Inside Xingtian Temple, the female devotees sat in silence, absorbed in their recitation of the scriptures

Female believers in Hsing Tian Kong — Female devotees at Xingtian Temple

When you step into Xingtian Temple in central Taipei, what greets you is not the roar of the city but a strangely well-arranged silence. Rows of devotees sit quietly, sacred texts spread open across their laps. Most read without a sound, though here and there someone murmurs softly, their words faint as the hum of a mosquito, accentuating rather than disturbing the overall stillness. Occasionally the shuffle of a turning page drifts through the hall, a reminder that this stillness is made up of countless private motions.

Xingtian Temple is dedicated to the god Guan Di and is among the most popular shrines in Taipei, known above all for prayers of business prosperity. One might expect the air to be thick with petitions for fortune, yet the worshippers before me were absorbed solely in their scripture. I found myself wondering if the god of commerce might miss the very requests he is famed for answering. Then again, perhaps for them, reciting the sutras is the prayer itself, and matters of profit and loss are pushed aside, at least for this hour.

Temple culture in Taiwan is full of customs that strike a visitor as curious: bundles of incense sticks lit in profusion, or divination blocks rattled from red bamboo cylinders. Yet here, at this corner of Xingtian Temple, no one held incense. Their gazes were fixed only on the dense black characters before them, the act of reading itself a ritual. Strangely, that quiet discipline seemed to harmonize with Taipei’s modern pulse, as if the city and the temple had reached a tacit agreement.

The profile of one woman stood out to me. Her finger traced the characters with effortless fluency, her expression far removed from the calculations of daily life. And yet, once she stepped outside, she would be swept back into Taipei’s noise and haste. Perhaps the true blessing Guan Di bestows here is not profit or protection, but a fleeting balance of mind—a pocket of silence to be carried out into the world. As for the rest, I like to imagine the god himself chuckling: the profits will follow in their own time.

Xingtian Temple on Google Map

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