Biylong Temple Introduction
Biylong Temple is a rare tortoise temple in Taiwan, named after a stone inside the temple that resembles a turtle. Known as the "Tortoise Temple," legend has it that many years ago, a father and son with the surname Zeng saw a strange stone under a tree, which looked like a large tortoise with patterns resembling bagua (the Eight Trigrams). The father, Zeng, believed it had spiritual significance and began to worship and pray to it, resulting in his long-term illness being miraculously cured. To express their gratitude to the tortoise stone, the Zeng family built a temple to enshrine it, and the tortoise stone is honored as the Bagua Ancestor or Emperor Fuxi, becoming a unique deity in Taiwan's spiritual landscape. Today, Biylong Temple is bustling with worshippers and is considered to be a highly effective temple by many. On holidays, it attracts a large number of visitors. If you're physically up for it, taking a one to two-hour hike after worshipping is also a great option, walking along the nearby Sunlong Trail and Yingge Stone Trail, where you can enjoy views of Jianshan and Yanfeng, as well as appreciate attractions like Yingge Stone, Hongde Temple (Sun Bin Temple), and the Agricultural and Forestry Zen Temple. The current Biylong Temple has been renovated several times and now stands as a traditional temple elaborately adorned with intricate carvings and paintings.
