Trip - Taiwan - Day 1 - Confucius Temple 孔子廟

Hi Blog,

To continue our first visit after we landed in Taiwan (post link) - to visit Confucius Temple. I had to thank Heaven for this particular arrangement because ZQ and I always wanted to explore it, but we were uncertain about finding the time in our busy itinerary. Additionally, we understood that not everyone shared the same enthusiasm for this visit.

Because the operation time for any shopping store is 11am and we had plenty of time after breakfast, so they decided to visit the temple.

Why I felt grateful for this opportunity? Because there are many possibilities like the team might want to split up or visit somewhere else. But I felt touched when they felt it is right to pay Confucius a visit.

We took a bus to this place.

There is a place named 保安宮花園 Garden of BaoAn Palace and also named 鄰聖苑 Lin Sheng Yuan; Sacred Garden (at the entrance) on Google Maps because it is located near Confucius Temple. The weird thing is that the information about this garden is scarce.

保安宮花園 Garden of BaoAn Palace

Check out these intricate designs of dragons and phoenixes which you don't see these days.

I hope they still keep the mould for this dragon, this one is a great artwork.

鄰聖苑 Sacred Garden

Similar to Haw Paw Villa but these are well-sculptured.

The garden is landscaped for a Chinese garden, and the pond has a curved bridge, which looks ancient.

Those seemed like some unheard ancient folktales or stories of which we have zero ideas.

A large place without any visitors today

A dragon in the centre of the pool. Too bad, I don't have a better camera to capture the close-up of this dragon.

Koi Koi. They thought we are feeding them. Haha...

As you can see from here, they were waiting for food but we were here for pictures.

Ancient building concept but still looks modern in this landscape.

Can I have a house like this?

This garden looks familiar... Like it can be used for filming, Usually for scenes in a Palace.

Especially here. Just dress up in traditional costume and you will live time in the past. If I can, I will dress up as Spidey visiting the garden. Haha.

Speaking of intricate, just check this wall. I was mind blown by the detail of it.

Can I have this in my garden too?

The main gate of this Sacred Garden is facing north and opposite a temple.

I believe they can host an event in this garden if they want.

I can imagine the princes and princesses interacting here or cosplaying as Chinese traditional characters.

A red crane can really spice up the scene.

I read somewhere in a blog, this one is Emperor Baosheng. This Sacred Garden has many sculptures about Emperor Baosheng's practices of medicine. Can read more here.

Quite a well-preserved place, as the colours are rich and vibrant.

Funny thoughts came to my mind when I saw these, these are mini figurines to tell us an epic story. In human history, they were usually presented by text on walls or books. But if I turned my perspective to nowadays superheroes/manga/animation figurines; they are also made or used to illustrate a story too. Their primary purpose doesn't change except for their popularity and aesthetic values.

Just like this one, I stood beside a figure of a lion, and I can turn it around by saying, it is the Lion in Narnia, the Lion King, Phantom Lion from a comic etc etc; so it is just a perspective matter.

Anyway, I was not travelling alone so I can't hold everyone's time, let's have a group photo at this Sacred Garden and focus on the main place on the opposite side.

The Confucius Temple

Should have used my tripod but this still works.

I found three different types of mini-figuring of Confucius, these look cute.

There is a free tour guide at a certain time and we need to gather here, but it seemed like we missed the timing.

Here is some information about its operation time and guide.

The difficult Chinese is read as "Hong" and some explanation.

But at least, it was not crowded today so it was a blessing.

A traditional building structure for merchandise. The funny thing was because we were the only visitors in the morning, we were invited to go directly to the theatre as the show was going to start.

Comfortable seats and the show was going to start. Overall, the show was about the brief history of who is Confucius, the cultural learning experience, how this building structure came about, the meaning of certain features and how Confucius's teaching affected our daily lives. It was informative and enhanced what I had known about Confucius. But the seat was so comfortable, many of the members fell asleep and I also struggled to maintain myself. You can read more here about this place too :)

After finished the show, it was time to explore the actual building, I was so excited.

This place was just so beautiful and ancient like the time stopped here.

I felt like I went to the past and visited Confucius

Based on the video, they said the structure materials were from China and the rest of Confucius's temples started to follow the layout and design of this Taipei Confucius Temple.

There is a foyer which is a nice space for all possibilities and imagination.

A platform stage for a performance in front of the main hall.

I just love how the building looks. The majestic look just calmed my soul.

I can't remember what these represented as it was mentioned in the video just now, but it somehow has some significant meaning for the building.

A great deal of pretendous moment here but I just wanted to illustrate the respect, awe and humble that I have while standing here in front of Confucius temple especially when we had to travel all the way from Singapore, able to visit here unplanned and fulfilled my wish of visiting a Saint/Sage temple whenever I visited a new place.

If I know nothing about Confucius, I might think this place belongs to someone of an emperor's status.

But the Chinese characters 孔子廟 gave it away.

大成殿 DaCheng Hall is the main hall, the core building unit of Confucius Temple. The direct translation of these words means "a hall of great achievements" or "a gathering of great achievements of ancient Saints and Sages".

The main hall of DaCheng Hall has the main tablet of Confucius and an intricated ceiling.

When in the Western country, their churches got impressive ceilings and walls of paintings by famous artists; and here, they present patterns, maths, concepts, wisdom and knowledge like how Confucius had taught us in our daily lives.

"Great Teacher, Thank you for inspiring me. I will continue to strike and serve the people and manifest our possibilities to cultivate to be a gentleman."

I found a new place for wefie

let's have a wefie together!

I'm glad they used a tablet than a statue.

The Four Sages - Yan Hui, Zeng Shen, Meng Ke and Kong Ji

Hmm... here is something I don't quite like... Where people come to Confucius for hoping to get good grades... Even though based on these Chinese words, is to pray for wisdom but not many people understand what is wisdom.

How I wish I can go back in time to attend his class and learn from the seniors.

Besides the main hall, other halls are served as separate halls for other achievements.

(credit EK) This is the entrance before the foyer.

I went around to collect eight stamps on my shorts and I thought it will stay, but it was washed off... Luckily, I took a picture of it.

Overall, visiting Confucius Temple was an impromptu and fulfilling trip. Glad we managed to cover this as our first visit. You may return to my Day 1 to check out my AirBnb.

Jeff