Longshan Temple (龍山寺) in Taipei yesterday closed access to more than half of its censers following concerns over incense smoke polluting the surrounding area.
Red lids capped four of the temple’s seven censers, as the temple prepared to move them into storage.
“Doctors at National Taiwan University found that PM2.5 levels near the temple had reached frightening levels,” temple affairs manager Chang Hsueh-ling (張雪玲) said. “Longshan Temple’s deity is full of mercy and wants worshipers to be healthy and at peace.”
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Chang said the temple’s board had cast lots three times to ask the permission of Longshan’s main deity — Kuanyin, the goddess of mercy — before passing the new policy.
Located in Taipei’s historic Wanhua District (萬華), the temple has become one of the city’s largest and most famous since it was established in 1738.
A study by National Taiwan University Hospital last month found that levels of airborne particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less around the temple were 49 times higher than the city average, and 89 times higher than that around Xingtian Temple (行天宮), another famed city temple that banned incense burning last year.
Under the new policy, the temple’s lesser deities are to be allocated only one censer, while the two larger central censers devoted to the temple’s major deities are to remain. Worshipers at the temple customarily insert one stick of incense into each of the temple’s censers.
As part of the new policy, the temple will begin providing three incense sticks for free to any worshiper who requests them, Chang said.
Worshipers are also to be encouraged to use “heart incense,” because a sincere prayer would be heard with or without physical smoke, she added.
The decision to remove some of the censors follows earlier moves by the temple to cut the number of incense sticks inserted into each censer under its order of worship. The temple also stopped accepting donated incense last year due to concerns over pollution caused by poor-quality incense.
Chang said that the policy will be reviewed after three months to see how much pollution levels around the temple were reduced.
The policy change drew a mild reaction from temple worshipers.
Devotee Hsu Ming-yuan (許明源) said the temple deities care more about worshipers’ piety than whether they offer incense, money or other gifts.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard