[여행] 타이페이 행천궁 行天宮 방문기
신이 된 인간 관우에게 재운을 빌어본다
I still remember the very first day I saw Hsingtiankong 行天宮 on my way to a dinner invitation to a nearby Taiwanese hotpot(石頭火鍋) restaurant.
It's been on my agenda to visit this shrine for such a long time.
But many things in life can end up in words, not actions.
So on this rare perfect day with shining sun and deep blue sky, I just go for an adventure. Out of blue!
Tidbit of historical background
行天宮 is a shrine built in 1967 to enshrine a historic figure 關羽 Guanyu in the <三國演義 (Tale of Three Kingdoms)>.
He started to become an ethereal entity when a Ming Emperor Shenzong (神宗) declared Guanyu as "a god of valor"
It is interesting that this courageous and pious general became a god figure representing the valor (武) along with Confucius who represents the wisdom (文). So he can be considered as one of the two pillars of Chinese spiritual belief.
He is known for his 1) red face, 2) long (what they say) beautiful mustache, 3) long heavy spear and 4) red horse that can run thousand miles in a second. As you can see from the below pictures.
Source: Google image (including the cover picture)
Here is what wikipedia has to say,
Guan Yu was deified as early as the Sui dynasty and is still worshipped by many Chinese people today in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and among many overseas Chinese communities. In religious devotion he is reverentially called the "Divus Guan" (Guāndì) or "Lord Guan" (Guāngōng). He is a deity worshipped in Chinese folk religion, popular Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese Buddhism, and small shrines to Guan are almost ubiquitous in traditional Chinese shops and restaurants. His hometown Yuncheng has also named its airport after him.
You can find more here if interested.
Inside stuff
So here I am, after more than a year of stay in Taipei, I finally found time to make my idea into a real action!
(The shrine even gets a mysterious glow~! +_+)
Hopefully, it's free entry.
Guanyu is also known as a god of business so people who want prosperity come here paying tribute to him. But one thing interesting and unique about this shrine is visitors are not allowed to burn incense when they pay tribute, which is quite common in other shrines. The reason is because to prevent air pollution from smoke burning incense.
So it is relatively very clean and fresh inside.
There are also many old people (mostly ladies) who are there studying the ancient books for fortune telling, helping visitors interpret their fortunes.
It seems like these ladies in blue cloth help bring in good spirit and drive out bad spirit.
In the inside of the left wing of the shrine, there was a miniature paradise with colorful carps in pond.
The palm trees as the backside barricade. Looks great with the blue sky on the back drop.
Another attraction: Fortune-telling
There is another thing you can check out. There is an underground alley where local fortune tellers predict your future using a variety of local methods.
But there weren't that many people that day.
It seems like lots of Japanese come to try these (as there were fortune tellers wooing me in Japanese and their Japanese were really good as to be able to explain sensitive life matters in Japanese.)
Having it underground gives it an extra mystic feeling.
So one more place off my checklist. Hsing Tian Kong
But the day was just tooooooooooooooo good to end it here.
This was probably one of the best Taipei sky I've seen while I am here.
So I decided to go for another adventure! To north!!
Charge!!
走吧～！
