But for many in today’s wired world, there is no longer any need to battle the crowds when asking for gifts from the gods. This is because, thanks to technology, the gap between earthly and heavenly can be bridged in just a few clicks of the mouse.
Taking a step further than many famous places of worship in Taiwan that have developed an otherworldly presence online is Tian-Di cyber temple. As the island’s most famous virtual place of worship, visitors can learn how to pray to Ma Zu, the goddess of the sea, and have an opportunity to discover the beauty of ancient rituals and folk arts.
When visiting the Tian-Di Web site, a schoolgirl avatar leads one on a tour of the temple, sharing tips on how to bring offerings, burn incense, find a temple, and release sky lanterns.
What makes Tian-Di so special is not just its creativity in portraying the gods as cartoon figures, but the fact that the online concept is a nonprofit one funded by the government.
“Our goal is to introduce religious traditions and folk arts to the general public,” said Chen Keh-jiann, a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Information Science and the soul of the Tian-Di initiative. “We don’t favor any particular religion and seek only to present Taiwan’s religious culture in a more interesting and vivid way.”
Tian-Di was brought to life under the auspices of the Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program. Directed by the Cabinet-level National Science Council, TELDAP launched Jan. 1, 2008 with the aim of creatively promoting various fields, including Taiwan’s culture, economy, industry and society.
According to the science council, TELDAP aims to increase accessibility for academics to knowledge resources and allow the general public to overcome barriers of time and space in appreciating and utilizing such assets.
“Popularity is the key to the success of social networking sites, because popularity brings in both fame and wealth,” Chen said, adding that project team members are surprised that Tian-Di is generating so much online and media attention. “But it’s a nonprofit program, and we’ll work on creating more user-friendly functions and enriching content.”
Glenda Liou, a TELDAP project assistant, said plans were also afoot to showcase Taiwan’s temple architecture and stunning natural surrounds on the Web site. “We are looking forward to adding this new and improved function.”
Another exciting foray into the world of cyberspirituality is a service that allows Internet surfers to chat with Ma Zu. Thanks to Kaohsiung-based Real-Time Interacting Technology Associates Inc., the goddess can listen to followers’ prayers, give divination by request, lead the way to Google Maps and gourmet restaurants, and even help with finding the latest job vacancy.
According to Alan Lin, chief executive officer of RTITA and the driving force behind the project, his firm is committed to R&D in the field of Microsoft Corp.’s MSN robots, which scour search engines used to index information.
“The most interesting part of the idea is choosing the right avatar and function for the robot,” he said. “We came up with the idea because one of our team members is a dedicated Ma Zu follower.”
Lin said although the idea quickly curried favor at all levels of his organization, there were some reservations. “When the concept was brought up, we immediately fell in love with its dramatic and fascinating nature, but at the same time were afraid of being branded religious zealots.”
Fortunately, the idea turned out to be a great success. Within two months of Ma Zu’s MSN debut, more than 5 million people from over 55 countries have logged on to experience the service.
In the near future, Lin said RTITA’s research team will apply the firm’s technology to Facebook and seek opportunities to collaborate with companies developing Plurk robots. “By that time, we expect users to have easier access to Ma Zu through an expanded variety of interfaces.”
An ardent worshipper at the temple of technology, Lin said as times change, so do traditional practices. “Interacting with temples and gods online is the new zeitgeist of today’s cyberworld and the way of the future.” (JSM)
Write to Michelle Lu at kaiping@mail.gio.gov.tw