讀後心得

On the eve of the Birthday of the General Commander of the Central Altar, the Kaohsiung Baoan Temple respectfully invited the founding Prince to descend and inspect the territory while praying for the peace of the nation and society. The Prince pointed out the damage to the century-old clay statue and emphasized the need for prompt professional restoration. The Baoan Temple immediately invited scholars for assessment, initiated the restoration project, and began writing a temple chronicle to preserve local culture and the history of faith. This project is expected to take over a year, aiming to continue the inheritance of a century-long faith.

Kaohsiung Bao'an Temple, as a historically significant temple, will traditionally welcome the arrival of the founding deity, the Earth God, on the eve of the 2024 celebration of the Earth God's birthday. The event will involve a five-directional inspection and the placement of green bamboo spirit talismans, praying for local peace and calm. During this important religious ceremony, the palanquin of the Earth God arrived and instructed the chairman of the temple and all board members and deacons, mentioning that the century-old statue of the founding deity has suffered peeling and damage due to the passage of time. It is necessary to promptly invite a professional team for restoration to maintain the solemn image of the deity and continue the transmission of faith and local culture.

The temple's board of directors immediately invited professors from the Department of History and Cultural Heritage at Feng Chia University to conduct a preliminary evaluation and offer restoration suggestions. Following the meeting's approval, they officially initiated the restoration project and a census of the temple's cultural relics. Additionally, to complement the context of faith culture and present its development history, they hired the director of the Kaohsiung City Museum of History and other experts to assist in writing the temple's chronicle and conducting surveys of the historical materials related to faith.

The chairman stated that the arrival of the Earth God not only issues directives for the maintenance of the golden body but also serves as an important reminder of religious culture. This restoration and investigation of cultural relics will take more than a year, with the hope of enabling future generations to deeply understand the historical value of faith and continue to pass on this culture.

Regarding the planning of this cultural project, the invited director of the history museum expressed honor and emphasized that this is a cross-disciplinary collaboration aimed at fully preserving the context of folk belief culture. The century-old clay statue of the founding Earth God represents early folk craftsmanship, with remarkable historical and cultural significance. Professional restoration will allow future generations to better recognize its value.

The simultaneous promotion of the statue's restoration and the writing of the temple's chronicle by Bao'an Temple marks a new chapter in the history of local beliefs in Kaohsiung, demonstrating a commitment and expectation for the preservation and development of faith culture. It is hoped that through this cultural project, the divine power of the founding Earth God will be restored, making historical records more complete, and ensuring the continuity of worship and faith.