Taipei - temples

Longshan Temple, Taipei

From Singapore we flew to Taipei in Taiwan. What a difference. From a place that we found to be pretty but false, to a country that we found to be less obviously appealing, but entirely genuine.

Longshan Temple, Taipei

Having had a break from temples in Singapore, we did visit a number here. Religion here is a mix of Buddhism, Taoism and Matsu, so the Gods being worshipped are numerous. The first one we went to was the oldest temple in Taipei, the Longshan temple, built in 1738.

Longshan Temple, Taipei

It has shrines of more that 165 gods, including the gods of money, education, peace and mercy; it was very busy, with a constant stream of people lighting incense and making other offerings to go with their prayers. The temple has been partially or completely destroyed a number of times, but on each occasion, the image of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, has survived unscathed.



Longshan Temple, Taipei

When people arrive at the temple, they will buy (or bring with them) a pack if incense sticks, and will light them and leave them at various shrines around the temple. The sticks are both a greeting, and a method to enhance their communication with the gods, as it is believed that the smoke helps construct the link.

Longshan Temple, Taipei

Other more usual offerings include food and drinks, which are given either in thanks for the guidance and help given, or because they believe that the spirits of the departed can get hungry, and flowers, which can have various meanings, including hoping for a child.

Qingshan Temple, Taipei

One of the offerings we were less clear about were the stacks of paper; this is joss or Ghost/spirit money, which is made from another bamboo or rice paper, and is burned to venerate the dead.

Qingshan Temple, Taipei

Prayers are offered for health, wealth, and succession, the latter including success in education and exams - it is said that the prayers and, offerings are viewed just as essential to exam success as the actual revision of the subject.

Qingshan Temple, Taipei

As we wandered around the streets, the temples and shrines were certainly plentiful, with lots of little ones poked in amongst the shops and houses. We stopped off at a few, but our next notable one was the Qingshan temple, built in 1854. It is said that the image of the God King Qingshan was being carried through the streets, but when it got here it stopped and refused to be carried any further, so they built the temple here.

Qingshan Temple, Taipei

At the time, there was a deadly plague in the area, but of course the people prayed to the God and credited him with it lifting, so apparently people came here to pray for protection during the SARS outbreak.

What I primarily remember this temple for though, was its God images, as they had strikingly long and bright eyebrows and beards.

I'm not sure where the Homer Simpson image fits in to the religion though!
 

Confucious Temple, Taipei

Our next stop was the Confucius temple, from the 1870s Qing dynasty, established as a place of education and to teach the tenets of Confucianism. I knew little about him, so it was interesting to read a bit about his teachings.

Confucious Temple, Taipei

But if we're being honest, aside from seeing a different style of temple, our main reason for visiting here was that it is the home of the Three Wise Monkeys. Aside from King Kong, The Jungle Book's King Louie, and Tarzan's Cheetah, and Clint Eastwood's Clyde - which, for the sake of Nic's blood pressure, I should point out are of course all actually apes not monkeys - this 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' trio, named Mizaru, Kikazaru and Iwazaruby the way, must surely be the most famous monkeys. (Nic thinks that honour goes to Marcel from Friends, but I'm not convinced by that!) 

Confucious Temple, Taipei

Anyhow, we looked all around the, admittedly very nice, gardens, but we couldn't find the monkeys! There were some outside though, so I took a photo of those instead. As it happens, the original three wise monkeys are thought to be from a carving at the Tosho-Gu shrine in Nikko, which we visited later in the year, so you can see them when we get there.



Bao'an Temple, Taipei

Our last temple, the Bao'an temple, was by far the prettiest. Probably helped by the fact that we visited when it was dark, so all of the lanterns were lit up, it looked really stunning. 

Bao'an Temple, Taipei

The Taiwanese temples are generally quite impressive actually, with intricate carvings, lots of artwork and lanterns, and, of course, huge numbers of images of their gods.

Bao'an Temple, Taipei

We rather liked them, partly because they looked so good, but more importantly because they were so much in use, with people regularly coming in to try to improve their lot.

Bao'an Temple, Taipei

We may not be religious ourselves, and I have to say we are always slightly dubious about people hoping and expecting that a God all sort out their lives for them, but it is nice to see a place of worship being used properly.

Bao'an Temple, Taipei