David on Formosa

Religion is a very fluid thing for Taiwanese people. I once asked a Taiwanese friend about her religion and she said she was Buddhist. She then went on to detail how she performed practices that had nothing to do with Buddhism.

There is a saying in Japan that you should be born Shinto, marry Christian and die Buddhist. In Taiwan people tend to just choose whatever religion that might meet their needs on a particular day.

In Western religions there is great emphasis on the idea of one God, but in Taiwan if one god can’t give you what you want then you can just go and see another one. Syncretism is a defining feature of religion in Taiwan.

While Falun Gong is banned in China, practitioners in Taiwan would barely raise an eyebrow. Here it is just one of many cults. While the Dalai Lama is persona non grata in China, he has made two visits to Taiwan and was warmly received by the Taiwanese people. I doubt there are many countries in the world that could claim to have as much freedom of religion as Taiwan.

It might be a bit too much for the uninitiated to make sense of, but a visit to the Museum of World Religions in the Taipei suburb of Yonghe could be enlightening. The museum is the brainchild of Master Hsin Tao. He is a Buddhist master, but has been active in interfaith dialogue and was the first person to initiate a Buddhist-Muslim dialogue a few years ago. The musuem aims to promote peace and understanding among people of all religious faiths.

The museum features exhibits related to ten major religions. Ghost month seems an appropriate time to launch a special exhibition about Taiwanese folk religions. The exhibition entitled “Pursuing Good Fortune – Taiwanese Folk Cultural Artefacts” runs until 10 February 2006. Read more about it in this Taipei Times article.