About

'Couples who visit Zhinan Temple together will break up' — this most widely told urban legend refers to the 'Immortal Lu Temple' at the foot of Zhinan Mountain in Muzha, Taipei's Wenshan District. Long hailed as the 'foremost sacred mountain under heaven,' Zhinan Temple is a renowned Taoist holy site and a rare temple where Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are worshipped as one. Built into the mountainside, grand and commanding, it looks out over the entire Taipei Basin from its halls. Within, from the Chunyang Hall dedicated to Lu Dongbin (Patriarch Lu) and the Lingxiao Hall of the Jade Emperor to the Mahavira Hall and the Dacheng Hall, immortals, buddhas, and sages are all gathered on one mountain. As for the break-up legend, devotees have long since turned it around: today it is known as a powerful place to sever bad romances and pray for true love — those wanting to clear the slate and start over make the climb on purpose.

History

In 1882, during the Guangxu reign, Wang Bin-lin, the county magistrate of Tamsui, proposed building Zhinan Temple, at first only a small shrine to Lu Dongbin (Patriarch Lu). Generation after generation expanded it: the Lingxiao Hall was added in the Taisho era under Japanese rule, and after the war the Dacheng Hall (Confucian) and Mahavira Hall (Buddhist) followed, slowly growing into the grand three-teachings-in-one complex of today. Built into the mountain and looking down from on high, reached by more than a thousand stone steps beneath towering ancient trees, it earned the name 'foremost sacred mountain under heaven.' As for the folk saying that Lu Dongbin is strict about matters of the heart and will break up couples who visit together — pure nonsense, yet by a quirk of fate it became the most widely known tale attached to Zhinan Temple.

Zhinan Temple

Main Deities

About

History

Visitor Info