Museum of World Religions, Taipei

The Museum of World Religions

(世界宗教博物館)

Taipei Times - November 5, 2001

The NT$2 billion museum represents the culmination of efforts by both professional museum workers and religious figures over the last decade.

The museum is the work of a Taiwanese Buddhist group based on Lingjiou Mountain near Fulung, Taipei County. A relatively new but fast-growing group on Taiwan's religious scene, the Wusheng Monastery (無生道場) is home to more than 100 monks and nuns.

Unlike some other Buddhist organizations that devote their time to studying sutras and reciting prayers for the dead, or adding temples to the nation's skyline, the Lingjiou monastics are better known for practicing a modern form of "engaged Buddhism."

"If I had been building a temple, hospital or even a bridge, it would have been easy," explains Master Hsin Tao (心道法師), Wusheng's abbot. "But because I want to spend money presenting the glories of other religions as well as Buddhism, some people opposed the project."

The Museum of World Religions started as a collection of Buddhist artifacts and items relating to Taiwan's popular religious practices. It now claims to evenhandedly present "the world's 10 major religions" chosen by size and antiquity. These are Hinduism, Shinto, Judaism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, ancient religions (initially represented by Egypt) and indigenous religions represented by Mayan beliefs.

Such an approach has made Hsin Tao unpopular among some who feel he risks diluting traditional ideas. There may also be a measure of envy in his detractors, as this "broad church" has attracted a following of hundreds of thousands.

Love is Hsin Tao's by-word (his name means "way of the heart") -- the core of his own awakening seems to be that "love is the common ground of religions" -- and the Museum of World Religions has the slogan "Love is Our Shared Truth; Peace is Our Eternal Hope" translated into 14 languages in its lobby.