Taipei’s Xing Tian Temple to prohibit incense and other offerings beginning this Tuesday (2014/08/24)
Taipei’s popular Xing Tian Temple attracts some 6 million visitors each year. Beginning on Tuesday, new prohibitions ban the offering of incense and other perishables. The temple announced these changes due to environmental concerns.
In the past, temple volunteers freely provided incense to visitors of the temple. This practice will soon become a thing of the past.
Xing Tian Temple announced that beginning on Tuesday, it will prohibit incense offerings, encouraging devotees to simply put their hands together when making a prayer. It said this change was due to environmental considerations.
It’s not bad. If your heart is sincere your prayer will come true.
After removing the incense and other changes, it will be much like Japan, simply putting your hands together in a prayer.
Some 20,000 visitors come to Xing Tian Temple each day. This creates some NT$100mn in peripheral business, all of which will soon change, particularly for shops and stalls in the area selling incense and other offerings.
The temple doesn’t want neighboring businesses to make money. They already have donations for incense, with donations reaching NT$1bn or more NT$10bn, as they even have patrols in the area.
Temple authorities have even created a short film to teach visitors about the need to comply with the regulations, potentially changing a traditional practice that has been around for centuries.