A house of worship in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Sanchong District (三重) has become known as the “cat temple” (貓廟) for the friendly cats that reside there, attracting public attention as well as coverage by international media.
At the Yi Tian Temple (義天宮), playful cats leap around the altar, lie on the worshiping cushions and congregate near the temple’s incense altar to warm themselves on a cold day.
According to temple staff, the cats appear to have attained the same spirituality and perceptiveness as the temple’s worshipers, and seem to be listening attentively during the temple’s regular chanting sessions of Taoist and Buddhist texts.
Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times
The cats also seem to act as hosts, welcoming worshipers by accompanying them through the ritual ceremonies and prayer sessions.
According to the temple’s staff, these 10 pious felines were once stray cats.
The temple is the center of religious worship in the area and it is dedicated to the goddess Matsu.
The front stairway leading to the temple is more than 20m long and several lanterns adorn the front gate. The cats were originally attracted to the temple by these lanterns, temple staff said.
A temple official said the cats stay in the temple due to the kindness of Wang Hsiuh-ying (王秀英), head teacher of the sutra chanting group, who was sympathetic to the plight of stray cats roaming the streets and started feeding them.
Over time, more cats settled in the temple and began treating it as their home, the temple official said.
The felines’ playful behavior has won many people’s hearts and the temple staff have given each of them a name based on their personality, the temple official added.
A worker at the temple said the cats are very tame and friendly, interact with strangers and often rub their body against worshipers’ legs.
He added that when money gets stuck in the slot of the temple’s donation box, the cats sometimes push down the bill with their paw “as if they were the temple’s guardians.”
The worker said that one of the felines was injured in a traffic accident, but after staff hung a protective Matsu amulet around its neck, it recovered from the injury quickly.
He added that a few years ago, a cat named “Niu Niu,” one of the temple’s first felines, went missing.
It was later discovered dead just a short distance from the temple.
Temple staff believe that in her old age, the cat knew she was nearing the end of her life, so she chose to leave the temple quietly for her final departure, a display of its spirituality, the staff added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS