讀後心得

Kaohsiung Bao'an Temple, on the eve of the 2024 Zhang Tian Yuan Shuai's birthday, respectfully invited the founding Prince Yé to descend and instruct the restoration of the century-old deity statue. The board quickly invited experts for appraisal and restoration, and initiated the writing of a temple history to preserve local faith culture. This restoration project will take over a year to ensure that future generations can understand and inherit this historical value. The overall project aims to create a new chapter in the history of faith in Kaohsiung and strengthen cultural heritage.

The Baoan Temple in Kaohsiung is a historic temple with a thriving incense culture. On the eve of the 2024 birthday celebration of the God of the Middle Altar, the temple invited the founding Prince Deity to descend and inspect the five directional territories, presenting spiritual talismans to pray for local peace and harmony. During this important sacred event, the deity's palanquin arrived and provided instructions to the temple chairman, the board, and all personnel, mentioning that the century-old statue of the founding Prince Deity has shown signs of thinning and damage due to long-term incense exposure and the ravages of time. It was advised to promptly invite a professional team for appraisals and restorations to maintain the solemn image of the deity and ensure the continuity of the faith and local culture.

• The Baoan Temple immediately invited experts for initial assessments and restoration suggestions. Following a board meeting resolution, the restoration project for the deity's statue and a survey of temple artifacts was officially launched.
• Considering the long history and continued popularity of the Baoan Temple, but with many gaps in historical records, experts were hired to assist in writing a temple chronicle to fully present the local development history.

The chairman stated that the important instructions from the founding Prince Deity have made the board and the staff deeply aware of their responsibilities and demonstrated their determination regarding the preservation of the golden statue. The restoration and investigation of artifacts are expected to take more than a year to allow future generations to understand the historical value of this faith and to continue passing it down.

• The expert responsible for writing the temple chronicle expressed honor in participating in this project, especially being moved by the phenomenon of the deity "actively conveying messages."
• The history museum is responsible for surveying and maintaining important artifacts across the city, and the plan will gradually expand throughout the Kaohsiung area to completely preserve the context of popular belief culture.
• This project is a cross-disciplinary collaboration between faith and academia, which will fill in the historical gaps of the temple and make local religious culture more systematic and complete.

Experts pointed out that this century-old mud sculpture statue of the founding Prince Deity is a valuable piece of early folk craftsmanship, with materials and manufacturing methods full of historical significance. Through professional restoration, its religious sanctity will be preserved while allowing future generations to recognize the artistic value of this century-old artifact.

The Baoan Temple is simultaneously promoting two major projects, the restoration of the deity's statue and the writing of the temple chronicle, creating a new chapter in the local belief history of Kaohsiung, showcasing a model for the preservation and development of faith culture. It is hoped that through this cultural project, the authority of the founding Prince Deity will be restored, historical records will be perfected, and the incense that has burned for a century will continue, allowing this sacred faith to be sustainably passed down.