President Chen Shui-bian and 12 local and foreign celebrities jointly took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday to open the Museum of World Religions in suburban Taipei.
"The inauguration of the museum is a proud moment for the 23 million people of Taiwan, as it is the first of its kind in the world," Chen said in a speech to mark the occasion.
The president lauded Buddhist Master Shih Hsin-tao for his longtime efforts to establish a museum aimed at highlighting the essence of all religions in the world. Chen says this "essence" of religion is love and peace.
In his view, Chen said, the opening of the museum is not only a historic event for the world's religious community but also a significant development in human civilization.
Describing the museum as a "United Nations for religions," Chen said the museum displays cultural diversity and can serve as a conduit for cultural exchanges and integration.
"The museum is meant to symbolize respect, tolerance and benevolence," Chen went on, adding that the museum will bring "new vision" to Taiwan.
Speaking on the same occasion, Shih Hsin-tao, founder of the museum, said the inauguration of the museum is just the first step toward the goal of promoting world peace and reconciliation between different religions.
The Buddhist master said he hopes that the museum will become a "temple without boundaries" and a "retreat for everyone from the unrest in the world."
Many world-renowned religious leaders and scholars traveled to Taiwan to attend the museum's opening ceremony.
Among them were Bawa Jain, secretary-general of the UN-sponsored millennium world peace summit; Lawrence Sullivan, director of Harvard University's religion research center; Rabbi Soeten-dorp, a Jewish priest from Holland; Father Mizzi from Italy's St Francisco missionary society; Dayanand Saraswati, a Hindu priest; and Manjeet Singh, a Sikhism master.
Several international cultural figures from France, the US and other countries were also present.
The museum in Yungho City, on the outskirts of Taipei, is the brainchild of Master Shih Hsin-tao, who is abbot of the Ling Jiou Mountain Wu Sheng Monastery in the northeastern Taiwan coastal township of Fulong.
The planning and construction of the museum cost NT$2 billion (US$58 million) and took 10 years to complete.
The museum boasts a great number of priceless exhibits, including a certificate of benediction offered by Pope John Paul II as a gift to the museum, as well as two ritual implements of Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and a huge landscape photograph titled the "Ocean of Wisdom," upon which the Dalai Lama had inscribed four lines of Tibetan calligraphy.
Also on display are numerous religious scriptures, artifacts, instruments, art objects and more than 7,000 books on various religions, as well as 2,000-plus video and audio recordings on religious subjects.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique