Cebu Taoist Temple

About

The Cebu Taoist Temple (宿霧定光寶殿) rises among the hills of the Beverly Hills Subdivision of Cebu City, in the central Philippines. Built in 1972 by the city's sizeable Chinese Filipino community, it has become one of the best known Taoist sanctuaries in the country.

The Temple sits at about 110 metres above sea level. Its tiered, brightly painted roofs and entrance, modelled after a section of the Great Wall of China, can be reached by three winding approaches up the hillside. Unlike the nearby Phu Sian Temple, the Cebu Taoist Temple is open to worshippers and visitors of all backgrounds; broad terraces along its sides offer wide views over downtown Cebu.

The Temple is a centre of Taoist practice, following the teachings of the ancient Chinese sage Laozi. A familiar devotional rite here is the casting of two wooden moon-blocks (jiaobei): the devotee washes the hands, enters the chapel barefoot, and drops the blocks; if both fall face up, the wish may be made, and if not, the moment is held to be unripe and the devotee returns another day. On Wednesdays and Sundays, devotees climb the Temple's eighty-one steps, one for each chapter of the Daode Jing, to light joss sticks and consult the monks for fortune readings. A chapel, library, wishing well, and shop round out the Temple precinct.

History

Cebu's Chinese Filipino community built the Temple in 1972 on a hillside roughly 110 metres above sea level, reached by three winding approach roads and an entrance modelled on a section of the Great Wall of China. Within the grounds stand a chapel dedicated to Laozi, a library, a wishing well, and a shop, raised in the red, gold, and green palette of southern Chinese Temple architecture. Unlike the neighbouring Phu Sian Temple, the Cebu Taoist Temple has always welcomed visitors of every background alongside its own devotees.

Significance

The Temple's staircase of eighty-one steps mirrors the eighty-one chapters of the Dao De Jing, and devotees who climb it on Wednesdays and Sundays light joss sticks and consult resident monks for fortune readings. A familiar rite here is the casting of the jiaobei, two wooden moon-blocks a devotee drops after washing the hands and entering the chapel barefoot: if both fall face up, a wish may be asked, and if not, the devotee is asked to return another day. From its terraces the Temple opens onto one of the widest views in the city, over downtown Cebu toward Mactan.

Architecture

Southern Chinese multi-tiered Temple architecture with a Great Wall of China style entrance gate, dragon-crested pagoda roofs, and terraced hillside courtyards