Lunar New Year at Hong Kong’s Wong Tai Sin Temple
The Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong is the place to be to make your New Year's wish.
The Taoist shrine is famous for making worshiper's wishes come true. I was lucky enough to spend the morning of New Years 2018 at Wong Tai Sin Temple, worshiping with the locals, making my wish, and learning what the year has in store for me. I recommend you do it too.
A lil bit about Taoism
I arrived at Wong Tai Sin Temple at about 9:00am on Friday February 16, 2018, Chinese New Years morning. I didn't know what to expect, but knew I wanted to spend the morning at this Taoist shrine. Ever since being introduced to Taoism in high school, I continued to read, study and practice its teaching. I immediately connected to it's philosophy and teachings. My continued practice of Taoism helps me focus my energy on what I can control, and allow those things I can't control to fall to the wayside. To consciously replace anger and frustration with love and empathy. to not over-think, just be, just flow. Compassion. Patience. Simplicity.
He who knows, does not speak.
He who speaks, does not know.
Mastering others is strength.
Mastering yourself is true power.
To attain knowledge, add things everyday.
To attain wisdom, remove things every day.
Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force.
Entering the Temple
As I feel the sunshine walking up the stairs from the Wong Tai Sin Temple subway exit, the energy is palpable. Hundreds of people ready to get their wishes granted and fortunes told.
Shoulder to shoulder with fellow New Years worshipers, I move towards a bronze imperial guardian lion, common throughout China and Asia as symbols of protection, often located at the entrances of important palaces, temples and homes. As we pass, everyone rubs the statue in an attempt to transfer its protective properties for the new year. We inch forward and up the stairs, where I grab my incense sticks, use the candles to light them, and begin the worshiping process called Kau Cim.
What is Kau Cim?
Kau Cim is a fortune telling practice dating back to the 3rd century AD, often performed at Buddhist and Taoist temples. To overly simplify it, Kau Cim involves bowing and asking a question to the deities, kneeling, shaking a bamboo cup filled with numbered sticks until one falls out, and visiting a soothsayer to tell you what that means. The incense is used to purify the cup and sticks, and is believed to help get your wishes up to the deities.
At the main temple, the courtyard is filled with people, some kneeling and praying, others walking from deity to deity bowing with their incense sticks over their heart, all under stringed yellow and red paper lanterns.
With my lit incense in hand, I move down the line of bronze deities, bowing and asking my question, a general one, "What does this year hold for me?" (Lame, I know. It's supposed to be a little more specific... next time I'll be more creative).
In front of the temple are tables with gold sandboxes where I'll place my incense before I leave. Oranges and nectarines, symbols of wealth and luck, are sprawled in front of the boxes, offerings from the worshipers. I find a spot to kneel and purify my bamboo cup and sticks by circling the incense around them three times. With a gentle wiggle of the wrist, the number 19 stick falls to the ground. Now let's go see what that means!
Making my New Year's Wish
I exit the main square and was waved to a line forming under a big canopy. At the end was a Taoist "priest" handing out little red envelopes with .10 Hong Kong cents inside, as a gift to the worshipers. He said, in English, "Wishing you a happy New Year" with a smile. I also received a small yellow square piece of paper to write down my wish and hang it on the fence as I exit the temple. "I wish for everyone to give and receive love everyday and have empathy for others different than themselves."
Off to the Soothsayers: What's my Future?
With my number 19 stick in hand, I went off in search of the soothsayers. To the left of the temple, beyond all the booths selling ornate lucky charms, golden pinwheels, and incense, was soothsayer alley.
Making the loop, I passed about 60 individual little rooms, each with a fortune teller waiting to tell you what it all means and what's to come. A few had English signs, and for $40 HKD, a kind-looking woman began to tell me what this year had in store.
Now before I get into it, I don't quite know where I stand in terms of these things. I've had a few unsolicited readings of my astrology and it seemed pretty right on. Everything I've read about my sign and my specific birth date fit me almost to a T. That being said, how many other people does it fit too? So I'm not sold on it, but I'm always interested and definitely open-minded. I ended up going to two soothsayers, you know, for some empirical analysis. So here we go...
Soothsayer #1
She asked for my stick number and pulled out a small slip of paper from a multi-tiered filing system. She asked for my birthday, and based on that looked something up in a book. She said I am a very clever person and the job I have right now is not challenging. I will have a change in August/September, where I will receive more money. She noted that in the past I was making money, though I was never able to save it, but this time I will be able to save. I will have some pain in my back, so I should be careful and attentive. June and July are months where I need to be extra careful and be sure to make good, calculated decisions.
Soothsayer #2
She asked for my stick number but I wanted to see what would happen if I didn't have a stick number. She handed me her own bamboo cup filled with sticks and asked me to pick one. This time I pulled number 64. She asked me how old I was and pulled out a similar looking small slip of paper from her own multi-tiered filing system. She said I need to stop thinking about myself and think about other people more. I am stubborn. I want to go, go, go, go and when I have an idea to do something, I don't waste any time. If I keep going so fast, I will not see the small mistakes or problems that are being created because of it. "If you are always running fast, it is easier to fall." She drew a pound sign #, and said on the outside it all seems fine, I'm doing my thing, but you can't see the inside, the small things, that are causing trouble.
My Thoughts:
#1: my job is unsatisfying, in a cerebral way. My contract is up in August, at which point I plan to travel southeast Asia for as long as I can afford it (after coming home for a bit), and try to make some money writing. So she was encouraging. When I was sitting there, my back was hurting, in fact I had just popped two Aleve because of it. But this could be true for most people over 30 (when our bodies begin to fucking deteriorate), and I had just spent the night in a crappy hostel bed. Nevertheless, she was right. She was also right about me and my money saving abilities. When I was making "big bucks", I spent it before I got my next paycheck. Now, I am saving like mad. My mentality has changed and it is encouraging to hear it may last. I may try to be extra careful in June and July, just in case.
#2: this one hit a little closer to home. I am stubborn, I do have ideas and jump on it, and I can be viewed as selfish. But I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing. I have a hard time reconciling being independent and not being selfish. Are they inherently antithetical? I hope not, because I try to tow that thin line. But I know many of my life decisions (independence) cause some pain to others. Does that outweigh the fact that those are my decisions to make? I don't know. I constantly think about and struggle with it. Am I being selfish for embracing my independence, for doing things that I want when I know that those things, though far from my intention, hurt people I care about? Specifically, I think about my parents. My decision to live abroad and be away for long periods of time makes them sad, but I keep deciding to do it (for the record they always support me and give me nothing but love). But is that selfish? Maybe a little bit. Does that necessarily mean it's bad? Or that I should make a different decision? I don't think so.
The word "selfish" is heavy, and has a lot of stigma, especially for children, and especially for women. Women, more than men, are supposed to give, care for others, often at the expense of their own desires, experiences, fun, and a lot of times their mental health. It is expected. So when a woman refuses to do that, and puts her own needs first, people are quicker to call her selfish in comparison to a man who is doing the same thing. Things are changing definitely, but the stigma is still there. And soothsayer #2 hit a real nerve. Maybe that speaks to her truth. Even though I may not agree with everything she said, it was still so relevant to my life, and for sure my upcoming year. It was all pretty right on.
But I always go back to how many other people would connect to this too? Let me know if any of the soothsayer's predictions would ring true for you too. An informal survey of sorts. Needless to say, the experience was well worth it, and highly recommended if you find yourself in Hong Kong for Chinese New Year.
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