Matsu Islands Temple Offers Believers Divine Dreams
A temple on the outlying Taiwanese island of Beigan is the last place in Taiwan offering believers a chance to spend the night and receive divine dreams offering guidance. But the practice of seeking dreams only happens one night a year.
Temple of Dreams: Seeking Divine Guidance on Beigan Island
REPORTER:
It’s dusk on Beigan – one of the outlying Matsu islands. A group of people are bedding down for the night on this temple floor. Their hope is that in the coming hours, the gods will send them dreams to answer life’s persistent questions: of work, marriage, and family concerns.
REPORTER:
There’s only one temple on the island where this dream-seeking ritual takes place— and on just one day a year. After not eating meat for a day and then fasting, seekers report here to Lung Chiao Feng Wuwei Ling Temple where they are told that if they are sincere and follow the rules, the answers will come. Just on the edge of wakefulness.
Chen Shih-tien (TEMPLE HONORARY CHAIR):
You give your request to the deities
and then go lie down.
Lie down and make your petition.
You mustn’t fall asleep.
As soon as any image comes to you
get up and toss the divination blocks.
Ask [the deities] whether it’s the right one.
If it is, they’ll interpret the dream for you.
If it isn’t, then you lie back down and dream again.
REPORTER:
The practice of seeking divine guidance through dreams is centuries old — originating in nearby China and spreading as far as Taiwan’s main island. But today, this temple, now in the gathering dark, is the last place in Taiwan where seekers can get their sacred dreams.
REPORTER:
The Nine Immortal Lords — the deities who bring the dreams, are said to live in China, where they grant dreams throughout the year. But they only visit Beigan one day each year — on the 29th day of the Lunar New Year — which is why the chance to receive divine dreams on the outlying island is so rare.
REPORTER:
Some who’ve spent the night at the temple, though, say it’s worth it — the gods granting some detailed premonitions. Yang Jui-yun says the gods gave her visions of her daughter’s move to the United States — and a future visit back to the island with her US-born grandchildren. All of it came to pass.
Yang Jui-yun (RESTAURANT OWNER):
I laid down to seek the dream
and heard someone say “Hello, hello” [in English].
I laid down again to dream again
and then I dreamed of my daughter going to the United States.
The scene was of a couple holding children as they returned.
That was the dream.
REPORTER:
Though the practice has died out elsewhere in Taiwan, cultural preservationists hope the government will step in to record how it’s done on Beigan — both to spread awareness and so that the details are preserved no matter what happens.
Lu Chiang-ming (FOLK BELIEFS INSTRUCTOR, TAIPEI WAN HUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE):
This is what it’s like at present
and having it documented means
that whatever happens in the future — whether good or bad
there will at least be a record to refer to
and something people can read.
REPORTER:
For now, those with pressing questions and no easy solutions continue to gather each year at this remaining temple — hoping for a moment of clarity in the stillness of night.
