The largest wooden statue of Lord Guan in all of Taiwan, located at Douliu Nansheng Temple, was originally named Cixiu Hall and belongs to the phoenix-hall lineage that assists the world through spirit-writing. It enshrines five deities—Emperor Guan, Patriarch Lü, the Stove God, King Yue, and Deity Wang Lingguan—whom devotees respectfully call the Five Sage Lords. The temple’s guardian statue of Lord Guan, carved from camphor wood, stands twelve feet tall and weighs more than six hundred Taiwanese catties, a rarity in Taiwan. As early as 1961 the original Nansheng Temple stood; in 1977 it relocated to its present site to enshrine a “Lord Guan” statue carved five centuries ago that drifted to Taiwan by sea. Taking Confucian religious teaching as its standard, it guides the vast multitude toward religion and points out a path of self-cultivation.
Photograph of the Lord Guan statue at Nansheng Temple by Hsueh Ying-chi. (Licensed photo—do not reproduce.)