I am going to be doing a podcast interview with a temple manager next month and while I have my own list of questions, I thought it would probably be interesting to ask here what questions Forumosans would have. So what would you like to know about running a temple?
I’m interested in how they fund the larger temples. But I guess that wouldn’t be too polite to ask…
Also would like to know how a temple manager views the differences/similarities between Taoism and Buddhism. I have read and heard various explanations on and offline, but I wondered what their particular perspective was.
I think those questions are a little dull, I might be able to brainstorm better ones later.
A run-of-the-mill temple? Or a historic one like Cheng Hoon Teng in Malacca?
If historic or old, I’d ask about preservation, restoration and maintenance. How they fund it, what techniques they use, etc.
How do you hide all the money you make so that it still looks like you’re a country bumpkin and no-one notices you drive the latest Mercedes and live in Da’an?
lol
The temple (in Taiwan) is one of those ones where people go to pray for money so I will definitely be asking a lot of funding/monetary questions.
The temple building itself is new so preservation is not an issue though they always have some precious artefacts.
Good questions. Keep them coming.
A day in the life… like what is it they do, how they interact with their “parishioners”, why do they do what they do?
How do they see themselves, their role in the community? How about the future? What are they doing to preserve traditions, pass them on to future generations?
Ecological practices: do they agree to transition to paperles “burning”? Can they agree with this or not?
Do you believe in miracles?
Do you believe in the power of prayer?
What do you pray for?
Is there any way of accurately telling the future?
What’s your electricity bill? . . . No, not the temple’s; yours?
How do you feel about photography at your temple? Can I take your picture? Can you put the peace sign down?
What are some things you’d like visitors to your temple to know?
Are there any do’s and don’ts that temple visitors should know?
What’s the temple’s most precious artifact? What’s it worth melted down?
Have you ever met anyone with six toes on one foot?
What are some temples that YOU love to visit?
Do you track the number of visitors to your temple? Are they increasing or decreasing?
Have you thought of adding exotic dancers to attract people to the temple? Have you thought of exotic dancers?
Do you think young people are as religious as their parents?
Who’s worse, Ted Cruz or Donald Trump?
Do the Twins have a chance of making the playoffs? What are the odds they go all the way?
How did you get to be chosen the Dalai Lama?
Why most religious institutions sees preservation of historical architecture as a valuable asset, and Taiwan’s don’t.
Why can’t temples get back the land that they supposedly own, and let vendors, government, roads and such stripe away its lands.
Does it make sense to have a specific Temple Registration Regulations for Taoist and Han Buddhist temples, which doesn’t apply to Christian, Muslim or Tibetan Buddhist temples?
glrs.moi.gov.tw/EngLawContent.aspx?Type=E&id=142
Do the laws regarding religion needs a complete overhaul? Like how it completely ignores Aboriginal religions?
Does it make sense that it’s the temple committee that decides temple spending, reconstruction and other important temple matters, and actual religious personnel often gets overruled?
[quote=“hansioux”]Why most religious institutions sees preservation of historical architecture as a valuable asset, and Taiwan’s don’t.
Why can’t temples get back the land that they supposedly own, and let vendors, government, roads and such stripe away its lands.[/quote]
You mean why don’t they give back the land or why do they let others encroach?
[quote]
Does it make sense to have a specific Temple Registration Regulations for Taoist and Han Buddhist temples, which doesn’t apply to Christian, Muslim or Tibetan Buddhist temples.[/quote]
Only some temples are registered. Smaller shrines and temples inside people’s houses are usually not. So yes interesting where the line is drawn.
Which laws specifically? A question like this won’t generate an interesting response.
You mean as opposed to the priests/monks?
[quote=“Mucha Man”]
Which laws specifically? A question like this won’t generate an interesting response. [/quote]
Actually, there is not a comprehensive law regarding religious organizations. There’s a couple incomplete regulations here and there. There’s a draft that the legislature hasn’t gotten around to it for 20 years.
The current draft, which should probably be revised by the new legislature being getting read
moi.gov.tw/files/news_file/% … %A1%88.pdf
News of it not being passed for 20 years
news.ltn.com.tw/news/life/paper/878277
[quote=“Mucha Man”]
You mean as opposed to the priests/monks?[/quote]
Yeah. What I hear is monks getting forced out so that the committee can conduct reconstruction and skim money off the top.
