• Beigang Wude Temple—How to Align Traditional Jinxiang Culture with Modern Environmental Justice Thinking

Abstract

Jinxiang culture, which refers to the Chinese ritual of burning incense or joss money, is a crucial structural component of traditional customs and beliefs, as well as a universally held value of Buddhism, Daoism, and folk society. Unsurprisingly then, after applying controversial air quality detection methods to religious rituals, government authorities have met with varying degrees of resistance from temples and have also yet to provide a timely explanation for their policies. Subsequently, exposure and dissemination of this issue by the media aroused the fear of “incense elimination” in folk belief society, prompting jinxiang practitioners and temples to establish the “Alliance for Defending Faith and Protecting Incense”, and Chairman An-le Lin of Wude Temple to initiate the “All Gods on Ketagalan Boulevard" protest in opposition to the ceasing of incense burning—events which gained the attention of both domestic and overseas media. In light of the fact that environmental protection has become a new moral value, it seems reasonable to ask how the traditional custom of jinxiang culture must align with modern environmental justice concepts, find a niche amidst the crisis of environmental pressure, and make organizational changes, so as to find the optimal balancing point between environmental justice and the preservation of jinxiang culture.

Keywords: Justice theory, Environmental justice, Principle of impartiality, Organizational change