May 28, 2012

At Longshan Temple

When I got to the station and took a train, I changed my plan and decided to go to Longshan Temple first. The square inside the gate of the temple was filled with smoke, offerings, and voice of people who were reading a sutra. I got an impression that compared to Japanese temples, Taiwanese temples look gorgeous because of lots of decoration. I walked around the building, and watched people. People's voices actually sounded like as if they were singing, and it calmed down my mind while I was there. After spending time for a while, I left there and walked toward a historical street that locates beside the temple.

On my way, there was a small happening. I still haven't gotten what I did wrongly, but when I was walking, a monk came up to me and was behaving like he was gonna hit me with a nail puller held in his hands. He was shouting something at me, and I had no idea what he was talking about. Then, a local guy said something to him, and told me to ignore him by gesture. The monk left once, but when I was passing in front of him, he came close to me again and raised the nail puller and said something again. It was shocking for me, but I didn't escape (I do not know if it offended him again), just ignored and passed there. Since there were a lot of people, and it was obvious I was a tourist who didn't understand the language, I just felt that it wouldn't be the worst case. I wonder if it was too optimistic, but fortunately, he didn't hit me with the thing and I passed there without getting injured. I still wonder what it was and maybe I could get an idea if I were with my host at that time.

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