LONGSHAN TEMPLE 龍山寺

After a particularly tough day in class last week I was glad that my friend Carrie and I had plans to go visit some temples. Because of the torrential rain, we ended up visiting only one, longshan, or 'dragon mountain' temple.





I'm not very comfortable taking pictures inside religious places, even if I am assured that it is perfectly acceptable, so I missed getting shots of the offering tables, but don't worry, the gods ate well that night.

I did, however, get lots of pictures of the dragons




There was tons of incense burning (given as offerings) and the smell was kind of woody and sweet and quite heady. If I were a god I would have been totally flattered.

Carrie led me around to the altars that were designated for particular prayers; one was for pregancy, one for exams, and so on. Really quite practical, though I could never sustain such a faith. After many unsuccessful 4th grade negotiations in which I promised that I would believe in god if my mom would pick me up from school within the next ten cars, I pretty much gave up.

The temple was very beautiful, and the atmosphere serene, but I'm just a little uncomfortable with the earnestness of worship, and felt especially so at the altar for those seeking spouses. I suppose it is less public than match.com, but I felt so awkward looking on as lonely men and women brought offerings and incense, bowed several times, and rubbed together little red pieces of wood used for divination. Carrie explained to me how you drop the pieces on the ground while asking a question and the way they land gives you your answer. There was also a tall barrel with about a hundred numbered sticks that corresponded to numbers on a big card-catalog like cabinet. After randomly choosing a stick, you could open the corresponding numbered drawer and find the answer to your question. Weberian means-end rationalization was never so well-accessorized.

Afterward the temple tour, Carrie and I met up with her brother and they both helped me to buy a new gadget. I wanted to be able to record my one-on-one classes both to practice correct pronunciation and to spare myself the distraction of taking notes, and so we went hunting for a good voice recorder. I got a 2GB one which can also play and record from the radio. Cool! And I didn't even have to pray for it.