After my visit to the idyllic Tang Dynasty-style Buddhist Nunnery of Chi Lin, I took a short trip on the MTR from Diamond Hill Station (鑽石山站) to Wong Tai Sin Station (黃大仙站) to visit the Wong Tai Sin Temple (黃大仙祠). And again, there was so much to see at Wong Tai Sin Temple that this blog post will cover only that destination (step #2 on my itinerary):
2. Wong Tai Sin Temple (黃大仙祠) via Wong Tai Sin MTR Station (黃大仙站)
First, a brief background on the temple... The story of Wong Tai Sin Temple begins in the early 20th century, when the cult surrounding the Chinese deity Wong Tai Sin arrives in Hong Kong from Xiqiao Mountain (西樵山) in Nanhai County (南海縣) in Guangdong Province (廣東省). The person responsible for spreading the worship of Wong Tai Sin was a man named Leung Yan-am (梁仁菴) and he set up a medicine shop in Wan Chai with an altar dedicated to Wong Tai Sin. Customers were able to both get prescriptions from Mr. Leung and pray at the altar to Wong Tai Sin. But in 1918, Leung's shop was burned down and he reportedly received visions from Wong Tai Sin to build a temple dedicated to him at the temple's present location.
Through a series of divinations such as spirit writing, Taoist priests were able to figure out the details of the building, although apparently conflicting accounts from different Taoist deities resulted in the temple changing its name several times. Initially, it was named Pou-yi Altar (普宜壇) then Sik-sik Yuen (嗇色園) which is still the name of the temple's governing body, and finally the present Chik Chung Wong Sin Hall (赤松黃仙祠).
Today, Wong Tai Sin Temple is still very popular amongst Hong Kong residents, who come to the temple primarily to pray to the Taoist Gods by the traditional practice of kau cim (求籖), which involves the practitioner to shake a cup of numbered bamboo sticks while concentrating on the subject of their prayer. Once one of the sticks fall out, it is taken to a diviner who gives the interpretation of the gods' response to the prayer.
And now, let us begin our journey!
This is the main gate of the temple, known as a paifang (牌坊) which sports the name of the temple in Chinese on the main placard - 赤松黃仙祠
After walking through the gate, there is a small marketplace selling various Daoist religious items, such as incense sticks, lucky charms, and religious statues.
One of the interesting things about the temple that set it apart from the Chi Lin Nunnery was its interesting combination of Western and Chinese architectural styles. In the below photo, the gate on the left is highly Western in style while the wall on the right is highly Chinese (with the porcelain window bars, Chinese roofing on the top of the wall).
Now, I enter the second main gate of the temple complex which is emblazoned with the name Sik-sik Yuen (嗇色園) and below, the phrase "The first grotto-heaven" (第一洞天), which is a type of Taoist sacred site (although it is usually located in a grotto or cave).
So many people have touched the black qilin (Chinese unicorn) statues that they now have golden noses!
Here are statues of the Twelve Zodiac of the Chinese calendar - you can clearly see the Rooster, the Monkey, the Ram, the Horse, the Dragon, and the Hare in this picture:
Leading to the main hall of the temple, the gate proclaims the phrase "Jinhua splits path" (金華分蹟) in highly cursive Chinese. Jinhua (金華) refers to the city in Zhejiang Province where Wong Tai Sin was born and grew up in and even today, he still has a large following in Zhejiang. So perhaps the phrase refers to the split-up nature of the Wong Tai Sin congregation between Hong Kong and Zhejiang.
I'm not certain what these bronze vessels are used for, but my guess is that they are used for certain religious rites, since they highly resemble historical Chinese bronze religious vessels.
In the temple, many people were praying to the deities enshrined at the many side shrines. Below is a picture of the Shrine of the God of Riches (財神殿). To me, he is one of the more familiar names among the Taoist deities, as a well-known Chinese News Year tradition is to receive a red pocket from a man dressed up as the God of Riches.
Ascending from the incense sticks of the praying Taoist faithful, the incense smoke filled the air.
From time to time, a temple staff member would take some incense sticks from the incense sand pit and toss them into the large incense burner (see below) at the front of the temple. You can actually see one of them at work in the picture above.
Compared to Chi Lin Nunnery, Wong Tai Sin Temple is obviously much more richly decorated (especially with its use of ornate green, gold, white, blue, and red decorative elements) and the atmosphere more energetic than the simple decoration and contemplative mood of Chi Lin.
