台南法華寺

April 20th, 2016

Outside the main entrance to Fahua Monastery in Tainan.

Last year I briefly visited the historic Fahua Monastery (法華寺) in Tainan. Like many of my explorations of temples in Taiwan this one wasn’t planned in advance. I noticed the monastery from the roadside while riding through the back streets south of the train station and stopped to check it out on a whim. As it turns out, Fahua Monastery has quite a long and distinguished history—going all the way back to 1684—and the interior is unusually minimalistic and serene compared to most other temples I have visited here in Taiwan.

What looks to be the main hall at this historic temple. Nothing ostentatious, as you can see.

The temple was completely deserted when I stepped through the gatehouse. There were no supplicants inside, nobody lighting incense and making prayers. A calm solemnity seemed to pervade the space, isolated as it was from the busy city streets surrounding it on all sides. At that time I hadn’t realized it was more a monastery than temple, though in fairness these divisions are often blurred in Taiwan. Here there seemed to be strong emphasis on the monastic side of the Taiwanese spiritual experience in stark contrast to the more riotous temple culture I’m used to seeing around Tainan.

Ancestral tablets in a memorial room in the old monastery.

To briefly summarize the history of Fahua Monastery, it was the first Buddhist temple in Taiwan built under Qing Dynasty rule, which began in 1683. The land was formerly a hermitage by the name of Butterfly Dream Park (夢蝶園), originally owned by Ming loyalist Lǐ Màochūn (李茂春), who passed away in 1675. Reading between the lines, it would appear that Jiǎng Yùyīng (蔣毓英), the first Qing administrator of Taiwan, procured the land for the development of a new temple, and Fahua Monastery was born.

Although the monastery continued to expand and prosper over the centuries it was almost completely destroyed by allied bombing in World War 2. Apparently almost everything on site is a post-war reconstruction, which surprised me. The place already seems quite old and rundown, as these photos will attest. Perhaps they were just about to begin renovations of some kind when I made my visit?

The clock struck five and my reverie came to an end as a nun materialized at my side to escort me to the front gates. And with that, my time at the historic Fahua Monastery was over.

I encourage everyone to read this excellent post on Tainan City Guide for more information about this temple.