In mid-May, the Chingshan Temple in the Wanhua district of Taipei organized a march with 20 other temples in the district to combat the SARS epidemic. "This is not the first time that the King of Chingshan has driven away a plague," noted Huang Ying-shih, executive director of Chingshan Temple and also the Chingshan borough warden.
During the Qing-dynasty rule of Emperor Xianfeng, 145 years ago, settlers in Wanhua entreated the King of Chingshan-or the King of Spiritual Peace-to leave Huian, Fujian (the settlers' ancestral home) and come to Taiwan. When the palanquin that carried the god's statue passed today's Hsiyuan Road, it suddenly became unmovable. After throwing divination blocks to ask the god about his intentions, people discovered that the King of Chingshan desired to stay where he was. During that time, there was a major outbreak of disease in Wanhua, and it was said that the King of Chingshan would grant health to anyone who prayed to him. Hence, word spread that the King of Chingshan was a plague-buster.
The deities of Wanhua united
When SARS gripped Taiwan, the people of Wanhua started to think of the miraculous century-old deeds of the King of Chingshan that their fathers and grandfathers would often talk about, especially after the neighborhood's Jenchi Hospital experienced a SARS outbreak within its wards. So they begged the Chingshan Temple to put on a parade and a secret visitation ceremony, hoping that the King of Chingshan and his generals Cangue and Lock would send the illness into exile and restore people's peace of mind.
An impressive parade with over 100 vehicles wound through the streets and alleys of Wanhua while temple staff in cars sprinkled cleansing holy water to expel SARS. People held tightly to the charms and peace cookies the King of Chingshan had given out and bowed to him again and again. And they lit long strings of firecrackers in the hope of scaring away this new epidemic of the 21st century.
Next to Jenchi Hospital, which had been sealed off, Chingshan Temple specially set out the five color flags of command to request that the Five Field Marshals and their troops from the five directions come and help battle the plague. The 12-meter-long King's Boat, donated by the merchants in Huahsi Street, was hauled to the riverside park after Daoist priests had chanted Buddhist sutras and performed a ritual to give it special power. Then it was set ablaze as it sailed off. "Our King of Chingshan really answers our pleas," said Huang Ying-shih happily. "You see how he took SARS away with him-how the outbreak got under control after the parade."
Lavish Wang Yeh
Apart from the King of Chingshan, there are several other plague busters around the island. In the early period of Han Chinese settlement in Taiwan, disease was rife and medicine scarce. People relied on religion to create a sense of solidarity and to give themselves the confidence that they could endure life's hardships. Two deities of the southwest coast are the most important in Taiwan: Matsu and Wang Yeh, a deity that specializes in driving away epidemics.
On May 20, the Chingan Temple in Hsikang, Tainan County, which is home to Wang Yeh, held the Hsikang procession, one of Taiwan's five most important religious processions. Following a 200-year-old tradition, the three-day-procession passes through 96 villages and neighborhoods in Tainan County and Tainan City.
In a demonstration of their sincerity, Wang Yeh followers from around the island gave generous amounts of paper spirit money for the King's Boat ceremony, requiring the temple to hire a 15-ton-truck to make a few dozen hauls to the beach where the boat was to be burned. At 5 a.m. the site of the ceremony was crowded with the god's palanquin, performance troupes, and followers who came to see Wang Yeh off. The tops of the boat's masts were decorated with carp that were supposed to be the embodiment of Wang Yeh. Under these, centipede flags and flags with the Chinese character for "field marshal" flapped in the wind as several thousand people pushed the boat into the water.
God of Medicine cheers the physicians
Apart from the most famous plague buster Wang Yeh, gods related to medicine and herbs such as Emperor Paosheng and Emperor Shennung also came to provide relief.
The Paoan Temple, situated in Talungtung, Taipei, houses the god of medicine, Emperor Paosheng. For thousands of years, the god has performed numerous miracles in driving away diseases. During the SARS outbreak, people came to Paoan Temple, offering pork (to suffer in their place) and ducks' eggs (which represent the suppression of evil).
People hoped Emperor Paosheng would help them escape the disease. With a sudden surge of visitors, temple staff worked day and night for more than twenty days. It was an indication of how panicked people were. And so, beginning April 28, the Paoan Temple held a three-day ceremony of prayers for well-being, so that those who were suffering would find relief and those as yet untouched by the disease would avoid calamity. Prayers were given to Emperor Paosheng and other deities so that they would have mercy and lead Taiwan out of the crisis soon.
At the same time, in collaboration with the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Taipei, the Paoan Temple set up a prayer tree. On this people hung prayer slips on which they had written their best wishes to medical personnel and SARS patients-those who needed them most. "Since the outbreak began, I have already led calamity and prayer prevention ceremonies at three temples," said Li Yu-kun, the Daoist high priest in charge of the ceremony.
The Hsienchiang Temple in Sanchung, Taipei County, held a "Prayer for Well-Being and Ceremony to End Evil Pestilence" on the 25th day of the fourth lunar month, which is Emperor Shennung's birthday. It was hoped that Emperor Shennung, the founder of Chinese herbal medicine, would ward off the god of pestilence.
Meanwhile, devotees at the Chintien Temple, in remote Suao of Eastern Taiwan, used Chinese herbs such as mulberry leaves, broadleaf plantain and screw pine to create a SARS-fighting herbal tea, which they distributed free for seven days. The Sanching Temple, which is also in Ilan County, held a ceremony to make offerings to the god of pestilence on May 18 for the first time ever.
Taiwan had not been visited by a serious epidemic for a long time. When SARS spread to central and southern Taiwan in May, all the major religions and temples sprang to action, with even Matsu being summoned to help. Although we are in an age of advanced technology here at the start of the 21st century, people still find comfort in asking the gods to fight SARS. It's an indication that modern civilization has its weak side.
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