Xingtian Palace

Xingtian palace is an important folk belief center in Taiwan, with the largest number of pilgrims and tens of thousands of visitors every day. Because people in Taiwan also call Guan Yunchang "benefactor", they often call Xingtian Palace "benefactor Temple". It is not only a place for local people in Taiwan to look at faces, ask questions and do divination, but also a favorite tourist spot for tourists from outside the island, especially Japanese tourists.

Xingtian Palace

Xingtian palace, also known as the temple of benefactor, or benefactor for short, is also known as the benefactor palace. The temple is located in Zhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan. It is a folk temple dedicated to Guan Gong. Xingtian palace is the most visited temple in Northern Taiwan, with 20000 visitors a day. Besides Taipei's own palace, there are two separate palaces in Beitou and the Three Gorges.

brief introduction

There are two xingtiangong, one is located in Songjiang Road, Taipei City, and the other is located in Beitou District, commonly known as "Zhongyi Temple". The temple is simple and pure, revealing solemnity and solemnity, which is the first to create a conventional religious simple style; there is no merit box, which is said to be effective, and the citizens rush to tell each other, so the incense is prosperous, and tourists come in an endless stream. Tiangong, also known as Enzhu palace, is dedicated to Guan Sheng Emperor (Guan Gong). Its architectural momentum is like that of northern temples in mainland China. Guan Gong is a famous general in history, respected as Wu Shengshan, and regarded as the God of business protection. What is particularly different from other temples is that they don't offer sacrifices or burn paper money. There are many people who go to seek divination, and the underground shopping malls outside Xingtian Palace are almost all full of fortune telling stalls, which are unique.

Xingtian palace is located at the intersection of Minquan East Road and Songjiang Road

Completed in 1967, it is dedicated to the emperor Guansheng. Guan shengdijun, commonly known as "Guan Gong" and "Guan Diye" in the folk, was originally worshipped by the Confucianists, but later gradually became a folk God. Soldiers were worshipped as the God of martial arts and businessmen as the God of wealth. At the same time, they played an important role in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and focused on the good and evil in the world. For Taipei City, which is prosperous in industry and commerce, Guan shengdijun's role as the God of wealth is particularly praised, so he is respected as the God of business protection. There are many faithful men and women, and there are endless cigarettes in the territory.

Xingtian palace is commonly known as the temple of benevolent Lord. The so-called "benevolent Lord" is a special term of luantang hall, which means Savior. Among the gods in Taiwan, not only Guan shengdijun is known as the benevolent Lord. However, since the era of Zheng Chenggong, people in Taiwan began to worship Guan shengdijun. So far, there are more than 140 Guanshengdijun temples in Taiwan, among which Ilan is the most famous, and Jiaoxi Xietian temple is very famous One, but the most popular is the Xingtian palace in Taipei.

The architecture of Xingtian palace is simple and solemn. The inscription of "Xingtian Palace" written by Yu Youren is on the plaque of the main hall. There are five main doors, which are locked deeply on weekdays. They are only opened in spring and autumn every year to welcome the gods. Most pilgrims come in and out from the left and right side doors - "strict" and "hehe". Close to both sides of the temple gate, there are many vendors selling fragrant paper, Magnolia, oil rice, fried winter flour and so on. They are constantly shouting and doing business. If you go down the underground road, in addition to the merchants selling worship goods, there are also many lifeline museums along the street, which are also the special features of Xingtian palace. When you enter the temple, there is a quiet atmosphere with a curl of cigarettes. Compared with the bustle of people and cars outside the wall, Xingtian palace is surrounded by a rare place of purity.

Since August 26, 2014, there are no more incense burners and tables in the temple, nor do they offer incense burning for worshippers. All worshippers use hands together.

history

As early as 1949, Huang Yi, the owner of Keelung coal mine, who lived in Shulin, Taipei County (1911-1970; the Xingtian palace respectfully called him "master Xuankong"), had built a small folk belief simple zhaijiao Luan hall in Jiutai street, Taipei City (now the intersection of Linsen North Road and Minquan East Road). By the early 1960s, Huang had planned to expand zhaijiao Luan hall into a temple. However, after the government began to promote nine-year compulsory education, the private land of 2000 square meters was converted to the reserved land of national middle school (now Taipei Xinxing middle school). After negotiation, the municipal government adopted the method of changing the land to another place, and let Huang she, the original landowner of the school land, exchange the private land of Jiutai street for the public land which was still the tributary and swamp of liugongzhen at that time. After acquiring the land for building temples at the northeast corner of the intersection of Minquan East Road and Songjiang Road, Huang asked Liao Shicheng, a temple builder with experience in building many temples, to design and construct the temple, which was successfully completed in 1968.

As a matter of fact, in 1956, Huang had already started the construction of folk belief temples in Beitou (the former site of the Pingpu People's Nagao bid farewell) and the Three Gorges, mainly for the worship of Guan Gong. After the completion of Xingtian palace, the three temples led by Huang she were collectively known as "Xingtian Sangong" - the Xingtian palace newly built in the center of Taipei is called this palace, and the other two are divided into two parts.

