The Cebu Taoist Temple (宿霧定光寶殿) rises among the hills of the Beverly Hills Subdivision of Cebu City, in the central Philippines. Built in 1972 by the city's sizeable Chinese Filipino community, it has become one of the best known Taoist sanctuaries in the country.
The temple sits at about 110 metres above sea level. Its tiered, brightly painted roofs and entrance — modelled after a section of the Great Wall of China — can be reached by three winding approaches up the hillside. Unlike the nearby Phu Sian Temple, the Cebu Taoist Temple is open to worshippers and visitors of all backgrounds; broad terraces along its sides offer wide views over downtown Cebu.
The temple is a centre of Taoist practice, following the teachings of the ancient Chinese sage Laozi. A familiar devotional rite here is the casting of two wooden moon-blocks (jiaobei): the devotee washes the hands, enters the chapel barefoot, and drops the blocks; if both fall face up, the wish may be made, and if not, the moment is held to be unripe and the devotee returns another day. On Wednesdays and Sundays, devotees climb the temple's eighty-one steps — one for each chapter of the Daode Jing — to light joss sticks and consult the monks for fortune readings. A chapel, library, wishing well, and shop round out the temple precinct.
Through the four pathways
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