Southern Taiwan - Taiwan - page 501

Courses
Weekend Temple Retreats MEDITATION, COOKING
(Yīngyǔ Sìyuàn Shēnghuó Tǐyàn Yíng; 656 1921, ext 1374; www.fgs.org.tw/events/wkend_retreat/
index.html ; weekend retreat NT$500) Weekend retreats are held every second weekend of the
month and include meditation, chanting, calligraphy, cooking and philosophy classes.
Tours
Half-day tours in English can be arranged with the nuns at the reception ( 656 1921, ext
6203-05) of the main temple (Dàxióngbǎodiàn). Temple tours stress the ceremonial as-
pects of Buddhism and you will be requested to bow and kowtow. In return, you will be
instructed in Buddhist thought, history and iconography.
Sleeping & Eating
Pilgrim's Lodge LODGE $ $
(Cháoshān Huìguǎn; dm/d NT$300/2000) The lodge invites devotees and tourists to spend
the night. The accommodation is surprisingly good. The Front Hall of the Buddha Me-
morial Center has a Starbucks, several vegetarian restaurants, and an all-you-can-eat veg-
gie canteen (NT$100) on the 2nd floor.
Getting There & Around
There are 11 buses a day between the temple and Kaohsiung (NT$80, 50 minutes); 15
buses run between Tsoying HSR station and Buddha Memorial Center (NT$65, 40
minutes). The temple and the memorial centre are within walking distance of each other,
but you can also hop on the shuttle buses (NT$20, every 20 minutes) that link the two
places.
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Meinong
07 / POP 42,374
In 1736 the intrepid Lin brothers led the first Hakka immigrants to settle the plains of
Meinong (Měinóng). While the Hakka make up about 14% of the population of Taiwan,