Religion

Huang Yi, the founder of Xingtian palace, was born in Quanzhou. His religious thought originated from the popular orthodox religion of Lushan school in Quanzhou. Zhengyi religion is a kind of Fujian Taoism, which combines Lushan law with Zhengyi school and Fulu School of Taoism and absorbs Buddhism secularization. After Zhengyi school came to Taiwan, after a period of mixing with Buddhism and Confucianism, it gradually became a multi God "folk belief" in Taiwan, which is "the traditional belief and cultural phenomenon of the grassroots people, only for the wealth of individuals and families, wealth and longevity".

Some experts in Taiwan also classify this folk belief as zhaijiao, luantang or "Confucian theology", because in terms of its belief content, most of them explain the ethical and moral education of Confucianism and Confucianism by means of the gods holding pen and waving Luan. They are compatible with the thoughts of sages, Buddhists and immortals, and emphasize self-cultivation, family management, good deeds and persuasion. That is to say, they focus on persuading the world, saving people's hearts and guiding the bad habits of society Xingtian palace is also one of them: the religious attribute is the folk belief of Confucianism, Buddhism (Buddhism) and Taoism, which shows the same and diversified fusion phenomenon. This phenomenon not only appears in Xingtian temple, but also in many other temples in Taiwan.

In spite of this, many fixed religious activities in Xingtian Palace are still dominated by Taoist Rites. For example, Qian Dafa Association (commonly known as Baidou), Yuanchen worship, Guanjie worship, star worship, soul concealing, Qisun collection and shock collection are all closely related to Taoist rituals. Overseas information on Taiwan also classifies zhaijiao, luantang or Taiwan folk beliefs, which are similar to Xingtian Palace's "benevolent Lord belief", as "Taoism".

gods

Xingtiangong tends to be polytheistic in the worship of gods, and some experts believe in luantang belief. The so-called "benefactor" is the term of luantang belief, which means "savior".

The five benefactors of Xingtian Palace are as follows:

Introduction to Guan Yunchang

Guan Yunchang: Buddhism is called Kalan Bodhisattva, Taoism is called Xietian emperor. In 1614, Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty granted Guan Yunchang the title of "emperor Guansheng of the Three Kingdoms conquering the demons, God Weiyuan town", so it is also called Guansheng emperor, or Guandi for short. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the romance novels of the Three Kingdoms rose. Some Taoist believers called Guan Yunchang "the 18th Jade Emperor", that is, the God of the 18th generation. Quanzhou, Fujian Province, was the most prosperous area, while luantang belief was respectfully called Guan Enzhu.

Guan Yu? He was born in Jiexian County, Hedong county (now Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province). He was born in the reign of Yanxi, Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was an important general of Liu Bei's forces during the Three Kingdoms period in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The most special thing about Guan Yu is that he has been highly praised in Chinese culture. Because of his loyalty and bravery, he has been praised and granted many times by later emperors until "Emperor Wu", so he is also known as Guansheng emperor, guandijun, Guandi, etc. Confucianism is regarded as one of the five Wenchang, and also as "emperor Wenheng". Taoism is regarded as "emperor Xietian" and "emperor Yihan". In Chinese Buddhist circles, it is regarded as one of the Dharma protectors and is called "Kalan Bodhisattva". Due to the influence of traditional works such as the romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is generally believed that Guan Yu, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei are the brothers of friendship, and Guan Yu ranks second. Therefore, they are also commonly known as Guan Gong, Guan Erye, Guan Erge and Guan Laoye. Even in some modern and contemporary social groups and occasions, there are still cases of worshiping Guan Yu.

Introduction to LV Dongbin

LV Dongbin: one of the Eight Immortals in Chinese mythology, Taoism is called Fuyou emperor, luantang belief is called LV Enzhu.

Lu Dongbin is a famous Taoist immortal, one of the eight immortals, one of the five northern ancestors of Quanzhen school, the founder of Quanzhen school, and the representative of Zhong and Lu Neidan school. Its original name is Lu Yan (or "Yan" or "Yan" or "Yan"), (or its original name is Lu Yu). It is named Dongbin and chunyangzi. It is generally believed that LV Dongbin was born in zhaoxianli, Yongle County (now Yongle Town, Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province) on the 14th of the fourth lunar month in the year of Bingzi (796, the 12th year of Zhenyuan). In addition, he was born in Jingzhao (now Xi'an, Shaanxi Province) in the late Tang Dynasty.

Introduction to Zhang Dan

Zhang Dan: Kitchen God, simang is the master of disaster, who is responsible for life and death.

Introduction to Wang Shan

Wang Shan: Thirty generations of Taoist master Xujing Zhenjun's descendant, luantang belief, honoring Wang Enzhu.

Introduction to Yue Fei

Yue Fei: a famous general of Song Dynasty in China in the 12th century. He was honored as the benefactor of Yue in luantang belief.

The five benefactors were headed by Guan Yunchang, so the general public in Taiwan also called Guan Yunchang benefactor, so they often called Xingtian Palace "benefactor Temple".

In addition to the five benefactors in the main hall, the two side halls on the left and right of Xingtian Palace also offer sacrifices to Guan Ping, the adopted son of Guan Yunchang, and Zhou Cang, the general under his command. Therefore, facing the main hall, the gods worshipped by Xingtian palace from right to left are different

Chinese PinYin : Hang Tian Gong