to do anything for their guru,

including paying the ultimate sacrifice.

My journey takes me into a beautiful land of dramatic sand dunes,

with tiny farms and villages

scattered in the scrub woodland between.

The local wildlife, too, seems incredibly tame.

All this harmony is the result of a violent struggle

that took place here two-and-a-half centuries ago.

The story goes that in the late-18th century

the Maharaja of Jodhpur needed some wood to construct

a new palace, so he sent his men into the desert forests to get it.

But in the way stood the local guru.

I call in at a Bishnoi farmstead to find out more.

I heard that in the 18th century many Bishnoi

were killed protecting trees. Is that true?

How did that come about?

How did that tradition emerge?

By making trees sacred, the Guru had guaranteed

the survival of the Bishnoi in a harsh and unforgiving desert.

It is the first religion I have come across

where such deep respect for nature is enshrined in faith.

Over 2,500 years ago in ancient China

a man called Lao Tse came up with a new philosophy that tried to find

harmony in the chaos of the world.

It's called the Dao - the way.

You just need to find it.

I arrive at the Jade Spring monastery,

a Taoist temple 500 miles south-west of Beijing,

hoping to make sense of what I know to be a deeply enigmatic religion.

Master Mae, the deputy abbot, meets me by the gate.

We're just in time for the evening devotional.

BELL CHIMES

It's beautiful to watch. It feels mystical,

with very ancient rhythms and forces spanning thousands of years.

All I know is that there's no creation story in Daoism,

but beyond that, it's a mystery.

The answer will be clearer in the mountains, I'm told.

The next day we begin the 7,000-foot ascent to the sacred Hua Shan peaks,

for centuries the haunt of Taoist mystics seeking enlightenment.

Further up, there are symbols I recognise.

I've seen this round the necks of many Westerners

and I understand it as Yin and Yang, but what does it mean?

What does it really mean?

HE SPEAKS MANDARIN

Is it good and evil?

Dark and light?

Imbalance and harmony?

I feel as if I'm entering some kind of divine landscape,

but this is good for my brain cells.

Lao Tse said that there was a pre-existing order behind chaos.

And he called it the Dao,

an impersonal force that rules the universe.

It's made up of those two opposing, but complementary, forces -

the Ying and the Yang.

Light and dark. Male and female.

Hot and cold.

What's interesting is that when they act in harmony

they produce a kind of cosmic energy, called Qi.

I'm about to meet a monk seeking the Dao.

If you don't like heights, this is definitely not the place to come.

To my intense relief, there is a cave.

So this is the concentration of the Qi they speak of.

By human endeavour.

I was desperate to ask the master how on earth

they tapped into the Qi.

What are the basics of Daoism?

HE SPEAKS MANDARIN

How long have you been a Daoist monk?

What made you change?

The most extraordinary thing of all is the belief that if you do get

the Dao, you can live longer, and even achieve immortality.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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