Lugu Fenghuangshan Temple
Main Deities
About
The deity here carries the word "shame" in his name — there may be no other god in Taiwan named for his own regret. Cankui Zushi, born Pan Liao-quan, attained the Way on Mount Yinna in Guangdong; before he died he felt he had failed to deliver all beings from suffering, and told his disciples to carve the word "ashamed" on his pagoda. Fenghuangshan Temple, founded in the Jiaqing era, is the heart of his worship in the mountains of Nantou. For the Han settlers who first pushed inland he was the most practical of gods — miasma, wild animals, losing the trail: all of it was his to handle. The temple sits in a lane in Fenghuang village, cool with elevation, quiet enough to hear wind moving through the tea fields.
History
Fenghuangshan Temple was founded in the Jiaqing era, exactly when Han settlers were pushing into the mountains of Nantou. Work parties carried the incense of Cankui Zushi with them, because the three things they feared most going inland — miasma, wild animals, losing the way — were said to be his to govern. Reaching this place and finding the soil rich and the landscape like home, they built thatched shelters, stayed, and enshrined the incense they had carried; that was the temple in its earliest form. Two centuries on, Lugu has turned from frontier to tea country, and the temple remains the center of his worship in these mountains. On the sixth day of the first lunar month, his feast day, Hakka families return from across Taiwan and the mountain road fills with people.
Visitor Info
Address
No. 12-1, Miaokou Ln, Lugu Township, Nantou County
Region
Lugu Township, Nantou County