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Praying Routine
｜Photo: The Wondrous Temple Expedition｜
Even though Taiwanese temples vary in sizes and the deities they host, the praying routines do not vary significantly. After several rounds of interviews, we learned that in order to receive blessing from the deities, what really mattered was our sincerity, not the amount of offering.
Order of Praying
｜Hand-drawn pictures: Debbie, Delta, Amber.W
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- Wash both hands and rinse all the offerings, proceed to [Area A] to purchase rice or paper money.
- Place offerings on the table behind the Jade Emperor incense burner or on the table in front of the deity that you wish to focus on.
- Proceed to [Area C] and light up five sticks of incense.
- Continue with praying by following the order recommended by the temple or simply focus solely on the deity you are after.
- After praying, you may ask the deity for a divination poem by tossing poe.
- After you are done with praying, you may collect the offerings from the table and leave if you do not plan to burn paper money. If you do plan to burn paper money, you must wait for ten minutes after you have finished praying and then bring the paper money to [Area B]. Paper money will get sent to an off-site incinerator for burning.
Recommended Praying Order
| Order |
Deity |
Number of incense sticks |
Location |
| 1 |
Jade Emperor (back facing the main hall and stand on the spot marked by * ) |
(A) 1 |
1F |
| 2 |
(1) Fude Senior, Earth God, Earth God’s Wife, Earth God with the Young Boy, Guanyu, General Xu, General Xiao, Cabinet Baoyi |
(B) 1 |
1F |
| 3 |
(2) Tiger God |
(C)1 |
1F |
| 4 |
(3) God of Wisdom, Maitreya Buddha |
(D) 1 |
1F |
| 5 |
(4) Mazu, Goddess of Birth, Yuelao |
1F |
| 6 |
(5) Tai Sui |
1F |
| 7 |
(6) Five-way Wealth Gods, God of Wealth for People, God of Wealth for Gamblers |
(E) 1 |
1F |
| 8 |
(7) Guanyin |
1F |
| 9 |
(8) The Three Buddha (Gautama Buddha, Amitabha, Medicine Buddha), Skanda, Sangharama |
0 |
2F |
| 10 |
(9) Maitreya Buddha |
0 |
2F |
Source Text: The Wondrous Temple Expedition │ Photos: The Wondrous Temple Expedition
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