Our First Temple

March 31, 2003

(photos follow text)

 

          

 

 

 

     It's difficult to drive around Taiwan without seeing temples nestled in amongst the shops, factories and homes. They're everywhere. After visiting a customer one day, James stopped at one of them so that Herbert and I could take a few photos.

     The main religions in Taiwan are Buddhism and Daoism. After living here for three months, I can't say that I understand either religion well enough to explain them on this site. Nor could I explain all the ways that they differ from each other.  I would, however, like to share images with you from the inside of one of them - a Taoist temple.

 

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1 - This God looms over the temple, the parking lot, the surrounding area.  He's huge! His responsibility is to bring good crops to the rice farmers.   2 - The front of the temple.   3 - This is the view after walking through the front passageway. Their are two floors and three sides with little alters everywhere.
   
4 - A view of one side of the temple.   5 - The ceiling over the entryway.   6 - One of the alters.
   
7 - Ghost money waiting to be bought. The worshipers burn this money to help their ancestors have a better life on the other side.   8 - A side alter with offerings to the Gods.   9 - These towers are everywhere in the temple. For a small annual fee, a family can buy one of the gold emblems and the monks of the temple will pray for them every day.
   
10 - Dragons at the top of the entrance to the temple.   11 - A view of the ornamentation on the side of the entrance.   12 - A phoenix is found on temple roofs and represents femininity.

 

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