Antonius A. Tjong
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Qing Yang Gong (The Green Goat Monastery) 青羊宮 is a Taoist temple with a large scale and a vast area in Chengdu 成都, which is overall quite well maintained.
Before entering this Taoist temple, tourists and believers alike need to buy entrance tickets. We, the two elderly people over 60 years old, were lucky enough to enter for free🤭.
After entering through the main entrance, I found that the temple hall buildings were built one after another in a rather straight line on the slightly sloping land that climbing up backward, and form a Taoist temple complex.
The straight line form by these temple hall buildings were rather similar to the entire architecture of Tiananmen 天安門 complex in Beijing, reflecting that this Taoist temple hall buildings were strictly built in specific condition based on Feng Shui 風水. No wonder there is a continuous stream of believers offering incense, praying and worshiping. The incense is in full bloom and the gods appear.
I don’t have a deep understanding to the statues of Taoist gods. I only recognized one statue among them which resembled Taishang Laojun 太上老君 that was enshrined on the altar in the fourth hall. I only recognized one statue among them which resembled Taishang Laojun 太上老君 that was enshrined on the altar in the fourth hall. And then I confirmed that I am correct in my personal judgment after having proof from some document source inside this temple.
We came here right on the La Ba Festival 臘八節, which is the 8th day of the 12th lunar month at the end of the Dragon Year (in the early January 2025), which happened to coincide with the festival.
We witnessed the free distribution of "Eight Precious Porridge 八寶粥" held by this Taoist temple during the “La Ba Festival 臘八節”, attracting many elderly and poor people, queuing up and waiting to receive the free "Eight Precious Porridge" in turns on the “La Ba Festival 臘八節”, it was so lively.
We both didn't really know about "Eight Precious Porridge 八寶粥" and had never eaten it. We also queued up to get a try and finally understood that this "Eight Precious Porridge 八寶粥" turned out to be a simple gruel made from a mixture of several grains and beans. It is a delicious gruel with a special taste.
After trying the "Eight Precious Porridge 八寶粥", we entered to the temple hall from the front entrance and walked through the halls one after another, offering incense and praying to the gods enshrined in each hall. We were not sure whether it was in line with the worship rituals of the local temples, and I also feel a little unfamiliar with these Taoist gods that I vaguely want to know about.
We walked straight through all the shrine halls, and reached to the last that we heard the sound of chanting came from inside. It turned out that it was a group of Taoist priests and nuns who were holding a chanting class.
Facing the entrance of this last shrine hall, I found that there were bronze statues on the left and right in front of the shrine hall entrance. On the left hand side of the entrance was a bronze goat, and on the right hand side there was another statue that looks like a goat but not an ordinary goat.
It turns out that this is a bronze creature which is the treasure of "The Green Goat Monastery", that its whole body looks like a combination of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs.. Those combination are : Mouse ears, Cow nose, Tiger paws, Rabbit back, Dragon horns, Snake tail, Horse mouth, Sheep whiskers, Monkey neck, Chicken corns, Dog belly, ang Pig buttocks.
According to legend, believers who feel uncomfortable or sick in any part of their body can eliminate the disease by touching the corresponding part of the body on the "The Green Goat".
Believe it or not, it depend on you yourself ! This legend should probably be attributed to the conclusion that "if you believe it, there is it; if you don't believe it, there is nothing"! You can prove it by giving it a try !
We ended the visit at the the Martyrs Cemetery, playground and bazaar fair, with full satisfaction & happy feeling !
(070125)
