No time to visit temples? Just visit a live stream

Live-streamed temples have become a popular practice for time-starved residents who have no time to visit them. PHOTOS: SCREENGRAB FROM DOUYIN

This scene may be familiar to some – statues of Chinese deities, clad in shiny gold and perched on an altar.

There is smoke everywhere, emanating from countless joss sticks stuck into a giant urn.

Then, something unfamiliar happens – lines of words start popping from the bottom of this scene; prayers seeking love, good fortune and the like. Payments are even made to burn more incense or to light a lamp, common practices in Taoism.

Usually seen in e-commerce through the sale of products on live video these days, live-streamed temples have become a popular practice for time-starved Chinese residents who have no time to visit them, reported Chinese local media.

In these live-stream rooms, netizens can type their wishes for safety and success, but also offer viewers paid add-ons such as virtual incense burning and lamp lighting, according to D-Pai, an online news platform that focuses on the live streaming industry.

One online temple website wrote that “burning incense and worshipping Buddha online allows one to pray and express one’s devotion to Buddha and Bodhisattva without polluting the environment”. About 1.8 million wishes were made on this website, D-Pai reported, without elaborating how many were paid ones.

Besides praying through live streams, netizens can also pray through applications that mimic lit joss sticks, a wooden fish and prayer beads.

The wooden fish is a Chinese temple block that is usually used in recitations and chanting of sutras or other Buddhist texts.

Watch video on Twitter (X) here.

While China had introduced laws in March 2022 that disallowed any organisation or individual to spread information about religious ceremonies on the Internet unless they have a licence from the country’s religious regulator, some have tried to bypass this, with short tutorials and explainers available online to teach others to go around the system on various social media platforms.

This article was originally published on The Straits Times. Its inclusion on this website is solely for education purposes.