Chi Nan Temple

The temple stands at the foot of Mt Zhinan in Muzha, at an altitude of 285 metres. It was founded in 1890 (the 16th year of the Guangxu reign), when Wang Binlin, magistrate of Tamsui County, brought a share of the deity's spirit (fenling) from the Yongle Palace in Shanxi to Taiwan. The grounds cover several dozen hectares, shaded by tall old trees. There are five main halls: Chunyang Hall, Lingxiao Hall, Daxiong Hall, Dacheng Hall and Dizangwang Hall. Together with the subsidiary halls (Taisui Hall, Yuhuang Hall, Sanqing Hall, Doumu Hall, Shanxi Shengzun Hall and Yuantong Hall) there are more than ten, all built against the hillside. Most are of solid stone roofed with copper tiles. Long corridors link the halls, with pavilions, ponds and terraces between them. The temple has been called 'the foremost sacred mountain under heaven'. It often holds large religious events and takes part in international work to spread Taoism. The main deity is Lü Dongbin, the Patriarch Chunyang, whose formal Taoist title is Fuyou Dijun, though he is popularly called Xiangong or Lüzu. Lüzu lived in the Tang dynasty. He was widely read, passed the jinshi imperial examination and served as a county magistrate. Devoted to the Tao, he met the immortal Zhongli Quan, the Patriarch Zhengyang, who awakened him through the 'Yellow Millet Dream', tested him by turning stone into gold and passed on his teachings, until he attained the Tao and joined the ranks of the immortals. Because he vowed to save all people, he often appears among ordinary people to help the world and rescue those in trouble, and many miracle stories are told of him. Temples dedicated to him are found across the country. The buildings are made mainly of nanmu wood, bluestone and copper tiles, and combine northern Chinese palace architecture, traditional southern Fujian style and Buddhist features. Chunyang Hall is a representative late work of the traditional master craftsman Chen Yingbin. Lingxiao Hall is the tallest temple building in Taiwan, its roof ridges covered with immortals, clouds and beasts, carved dragons and phoenixes. Daxiong Hall is shaped like the head of a Buddha. In Dizangwang Hall the eighteen arhats stand in a ring.

Translated and shortened by DealTaipei from Taiwan's national tourism database. Sources are on the terms page.