Every spare surface of Lin Hsin-lai’s (林新來) four-story shop is crammed with a pantheon of Taiwan’s celestial beings, a testament to the decades he has spent sheltering and restoring unwanted statues of gods.
Thousands of statues fill the shelves, from popular deities such as the sea goddess Matsu (媽祖) and the fearsome Guan Yu (關羽) — a red-faced warrior god worshiped by police and gangsters alike — to lesser-known beings like a tiger-shaped guardian spirit.
“It’s a pity that statues of gods are discarded, and some are even battered by wind and rain,” Lin said, shortly before conducting a blessing ritual for some repaired statues.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
“They should be treated as cultural assets,” he said.
Statues are ubiquitous across Taiwan, found in temples, homes, parks and offices. Buddhism and Taoism, the nation’s two dominant religions, venerate a host of gods and incarnations — bolstered by a slew of colorful folk deities.
Yet, many are thrown away.
So over the past four decades, Lin, 61, has embarked on a one-man mission to adopt any god statue that might need a new home.
The trained sculptor estimated that he has saved about 20,000 statues.
The worst spate of abandonment came about 30 years ago, when vandalized statues were routinely dumped by gamblers seeking divine blessings as they tried to win underground lotteries.
“Nine out of 10 gamblers were doomed to lose,” Lin said. “But they blamed the gods and vented their anger by discarding or even mutilating the statues. I rescued some with heads or arms cut off.”
These days, fewer statues are dumped outdoors, but Lin still gets a stream of calls from owners wanting a god removed or rehoused.
Younger Taiwanese who are not religious or have adopted different faiths often do not want the statues passed down by their parents, while business owners and temples that go bust are another common source, he said.
The largest case he handled involved about 700 statues from the family of a collector who passed away.
“I hope to find new homes for the statues so the deities can be worshiped and people can form connections with them,” said Lin, who charges a fee to conduct blessing rituals for rehoused statues.
Lin fondly recollected convincing the finder of the first unwanted statue that he repaired — a figurine of the warrior deity San Tai Zi (三太子) left by a river — to take it home to worship.
Another favorite memory was fixing a badly damaged statue of the friendly-looking earth god Tu Di Gong (土地公) for an older man who snared it while fishing at sea. The man later took the restored statue home to his family altar.
However, Lin has only given away about 3,000 statues — or 15 percent — in his collection.
“More people want to get rid of the statues than receive them. I get telephone calls almost every day about unwanted statues,” he said.
As the calls keep coming, Lin is struggling to find enough space to accommodate the growing collection. The statues fill up his shop, studio and a warehouse in northern Taoyuan.
He opens his shop for school trips and has previously loaned statues to film companies wanting to recreate temple scenes.
This year, he plans to open a gallery displaying about 1,000 statues of the goddess of mercy Guanyin (觀音) in her namesake town in Taoyuan where he lives.
There are few artisans left like Lin with the knowledge to carve and restore statues of gods.
He started out aged 17 with 20 other apprentices, but only he and one other from the class remain in the trade.
Demand is waning and those who want statues often buy cheaper imported ones.
“This is a sunset industry,” he said, sighing. “None of my three sons are interested in following my footsteps. I have to do it for as long as I can.”
However, he vowed to carry on collecting the unwanted statues.
“I am doing this all by myself with my limited physical strength,” he said, a reference to polio he contracted as a child. “But I just can’t bear to see the statues of deities abandoned.”
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