Does anybody here practice, or know a Westerner who practices, Chinese folk religion or authentic religious Daoism? Could a Westerner with decent Mandarin walk into a temple service and participate the way anybody could walk into a Christian church? Do people proselytise for these religions (if only to local Taiwanese people in an attempt to keep them alive) or do they not really care?
2 Likes
I once met this man living in the mountains that was a foreigner. He speaks fluent Taiwanese and not much mandarin. He did practice the local religious practice from what I could tell.
6 Likes
Taoism isn’t really an evangelist religion. Nobody will preach those anymore than Jews will try to convert anyone else…
To my knowledge only Christians or Muslims will try to convert others.
1 Like
I have some vaguely Buddhist tendencies, it doesn’t require interacting with other people (if anything, that is frowned upon). I see occasional Buddhist monks here but don’t consider it a Taiwanese religion…
I think the paper-burning is pretty barbaric. Not that I don’t have a healthy respect for fire, but the unnecessary smoke grinds my gears a bit. Best not to think about it too much, though, because down that path is only suffering…
When I was in quarantine hotel I saw there was religious TV, which I would consider proselytization.
I’m sure if you really want to learn, you can start hanging around the temples and a teacher of some sort will eventually present themselves.
1 Like
I think Buddhism has a proselytising streak. New religious movements definitely try to convert others. I didn’t expect Daoism to actively convert people (not anymore at least), but I would have thought that in the face of encroaching Western materialism, the growth of Christianity in the Far East, and the aforementioned new religious movements, Daoists (and practitioners of Chinese folk religion) might feel more on the defensive. I’ve certainly not heard of this happening from my Taiwanese friends though. I wonder why? Complacency?
2 Likes
Or without any Mandarin at all, certainly, yes.
What I want to know is if any foreigner can found a temple the way anyone can found a Christian church back home 
2 Likes
I practice ChaBuDuo. Does that count?
7 Likes
meh, chabuduo 
1 Like
Chinese religion seems too muddy to proselytize. How many Taiwanese are pure Buddhists? Most like to mix a bit of everything Daoism, Buddhism, Chinese folk religion to whatever situation suits them. If you want to have a boy do this, before Chinese New Year make sure you do this and so on.
Isn’t there a Tao Western priest with pictures in proper attire and in temple discussed here somewhere?
1 Like
Is this the one?
2 Likes
Is Falun Gong a Buddhist religion? I feel like they might proselytize but I could be wrong.
1 Like
I went to some of their meetings when I first went to Taiwan and didn’t know anything about them. They definitely proselytise (they caught me at a university campus). Although they deny they’re a religion, they definitely seemed like a religion to me, complete with charismatic leader and holy texts. I even asked the girl if you could be a Christian and a Falun Gong member and she thought hard about it before saying she doesn’t think you can. Definitely a new religious movement in my book, though not necessarily a “Buddhist” religion.
3 Likes
Try these guys? https://www.mindful-taipei.org/
Looks mindfulness-centered but maybe there’s a Buddhist or Daoist slant to them?
I bought some incense once.
6 Likes
1 Like
Based on my experience with Taoism (I have more than a friend whose family runs a temple), you are free to walk in, buy incense and pray on your own. Language is not an issue, unless you need to ask for help (like how many incense sticks are given to each god).
“Participating” in activities is trickier because they are typically run by each temple’s own community and it’s hard to imagine a foreigner who suddenly pops up from nowhere to be allowed to join in. Unless you are introduced by someone within the circle.
As to proselytism, I wouldn’t say that it really exists in Taoism, at least based on my experience. While churches are always welcoming new members, temples are run by an existing community that is close-knitted and not particularly keen in getting strangers in. Also, while Christianity has proselytism as a mission (spreading God’s message across the world), Taoism doesn’t; it’s a folk religion with temples opened by a group of individuals for their own “use”.
1 Like
Falun Gong is more like a modern cult. They are weird and secretive, and very controlling of their members. There are other more legit traditional temples or schools for anyone interested in traditional Buddhism or Taoism.
1 Like
I’ve burned incense sticks to Bruce Lee’s grave in Seattle.
Temples here are almost always run by gangs/groups of people trying to make money off people with no regard for actual gods or spirituality (other than the worship of the almighty dollar). I guess that’s not unlike most branches of Christianity, et al.
A Taiwanese friend of mine pointed out that you can always recognize Falungong members because they wear clean clothes and aren’t covered in betelnut stains. You stop and ask the vast majority of people doing “traditional” temple celebrations in rural Taiwan why they do what they do, and they can’t tell you. The first time I ever had someone able to explain to me 迎城隍 in Kinmen (the largest non-Abrahamic religious festival in the world) was a fifth grader on the school drum team. The hundreds of college students and dads (almost everyone directly involved is male) that I met over the years of living in Kinmen just told me that it was time to walk around the city and make a lot of noise and disturb the flow of traffic across half the island for a few days. It’s loud, it’s dirty, people drink beer and throw empty cans onto people’s balconies with no thought as to how barbaric that kind of behavior is, it’s weird if you’re not lighting up your hundredth cigarette, no one looks before setting off firecrackers and everyone is dehydrated and cranky. All for some god that only one fifth grader has even able to identify for me and explain the significance of.
1 Like