Prayer can move mountains
Changes in society have wrought changes in the faithful. Lin says that Taiwanese society holds diverse views of religion. Religious scholars tend to see it as a folk custom. At the other end of the spectrum are practitioners, many of whom believe it has become too worldly.
“While religious belief remains necessary in the scientific era, there’s no place for superstition in civilized times.” Lin says there is a world of difference between religious belief and superstition. In his view, supplicants and “traders in religion” who engage in an excess of prayer, focus on ritual, and get caught up in mumbo-jumbo are falling into superstitious idolatry. He says that food was much less plentiful in the old days, so the sacrifice of a pig or goat was not only a gesture of respect to the gods, but also an opportunity for worshipers to enjoy a full belly. But we now live in a time of plenty and don’t need to make offerings to pad out our diets. Moreover, burning large volumes of incense and paper money creates air pollution. Thus many temples now request visitors to burn just one stick of incense and no paper money at all, and to substitute fresh flowers and fruit for offerings of animal products.
True Buddhism doesn’t involve burning incense or paper money, or making offerings. But Daoism and Buddhism are frequently indistinguishable in Taiwan. Fortunately, many temples are moving towards simpler offering practices.
On 26 August 2014, Taipei’s Hsing Tian Kong Temple, which sees some 6 million worshipers every year, actually removed its censers and offering tables. Visitors now need only steeple their hands and offer their sincere respects to the gods.
Many believers struggle with the change, and feel something is missing. They wonder how you baibai without incense, and some still insist on bringing offerings.
Chung says that people feel obligated to bring an offering when they make requests of the gods because offerings function as mediums for the delivery of such appeals. The faithful have a similar view of incense, regarding it as a sort of antenna that broadcasts their requests.
Even the gods evolve
Without spirals of incense smoke carrying their desires to Heaven, how can believers convey their wishes to the gods? Yet Hsing Tian Kong remains popular even without its censers and offering tables.
On a recent winter morning the faithful still filled the temple courtyard on Taipei’s Minquan East Road, their steepled hands, chanted sutras, and kowtows to the gods creating an atmosphere just as peaceful and dignified as ever.
One side effect of the modern era is that matching up marriageable young people has become more difficult. This circumstance has raised Yue Lao’s stock in the religious marketplace, with singles now flocking to temples to make offerings to the god every Double Seventh (Chinese Valentine’s Day) and Valentine’s Day. Major temples have also been “spurring consumption” with frequent marriage-related activities, such as sacrifices and divination-block competitions.
An even bigger change has been the incorporation of modern electronics into the practice of baibai. With 3G communications now ubiquitous, temples have established websites, Facebook pages and fan communities to retain their competitive edge. The Facebook page of Sun Moon Lake’s Wenwu Temple currently has between 30 and 40,000 fans.
People can now light temple candles and placate Tai Sui from in front of their computers. Adherents can even light candles and make small donations from abroad.
Beyond the convenience of modern electronics, the production of new creative and cultural products like the very cute “deity figurines,” “Techno Prince Nezha” shows, and improved festival performance troupes, has helped to make folk religion more entertaining and the gods more “attractive.”
“Gods evolve, too.” Lin uses Techno Prince Nezha’s blending of festival performance and street dancing to illustrate how religions are constantly updating their practices and deepening their roots.
A reflection of the mind
“Deities are projections of the human mind and spirit,” says Lin. “Since most people can’t directly perceive their innermost thoughts and feelings, they get at them through religion.” Lin sees baibai as a kind of mental health activity. As Saint Guan’s Classic on Awakening the World puts it: “The mind of the ordinary person is god; god is the mind.”
As the saying goes, “If you baibai, you are protected.” As long as people don’t become too superstitious, they really can find strength in religion.
Now that the new year is upon us, are you hoping the God of Wealth will send a little consideration your way? According to “right god” theory, businesspeople should pray to Guan Gong, while nine-to-fivers should direct their prayers to Bi Gan. But Lin suggests that people not neglect gods nearer to home. The Earth God in their neighborhood, for example, is also a god of wealth, and offerings made to the Laughing Buddha are said to bring wealth too.
An inscription on a wall of Caotun Township’s Dunhe Temple, which is dedicated to the God of Wealth, reads thus: “Virtue brings peace, virtue brings good fortune, virtue brings wealth.”
Let’s all offer a heartfelt prayer that the Year of the Ram brings joy and happiness to all!