Tainan’s Wanfu Temple is the earliest temple devoted to the “Great Sage Equal to Heaven,” Sun Wukong, or the Monkey King. Sun Wukong is worshipped throughout Taiwan, and is believed to be able to help with hard-to-treat ailments in children. Now that the Year of the Monkey is upon us, there are sure to be waves of devotees bringing their children to worship at the temple, as devotees believe that children praying to the Great Sage may be adopted by the sage as his godchildren. Devotees believe the sage’s godchildren will be well-behaved, sensible and grow up without incident.
Wanfu Temple, located in an alley off Minzu Road in Tainan’s Jhongsi District, was built during the Yongli Reign of the Southern Ming dynasty.
Originally, it was the place where the widow of Ruan Jun, a Ming Dynasty general in the army of Cheng Cheng-kung — better known as Koxinga — practiced her Buddhist devotions until her death, having come to Taiwan with Koxinga; the temple was therefore named Ruan Wife Temple.
Photo: Wang Chun-chung, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者王俊忠
At the beginning, the temple housed the Triatna “Three Jewels” Buddha statues and the Avalokitesvara bodhisattva. It is said that Ruan’s widow would look after children for people, with the sound of children shouting and crying often filling the temple. Widow Ruan believed that the more than 300-year-old stone statue of the Great Sage Monkey King, brought over from China, would help her to teach the children more easily. Of the dozens of Sun Wukong statues within the temple, it is the most historically important.
Intriguingly, several decades ago, a tree in front of the Wanfu Temple began to deform, for no apparent reason. What was originally a perfectly normal trunk, gradually started growing a mass of tree burls shaped like a group of monkeys, down at its roots. The temple authorities have named this old tree the Monkey Spirit Tree Lord.
There is also an interesting fengshui story concerning a section of wall in front of the temple. According to the story, when Admiral Shi Lang came to Taiwan, Widow Ruan was still alive. As she despised Shi for destroying the Cheng family fleet, she had the entrance of her residence changed so that it faced Shi’s official residence, and through this fengshui arrangement interfere with his luck. Shi had this wall built in order to counter this effect by blocking it.
The top of the wall is of the traditional double-ridged style, giving it a rustic feel, and the city government listed it as a Third Grade Historic Relic. According to the temple authorities, there will be a jianjiao Taoist dedication ceremony in the tenth month of the lunar year for the restoration work, completed in 2014, on the temple’s 1972 two-story roof extension.
(Liberty Times, translated by Paul Cooper)
全台奉祀齊天大聖「孫悟空」最早的開基廟——台南市萬福庵，向來專治小孩子的疑難雜症。猴年到來，勢必掀起信眾帶孩子前往拜契子的風潮，因為信眾相信孩子祈求大聖爺或做大聖爺的「契子」(義子)，能聽話懂事、保平安長大。
位於台南市中西區民族路巷內的萬福庵，建於南明朝永曆年間，原是鄭成功部將阮駿遺孀跟著鄭軍撤退來台、信佛持齋終老之所，也稱「阮夫人寺」。
廟內原本奉祀三寶佛與觀世音菩薩，相傳阮夫人當年幫人帶小孩，小孩常哭鬧冥頑，阮夫人從中國迎來迄今有三百多年歷史的大聖爺石雕神像，以求孩童易於教導，是廟內數十尊孫悟空神像中，最具歷史價值的大聖爺神尊。
令人嘖嘖稱奇的是，幾十年前，萬福庵前的一棵榕樹不知何故出現變化，原本平凡無奇的樹幹，從樹根處漸漸長出如猴型的樹瘤。廟方為此奉老榕為「猴靈樹王公」。
此外，萬福庵前的照牆，也有段神奇的風水故事，相傳施琅入台時，阮夫人仍健在，因痛恨施琅滅鄭，就將住所的廳門更改為與施琅將軍府相望，藉此風水格局剋制施琅運途，施琅為破阮夫人打造的風水格局，興建這面照牆加以反制。
這面照牆頂為二重脊形式，散發古樸氣息，被市府列為三級古蹟。至於萬福庵則在民國六十一年改建為二樓式新廟宇，廟方在一○三年完成重修，預定今年農曆十月間舉行建醮大典。
(自由時報記者王俊忠)
Many consumers are guilty of filling drawers or closets with old laptops, cellphones, fitness trackers and other electronic devices once they are no longer needed. It’s hard to know where to recycle such items, or it seems costly and inconvenient to do so. The world generates millions of tons of electronic waste — also called e-waste — each year. According to the UN’s most recent estimate, people worldwide produced 62 million metric tons of e-waste in 2022, and only about 22 percent of it was properly recycled. The US’ Environmental Protection Agency estimates that less than a quarter of e-waste is
You’re sitting in class when a classmate asks to borrow a pencil. It seems like a small favor, so you agree without hesitation. The following week, the same classmate asks to share your notes. Later, they request help with a group project. You agree each time — after all, you helped out the first time — but before you know it, it has become automatic. This scenario demonstrates the “foot-in-the-door technique,” a psychological concept that shows how agreeing to small, acceptable demands makes it easier to accept larger ones later on. The name for this strategy comes from door-to-door
A: The four-day Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend begins Friday and will run until Monday. Are you going to sweep your ancestors’ tombs? B: I did in advance last weekend, so I can go to Kaohsiung to see the musical “The Phantom of the Opera.” A: Wow, is “Phantom” touring Taiwan again? It debuted in 1986, so this year marks the 40th anniversary of the show. B: And it’s not just touring Kaohsiung starting March 31, but also Taipei starting April 21 and Taichung starting May 26. A: “Phantom” is one of the world’s Four Major Musicals. I’ve seen all of them, except “Les
Continued from yesterday（延續自昨日） https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Gig Tripping “Gig tripping” combines concerts with travel. People fly to see their favorite artists perform — usually abroad—and spend a few days sightseeing before or after the show. While die-hard fans have done this since the 1960s, the post-pandemic travel boom changed the game. Even people who aren’t superfans are now booking international concert trips because they want to make the most of travel opportunities. This trend exploded in the US, as the math makes sense. Domestic concert tickets are so costly that flying abroad for the show plus tourism expenses often matches or even beats the price
RSS