Go With The Flow

I’m confounded by religion in Taiwan.

 It is easy in the United States to classify people on a continuum of religiosity, with non-religious on one end and highly pious on the other extreme. Also, most people self-identify with a discrete religious label such as “Catholic”, “non-practicing Jew”, “Methodist”, etc.  People in the US don’t just identify with a particular religion; the sect that they choose often informs much of their world-view and political outlook.  This is the sociology of religion with which I am familiar – choose your team, wear their colors, and do as the coach tells you.  Of course many people are independent thinkers in the area of spirituality, but a large part of religion in the United States is based on group identity.

This form of religiousness seems to be absent in Taiwan, with the exception of the Christian minority.  The traditional religions of Taiwan, and Chinese culture in general, are more like a constellation of beliefs, traditions, and philosophies that one can choose from based on personal opinions and preferences.  Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and traditional folk beliefs all intermingle to produce a rich trove of ancient beliefs and teachings from which people can choose.  There are people who ascribe to particular sects and traditions, but the different religious practices have been in contact for so many centuries that they have borrowed and mixed from one another so much that even scholars have a difficult time tracing their roots.

Long Shan Temple, one of the oldest in Taipei, worships a mixture of Buddhist, Taoist, and Folk Deities.

Dissecting the religions of Taiwan is no easy task, partially because it strains the definition of “religion”.  A perfect example involves the most outward display of religion that I have witnessed in Taiwan – setting up shrines and burning “ghost money”.  In this widely practiced ritual, business set up shrines and offering of food on the street and burn “ghost money” as a show of respect to the deceased. This practice is not part of any organized religion, but is the derived from ancient folk tradition based on ancestor worship. Buddhism does not condone the offerings to the deceased and Taoism tolerates it but does not promote its practice.  So why is this practice so widespread if it is not a part of any organized religion?  It is culture, not religion.  An analogy could be made with tombstones and flowers.  We wouldn’t consider placing flowers on tombstones to be a religious practice, even though it is spiritual in a way.  The same could be said of the Taiwanese custom of burning ghost money and offering food to the deceased.  I suppose it is easy to label foreign cultural practices as “religion” because it involves ritual and belief, but in reality it exists outside any formal religious tradition.

Statue of Matsu in Da'an Park

Another example of the complexity of worship in Taiwan can be found in the most commonly portrayed diety on the island - the Goddess Matsu.  Matsu is believed to be a woman who lived in Fujian province at around 900 CE and is credited with saving her father during a typhoon.  Her legend quickly grew around China and she was soon worshiped as the Goddess of the Southern Sea.  Since Taiwan is an island, many of the early settlers identified with her and thanked her for their safe arrival.  Matsu is not formally incorporated into any religion, but she is the most commonly worshiped figure in Taiwan. 

Of the major “religions” in Taiwan, only Taoism and Confucianism are indigenous; (Buddhism is often associated with China and the Far East, but it is an imported religion from India) however, there is a problem with this classification.  Confucianism is not a religion, but a philosophy.  Confucius did not teach about metaphysics or supernatural forces, which are necessary components for any religion.  Confucius’ teachings are about how to organize society and to best live one’s life.  There are shrines to Confucius all over, and everyone is familiar with his teachings, but it is not a religion in the strict sense of the word.

Young clerks at a trendy clothing store burning ghost money.

Taoism is more easily classified as a religion, but it is fundamentally different than the Abrahamic religions that dominate the Western world.  Taoism, which is often depicted by the yin/yang symbol, is a collection of teachings from Laozi, who is believed to have lived in the 4^th century B.C.  Taoism is may be familiar to many Americans since it was embraced by “Beats” and “Hippies” as a source of inspiration and guidance.  Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, and Alan Ginsberg regularly referred to the most important Taoist text, the I-Ching and a central tenet of Taoism, “Go with the flow” was a mantra of the ‘60s counterculture.  The reason it was so inspirational to the cultural revolutionaries of the mid-century was due to its non-dogmatic and decentralized approach to religion.  Taoist teachings contrast with the paternalistic nature of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.  There are no commandments, no sins, no stories of punishment or virtue in Taoism and there is no centralized structure to the religion as it is practiced.  Taoism is just a way to look at the world and some tools, like Tai-Chi and Fung-Shui, that can help one to thrive in it.

The amorphous nature of Taoism brings me back to my initial statement – religion in Taiwan challenges my assumptions of what it means to be religious. In Taiwan it is common to mix some Confucian philosophy with Taoist metaphysics and Buddhist ethics while practicing ancient folk rituals. Religious labels are too simple for the complex mix of beliefs found in Taiwan, so I just need to take some Taoist advice and go with the flow . . .