A man in a polo shirt bows three times, checks his phone, and bows three more. Around him, Taipei’s Longshan Temple is packed with worshipers marking the anniversary of the enlightenment of Guanyin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. Lingling Wei, a Journal reporter, didn’t know the date when she walked in that Saturday. She grew up in China, where the state tightly manages religion. In Taipei, the incense drifts right out into traffic.
A Reverent Heart
Near the incense urns, Wei met a woman in her 80s who’d come an hour by train from Keelung, a port city to the north. A Buddhist for decades, she seemed a little baffled anyone would ask about religious life in Taiwan. Any faith is fine, she said. “You just need a reverent heart.” Then she went back to her prayers.
A metro ride away, Xingtian Temple’s courtyard feels like a civic hall with incense, its worshipers seated on long wooden benches under ceiling fans. Many are businesspeople, asking Guan Di, the deified general who looks after commerce and war, for prosperity and luck in their deals. Volunteers run it, some for decades.
The small shrines may be the ones you’ll remember longest. Every neighborhood has its own earth god, and behind a farmers market, a man caring for one told Wei it was about 80 years old. He’d taken over from his wife’s grandmother. Asked what people pray for, he swept a hand at everything: “Everyone prays for peace.”
Before You Book
Entry is free at virtually every temple, but manners aren’t optional. Cover shoulders and knees, keep your voice down and step over the raised wooden threshold, never on it. Gesture with an open hand instead of pointing, don’t use flash anywhere, and skip close-ups of a main deity’s face, which interrupt worship.
A guide adds context, and it isn’t pricey. Klook’s English-language Longshan walk costs about $15 to $20 a person, tip included. Tours by Locals charges a flat $198 for a private temple walk through the historic Dalongdong district, for up to eight. Both take two to three hours. By our math, a full group of eight pays under $25 each.
Getting there is the real expense. A journey like this is what retirement savings are for, so treat it like any goal: planned, priced in full and insured before it’s booked. Umbrellas get packed at home, not bought at the airport. Give it fifteen minutes with your latest statement, and the trip gets a proper line of its own.