I think temples have had committees for a long time. They are usually elected by the local community that “owns” the temple and the committee are the ones that raise the money. A few temples were founded by monks but even then they didn’t build them but raised money from the local community. Not sure why they should have any more say in reconstruction than anyone else.
How exactly a manager is voted in is something I want to explore in this interview. How do they campaign, how long is their term? Do they draw a salary? Who exactly owns a temple?
“How does it make you feel that you are perpetuating and actively encouraging air pollution and superstition?”
Are all temples in Taiwan equally valid places of religious worship in his view, or what differentiates them?
I’ll save that for the end. 
I’ll save that for the end. [/quote]
I do love temples, but Jimi actually puts it in a very tactful fashion. It might have been, “After the number of believers in your neighborhood comes in to pray for their health after being diagnosed with lung cancer that is obviously the result of your burning metal-laced ghost money, a practice that is often described as tradition but which is actually a very recent scam to make money, passes yet another record, how do you keep the steering wheel of your BMW free of tears? Or should I perhaps ask your driver instead?”
I’ll save that for the end. [/quote]
I do love temples, but Jimi actually puts it in a very tactful fashion. It might have been, “After the number of believers in your neighborhood comes in to pray for their health after being diagnosed with lung cancer that is obviously the result of your burning metal-laced ghost money, a practice that is often described as tradition but which is actually a very recent scam to make money, passes yet another record, how do you keep the steering wheel of your BMW free of tears? Or should I perhaps ask your driver instead?”[/quote]
I completely agree with you, but I have had many chances to deal with the EPA and other badly funded agencies about pollution and it always comes down to a resistance on the part of the people themselves to change (or to demand their environmental agencies have both the funding and the regulatory backing to do their jobs properly).
Farmers want to burn whenever they want, even when they farm at the edge of dense urban areas. People want to burn piles of ghost paper in open cans on the streets or in one of the 15,000 temples across the island many of which are also in the middle of dense urban area. It isn’t temple managers causing this or encouraging it and many are aware of the problem. Many temples now at the very least have filters on their incinerators to minimize the spread of large particles. But nothing is done about businesses burning in the open.
I’ve heard that the temples hire mafia to organize the parades for their birthdays.
Can he confirm if this is true, and why they would choose them (the mafia) as their representatives for such events?
I would ask something about the design of the temple and its construction. Is the temple made from wood? Were large trees used to make the columns and beams? If so, what kind of tree was used and where were they sourced from? Was it designed by an architect? (Is there such a thing as a temple architect?) Are there rules of construction that, among other things, bring good fortune? Are there blueprints? In traditional units, rather than millimeters? What are the units? And is it hard to get artisans for construction and repair work due to high demand?
Alternatively, if the temple is a more modern construction I would ask him about this choice.
[quote=“antarcticbeech”]I would ask something about the design of the temple and its construction. Is the temple made from wood? Were large trees used to make the columns and beams? If so, what kind of tree was used and where were they sourced from? Was it designed by an architect? (Is there such a thing as a temple architect?) Are there rules of construction that, among other things, bring good fortune? Are there blueprints? In traditional units, rather than millimeters? What are the units? And is it hard to get artisans for construction and repair work due to high demand?
Alternatively, if the temple is a more modern construction I would ask him about this choice.[/quote]
Most of those I already know, and managers are not the best people to ask in any case. They are good for mytho-poetic explanations of how things are done not concrete details.
Traditionally the master carpenter was also the architect. Even in Taipei, temples like the Confucius and Baoan and Longshan were built that way.
Nowadays they tend to use regular architects which is one of the reason for the drop in aesthetics as the real artisans get paid nothing and their skills and experience count for nothing.
If you are interested in design the classic manual that was used for centuries was the Yingzao Fashi:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yingzao_Fashi
A great book on southern Chinese style temple architecture is also Chinese Architecture in the Straits Settlements bu David Kohl. It was Kohl’s masters thesis and so incredibly detailed including measurements and architectural plans.
I also recommend Chinese Architecture and Metaphor.
And specifically for Taiwan (I think this is the title, can’t find my copy though): Traditional Architecture in Taiwan
Mytho-poetic… I like that!