Tian Hou Temple, Western Taipei

By Ashley

Temples in Taipei abound.  Some are famous, massive, heavily populated and used as social centers. Tu Di temples, mini-temples that dot the countryside and city, are places where neighborhoods can offer thanks to the local area's particular gods.  Other temples are tucked away in alleys, visited by dedicated locals and are more serene.  The Tian Ho Temple near Xi Men Ding (the old western gate to Taipei) is one of these.  Ximen Ding is known as the hot spot for both the young, hip crowd and the gay and lesbian crowd and is a fun, crazy place to go at night.  TianHo Temple is hidden amidst the storefronts of Ximen Ding and stands in contrast to the bustling neighborhood, offering a bit of refuge from the frenetic tempo on the streets outside its gate.

When I visited Tian Ho Temple on Tuesday, I almost walked right past the entrance as it was squashed in between contemporary storefronts hawking tacky sweaters and fake bags.  Once I did enter however, the wildness and noise of the streets dropped away and a small oasis of religion welcomed me.  Peter and I had visited Long Shan Temple, one of Taipei's biggest and most famous, and loved it for its noise and bustle, but Tian Ho appealed as a place where I might actually be able to learn about the traditions practiced in a Buddhist Temple.

The main altar at Tian Hou Temple - Matzu, the goddess that protects fishermen and many others here in Taiwan, is at the center.  Unfortunately, you cannot see her jet-black face in this photo.

some of the various gods

I am an advocate of asking questions and here in Taipei, people are always willing to oblige with answers. Since I was on my own and had time, I thought I would see how much I could find out about the routines we have seen in ever temple we have visited.  At a table selling packages of offerings, I asked if there were someone who spoke English who might be able to tell me about the temple.  I can ask most of my questions using Chinese, but when the answers I get involve vocabulary specific to something like temples, I don't do so well, so English in this case would be better.  The man replied that there was such a woman but that she wasn't available, so I decided to just go with it and purchase the packet of goods and offerings and ask as I went along.  I am not an active Christian, but I do believe in the power of prayer and am as happy to pray to Buddha as to the version of God I grew up with, so I paid my NTD50 ($1.50) and purchased a packet that included 6 sticks of incense, 2 red candles and 3 versions of paper "money."  When the man who sold me the packet realized I was heading out completely clueless to pray in his temple, he very kindly and using simple enough Chinese, told me the basics of the routine and sent me on my way. 

As I lit my two red candles and set them on spikes with a prayer, the English speaking volunteer suddenly appeared, described the remainder of the necessary routine and provided me with a book describing the temple in English.  

One begins by lighting two candles and setting each one on a spike with a prayer for someone in your life.  I decided that with Chinese New Year approaching, I would ask the Tian Ho gods for blessings for my many family members, living and dead.

First light two candles

After lighting the candles, one lights all the incense sticks at once and heads to urn number one to make a prayer.  Each urn is in front of a small altar that has its own special god.  Every time one approaches a new altar, one must introduce oneself to the new god, telling him or her one's name and home town before asking the god for a blessing.  After praying, one then sticks an incense stick into the sand and ashes in the urn in front of the altar, and moves on to the next.

Urn number 6.  You can see the incense sticks glowing slightly

After praying at each of the six altars and leaving an incense stick in each urn, one heads back to the main altar, kneels and prays to the main god, in this case, Matzu.  

The main altar can be seen behind this urn

Finally, one takes the paper "money" and heads to the furnace to burn it and send wished to heaven.  At the small table to the side of the furnace, I encountered a woman who quietly told me that I must fold every paper in half before throwing the whole lot into the fire with one last prayer.  She was patiently folding stacks and stacks of money, and while I did, indeed, fold my stack, I felt the guilty relief of only having bought one stack and so not having to spend a inordinate amount of time at the folding table.  

The furnace where money is burnt, bringing one's prayers up to the gods

My "money"  before I began folding it

My prayers being sent up

After having visited many temples without an idea of the meaning of the various rituals, it felt good to finally have a handle of some of the trappings of the Buddhist and Taoists traditions.  Now I just have to buff up on the beliefs behind them!  More on that later.