Longshan Temple

Taiwan has more temples per capita than any other country in the world. Taiwan Temples are typically much more beautiful than American churches. Outside they have lovely gardens, pools, and waterfalls. Inside they have an abundance of fresh flowers, fragrant incense, and colorful ornate architecture. Many come to the Temples because they have some sort of problem - a broken relationship, a wayward child, an illness, a financial hardship, etc. Others come to get the benevolent gods “on their side” and to appease the evil gods. Taiwanese have blended many varied and even contradictory religions and folk beliefs: ancestor worship, Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Fortune telling, amulets, conversing with spirits, and spirit possession are extremely common.

The picture was taken inside Mengjia Longshan Temple in Taipei. The main deities here are Guanyin, the goddess of compassion whose name means, "Hearing the Cries of the World" and Mazu, the goddess of the sea who protects fishermen and sailors. There are also over 100 other deities worshiped in various small rooms throughout the Temple. I saw a great deal of reverence but no joy. I saw desperation in the eyes of a woman praying with red crescent prayer tokens. Only if the tokens fall to the ground the right way three times in a row will the gods will grant her request. I could feel the "pull" of the place on my spirit. These gods and goddesses are not mere figments of the imagination; they are demons from the spirit world. Their power to deceive people and influence events is limited but real.