This is a clear shot of the ornate dougong (斗拱) or repeating bracket-sets located just underneath the edge of the roof. Originally, the served the practical purpose of supporting the overhanging roof eaves. But as time went by, Chinese builders developed more advanced building techniques which made the dougong less and less important. Eventually though, they were considered so attractive that as their utility diminished, the more sophisticated their ornamentation became.
Just next to the main temple is a much smaller temple, Sam Sing Hall (三聖堂 "Hall of the Three Saints"). As a testament to the syncretist nature of Chinese religion (especially Taoism), the "three saints" are: Guanyin Bodhisattva (觀音菩薩) (originally a Buddhist Bodhisattva but worshipped here as a deity), Lu Dongbin (呂洞賓) (the de-facto leader of the Taoist Eight Immortals, humans who have achieved magical powers due to their cultivation of internal qi), and Lord Guan (關公) (a historical general of the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history noted for his loyalty and virtue and subsequently elevated to the Taoist pantheon).
Here, you can see how at least a portion of the original Hall of Scriptures (經堂) has been converted into an administrative office for the temple.
A familiar sight to Chinese temples, here is a shrine filled with the memorial tablets of many venerable Taoist deceased.
The temple buildings still use elements of the traditional Chinese building style. Inside the ceiling of one of the buildings, you can see how the transversal and longitudinal beams are placed on top of the columns while the roof's slanted edges are supported on purlins (in solid green) supported on struts placed on the original beams. However, it seems like some Western building elements were used, as the roof seems to be made of clay tiles placed on a plaster shell rather than the traditional clay tiles placed on wooden rafters.
Here is one of the gems of the temple - Chung Sam Garden (從心苑, lit. "From-the-Heart Garden"). Built in 1991 on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Wong Tai Sin Temple, the garden itself is modelled after one of the most famous Chinese gardens - the Summer Palace in Beijing.
In the garden pond, you can spot some turtles (bottom centre) and even some koi (top centre):
According to the traditional design of Chinese gardens, the pathways are never straight and continuous but form zig-zags.
Away from the main area of the garden, you can find Chinese pavilions perched on elevated outcrops located around a pool. In contrast with the strange column-bracket-truss roof (i.e. the one resembling a triangular-prism) seen on the HKUST pavilions, the garden pavilions at Wong Tai Sin seem to use the proper pyramidal roof.
Many different types of vegetation is represented in the garden, including this pathway of bamboo:
Again, drawing inspiration from Beijing, here is a replica of the famous Nine Dragons Wall (九龍壁):
More turtles...
One interesting feature of the garden is its incorporation of unique stone grotto paths. You can hardly tell where you are going to end up before you enter into the path.
Here is a statue of Elder Yuet (月老), the God of Marriages. The Chinese character Yuet (月) literally means "moon" so that is probably the reason for the crescent moon behind him. According to Chinese tradition, men and women are tied by strings of karma to each other and are pulled towards each other by fate until, at last, they get married (similar to the ancient Greek belief that each spouse was their spouse's "other half" before they were broken asunder upon birth). You can still see the influence of this belief on the Chinese language, where "getting married" is 結婚 (literally "tie-marriage"). But then again, even English uses the phrase "tying the knot"...
Here, I spotted a Taoist priest in his ceremonial robes:
And as I was leaving the temple premises, there was a large sign display put up by Falun Dafa (法輪大法) practitioners, who practice a method of interior qi but are persecuted by the government of the People's Republic of China. Clearly, their poster display was meant to encourage criticism of the Chinese Communist Party among Mainland Chinese tourists to the temple. Translated, the poster in blue states:
中共不等于中国
The Chinese Communist Party is not the same as China
爱国不等于爱党
Loving your country is not the same as loving the Party
天灾中共
May divine calamities befall the Chinese Communist Party
退党 退团 退队 保平安
Eject the party, eject the group (?), eject the team (?), and preserve peace
But to avoid ending this blog post with a mention of the Chinese Communist Party and its conflict with the Falun Dafa, I found another interesting bit of the temple off the main path. As I was leaving, I came upon this Traditional Chinese Medicine medical clinic associated with the Temple. Taoists have long been known for discovering many cures for ailments used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In fact, although modern science has not found an explanation for this, some of the natural remedies can work where modern science fails.
In my next post, I will be showing you how I located some of the most famous street foods in Hong Kong and my reviews on them. See you next time!
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