"Everything is a God"

In Hong Kong we spent much more time talking about religion with our guide than we did in Singapore.  Katie is Chinese and she described herself and her family as superstitious (in a nutshell) - a little Buddhism, a little Confucianism, and a little Daoism.  The three main religions of China/Hong Kong.  She and her family basically try to cover their bases (her words, not mine) with all the available gods + feng shui.

**My caveat for this post is that I don't know very much about any of these religions and I'm too lazy to look them up.  I'm summarizing what I learned while there, but I know this isn't a comprehensive description of any of them.  Also, I know some Buddhists who - I think - don't follow any of these beliefs.  So, you know, grain of salt and all that.**

Katie told us that to the Chinese, basically "everything is a god."  You've got your kitchen god, your relationship god, your literature god.  And on and on it goes.  (Although they are not quite to the Hindu level of gods; the Hindus have hundreds and readily acknowledge that there are plenty more where those came from.  It's easy to see why Christianity would be simple to the point of ridiculous to them.  Three Gods, all in one package or whatever?  So really just one God?!  Easy cheesy!)  The two "main" or most prevalent gods are:  the goddess of mercy/forgiveness and the god of protection.

Goddess of Mercy and Forgiveness

Here is a depiction of her from a Hindu temple.  She has many arms and hands so that she can help those in Heaven, those on Earth, and those in the Underworld.

The God of Protection

One particularly intriguing god, to me, is the relationship god.  He binds people together with red ribbons, bringing them close to each other, providing love in their lives.  That's a beautiful idea to me.  Here are a couple of pics of him and his red ribbons...

Look at that fish at the upper left corner: Dr. Seuss anyone?

When we visited the Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong, I learned a lot about how they pray (again, I *think* this applies more to one religion than another but since I can't remember which one it is, I'm just going to go with it.)

When a person has a wish, they bring it before the appropriate god.  I was like, don't you mean a prayer?  A request?  Or like, a goal?  But Katie kept saying a wish.  Anyhoo.  Say I wanted to know if I should go back to grad school or not.  I would take a canister full of popsicle-stick looking prayer sticks, numbered 1-100.  I go to the temple and bow down to pray to the appropriate god, all the time shaking my canister of sticks.  When the first one falls out of the can, I scoop it up, write down its number (say, #31) along with my particular question/wish, and take it to a fortune teller there at the temple or elsewhere.

See the girl in the pink dress?  She was praying, and a stick came out.  I caught this picture of her as she was standing up.

I think she is showing her stick to a fellow worshiper.  I was trying to be respectful while still trying to capture all this.  I'm sure I looked like a fool - these are the lengths I will go to for this blog, people.

Other worshipers burn incense and pray...

It was so hot and incense-y that we both got sick.  Like, wondering if I was going to hurl in the bushes, sick.  Like, plugging my ears, nose, and closing my eyes next to a wall, sick.  Just looking at these pictures sent me running for a water bottle.

Remember the numbered prayer sticks?  Each number corresponds to a general topic/general fortune area.  You can even buy the numbered topics, as seen on these cards:

But you don't have to buy a card if you don't want to.  The Wong Tai Sin Temple is very popular; worshipers from all over the world visit while in Hong Kong.  There is a huge building behind the temple that looks exactly like a multi-story rental/storage unit building.  Fortune tellers are set up in each "room" and you can visit whomever you want.  They will answer your question (for a fee of course) by using the corresponding number of your prayer stick, while also perhaps reading your palm or even your facial features.  We walked around and saw many charts (think astronomy charts - incredibly detailed) analyzing nose structure, how close eyes are together, ear placement, etc.

Lots of observations about these religious practices.  It sounds awfully complicated to me.  A couple of things that struck me: 

(1) Having to go to a temple to pray.  As a Christian, I believe that God is everywhere at all times, and that He is all-knowing.  It is liberating for me to know that I can talk to him whenever I want, and ask Him for things informally.  This is an incredible blessing.  Instead of "everything being a god," it is more like, "God is everything." 

(2)  It is liberating to only keep track of three aspects wholly encompassed into one God.  I can see how this would be hard to wrap your mind around if you believe in many gods:  why pray to a male god for mercy when I could pray to a female?  Why pray to one general god when I really need specific help for school; instead, I need to pray to the god of literature.  And so on.  At the same time, as a Christian, it is my opinion that a god, by definition, is all powerful.  A God sees all, knows all, is everywhere all at once, and doesn't need help for anything.  Anything less than that is a subpar god, not worth believing in.

(3)  Faith is worthy of respect.  Although I don't believe in the faith practices that I witnessed, we made every attempt to give respect to the people.  To them, it is serious.  How would I feel kneeling in church, with someone photographing me?

(4)  These faiths are peaceful.  There was no bitterness, no violence.  This is going to sound insensitive but I'll just say it: I don't get scared sitting next to a Buddhist on an airplane.

(5)  I truly appreciate getting to experience other religions.  It is so different from reading about them, or hearing about them.  It is easy to get sequestered into my own little bubble of beliefs, but if I do that, I can't reach others and they can't reach me.  The religion aspect was one of the most interesting parts of the entire trip - both cities.

Fortune tellers - hundreds - set up behind the temple

Don't throw up.  Don't throw up.  Just take the picture.  Breathe in, breathe out.  Don't throw up.

Later in the day, we toured Chi Lin Nunnery.  Remember how I told you that I'm not a planner/researcher?  The whole time, I was expecting a Christian nunnery.  Um, it was Buddhist.  Heh.  So clueless sometimes.  When I heard the chanting, I was like, Hmmm?  Is this a different version of a Gregorian Chant?  LOL.

The grounds were beautiful.  This was one of the greenest, most serene and pretty places we saw in Hong Kong.  Nestled right in the middle of the city!

And hot.  The gardens stretched all around the nunnery and were the highlight, but we only saw about a quarter of them.  We walked around for about an hour and it was all we could take.  We had to go sleep it off for several hours in the hotel.

The Wong Tai Sin Temple and the Chi Lin Nunnery are worth a trip.  Thoughts about religion?  Anyone?