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When this table talks, people listen

By Vico Lee
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Nov 24, 2002, Page 17

Everyone's curious about their future, and this seems especially true in Taiwan today. Turn on the TV, and you can always find fortune-telling programs and feng shui shows. Go online, and fortune-telling sites are just as prevalent. One can easily find 200 such Taiwan-based sites by Internet search.

A reputation for making accurate predictions has turned many a soothsayer into a star, as was the case with TV fortune-tellers Tang Li-chi (唐立淇) and Huang You-fu (黃友輔). However, the hottest of these stars in Taiwan is not a person, but a one-legged table, a "supernatural table" to those who believe in it. A spirit, they are convinced, inhabits the table and communicates with humans by rotating this way and that on its axis. Each week, some 200 inquirers from around the country visit the small town of Yingko to get their fortunes told by the table.

When antique collector Tsao Chu-chung (曹初忠) acquired the Qing-dynasty table in Vietnam for an amount so large he wishes not to reveal it, he only knew that it was "a table that moved." It was his friend Liao Ji-wen (廖繼文), a student of Buddhism for over a decade, who found he could communicate with the table in a spiritual way by touching it with his hands. The table responds to him by turning either clockwise or counterclockwise.

Inquirers surround the table in a solemn atmosphere. PHOTO: VICO LEE, TAIPEI TIMES

"Anyone on the same spiritual frequency as the table can communicate with it," said Liao, who runs a clothing store and is the current keeper of the table.

Unlike [fortune tellers], the divine table does not tell me to do this or that. It just gives me some hints, leaving much room for my own interpretation. It doesn't even matter if the table tells little white lies. I find it encouraging.

Ting You-shan, drugstore manager

Spreading the word

Word of the table's powers of divination spread far and wide after the launch of the government's lottery this spring, bringing it to the attention of Bai Bing-bing (白冰冰), a famous singer who hosts a TV program on the supernatural. She did a show on the table, and it became quite a sensation. In addition to appearing as a "special guest" on other TV shows, the table has gone on to visit believers to Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia. But the table no longer holds forth on lottery numbers, according to Lin Yu-ling (林玉鈴), another keeper of the table. "There was just too much controversy," he said.

Whether there is indeed a spirit inside the table and whether it can accurately predict the future are open questions, like all things supernatural. However, its ability to make even the skeptical happy is not in doubt.

Chen, a trader from Taipei, frequently consults the table. A practitioner of chi gung for 20 years, Chen admits that chi gung could be behind the table's tricks, yet he firmly believes it is indeed a spirit that moves the table. "The energy it radiates more than feels good. It was such positive energy that it's both comforting and energizing. Chi gung alone cannot achieve that," Chen said.

Liao's store is packed on a Sunday afternoon with people with reservations for a sessions with the table. A woman in her 30s, who asked to be referred to as Ms. L, was waiting for her turn. She had first heard of the table through a friend. Interested in the supernatural, she wanted a go at the table.

"Open your heart and be humble, and you'll be nearing the same frequency as the table so that you can hear what it's trying to tell you. Some people dismiss the table as trickery. They miss the table's message, a message that might have changed their lives," Liao told Ms. L.

Dismissing doubts

Liao delivers this brief prologue to each newcomer. It almost never fails to dispel any skepticism or doubts they might have. "A person does not have to have any religious beliefs, but he or she has to have religious sentiments. This allows the person to transcend the visible world," Liao said in an address to his visitors, who nodded at his words.

"Now we can start," Liao announced.

After everyone had washed their hands, the group ascended to the loft, where the table resides. Ms. L took out some chocolates and placed them on the table. Chocolate, Liao said, is table spirit's favorite food.

Liao and Lin put their hands on the table. A recording of Buddhist chanting plays in the background.

With a deep breath, Ms. L put her hands, somewhat sweaty from nervousness, on the table as she began introducing herself to it. As a first-time inquirer, she felt the need to test the table's credibility. "Do you know how I came here? If I came here by train, please turn clockwise, if not, please turn counterclockwise." The table answered yes. To her surprise, it was correct. To avoid any doubt, she pushed Liao's hands off the table and continued with her session.

After a few more tests, she moved on to her real questions. "Divine table, divine table, my company is not doing very well. Will it survive the coming new year? If the answer is yes, please turn clockwise, if the answer is no, please turn counterclockwise." The table gave a prompt response: yes. Her face lit up with happiness. "Will I get married next year?" The table replied affirmatively. "But I'm not young anymore and I don't even have a boyfriend now. Will I really get married?" The table made an even greater turn in the "yes" direction. Ms. L was by now almost jumping with excitement, elated by the table's answers.

Finding reassurance

Two days later, she was not so impressed.

"To tell you the truth, about 80 percent of my questions, the table answered incorrectly. As for the questions regarding the future, like my marriage and my career, I can't know yet if the table's predictions were correct. But positive answers are always nice to hear, you know, even if they won't come true," she said.

One month before her encounter with the table spirit, Ms. L was so worried about her floundering company that she consulted a fortune-teller, who told her to prepare for its immediate closure. She had started the company from scratch, so the prediction plunged her into a deep despair -- until she consulted the table. "Maybe the table spirit was trying to cheer me up. In a way, that was very nice of it." Everyone likes to hear positive things when they are helpless, Ms. L said.

Ting You-shan (丁宥珊), a drugstore manager, echoed these sentiments. An ardent fan of fortune-telling, she had consulted numerous psychics and fortune-tellers before visiting the table. It has become of one of her advisers. On the same Sunday, she was seeking advice on marriage, for which she had been to several psychics and fortune-tellers without getting a satisfactory answer.

"All psychics and fortune-tellers are the same. They all say similar things. But it's hard to follow their advice when you don't want to. Unlike them, the divine table does not tell me to do this or that. It just gives me some hints, leaving much room for my own interpretation. It doesn't even matter if the table tells little white lies. I find it encouraging," Ting said.

Whether an elaborate trick or a true miracle, the table has sowed much hope in the hearts of many. That's a valid enough contribution.
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