Print

Mail

wiki links

World religions museum to open Nov. 9 in Yungho

The Museum of World Religions, the largest of its kind in the world, is scheduled to open to the public Nov. 9, marking another landmark moment in Taiwan in the religious arena.

Construction of the Museum of World Religions, located in Taipei's suburb of Yungho City, was financed by the noted Buddhist Ling Jiou Mountain Wu Sheng Monastery. The planning and actual construction of the museum took NT$2 billion (US$58 million) and 10 years to complete.

Former US vice president Al Gore has been invited to be one of the honorary guests at the inaugural ceremony Nov. 9 at the museum. Soon after the opening ceremony, Gore will deliver a speech to the International Conference on Global Preservation of Sacred Sites hosted by the museum, which will bring dozens of religious heavyweights from around the world to Taiwan.

To be stored in the museum will be a great number of priceless exhibits, including a certificate of benediction offered by Pope John Paul II as a gift to the museum to mark its establishment, as well as two ritual implements of Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and a huge scenic photograph titled the "Ocean of Wisdom" upon which the Dalai Lama wrote four lines' of Tibetan calligraphy.

The Ling Jiou Mountain Wu Sheng Monastery, one of the five most prominent Buddhist or Taoist monasteries in Taiwan, was established on a mountain facing the Pacific Ocean in the northeastern township of Fulon by Buddhist monk Hsin-tao Shih more than two decades ago.

It was learned that Hsin-tao Shih, who was born as Yang Ching-sheng, was born in Burma to Chinese parents in 1948. He came to Taiwan as a youth and practiced Buddhism, striving for virtue by isolating himself for years above a tower of cinerary urns before becoming a real monk.
This story has been viewed 2356 times.