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Sheng Ming Palace: Hybrid pantheon with a cult on the tree and Zhu Bajie

From the Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions (FROGBEAR Project)

The drone footage captures the Sheng Ming Palace (聖明宮), along with the "Thousands Year Tree Deity (千年豬神樹公)" at its back. The Tree Deity is a lump on the tree resembling the shape of a piglet. The local sees it as an incarnation of Zhu Bajie (豬八戒, a deity in Buddhism and a major character of the novel Journey to the West). Additionally, the video shows the Three Grand Statues in the palace, which are Ji Gong (濟公活佛, a deity in Buddhism), Jade Emperor (玉皇上帝, a deity in Daoism), and the Earth Mother Goddess (地母娘娘, a deity exists in the Daoism-quasi-folk belief in Taiwan). This temple was chosen because of it's unique relationship with Taiwanese folk religion and connection to the local religious community. In addition to the manifestation of Zhu Bajie, the combination of these three deities' statues at this temple highlights the relationship of folk religion with established religious traditions in this worship site as they each represent a different aspect of Taiwanese religious traditions.

Dharma Drum Mountain (Taiwan); Shimen (Taiwan); New Taipei City (Taiwan); 25.2741667; 121.5536111

eng; chi

Cluster 1.2: Religion and Technology

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0391884

Non UBC

Graduate; Undergraduate

DSpace