daoist temple

I think it was on wednesday that we went to one of the Daoist temples in the city. It was a very spiritual place. They are very intuned with finding harmony with heaven, earth and humans. It was a really pieceful place for me, there were many shrines including that of the 8 immortals; hall of Tai Bai or Venus- god of love, here people pray so that they would recieve children and they would also bring there kids here to pray to pass the national exam; Goddess of the stars; hall of Lu Zu- he was special because anyone could pray to him and he would always respond; hall of medicine god- he made great contributions to Traditional chinese medicine.
One of the monke took us around and showed us around and he also took us to see the living quarters. I had this vision of a strict monastic existance and for them to live in proverty, But it was not that extreme. There houses were nothing fancy but they were not shanties either. Since we are in the age of the 21 century everyone must be connected- so of course the Monk had a call phone- i got a picture- i thought that was really funny.
At 4pm everyday they have prayer- we stuck around for that. It was one of the most beautiful things i have ever heard. They pray in song and it was just such pretty music. There were drums, flute, bells, stringed instruments and a couple others. They recited all of there scripture in song. It was a bit over whelming for me. the music here is just so spiritual and peaceful. The flute was different- i was in awe what more can i say.
For reasons of my own i had envisioned that they would perform there rituals in a very different manner- but it was simliar to western relgion. I just did not want any connection to the western ideals. I guess prayer is very similar if you believe in one god or many gods. I think that i prefer the many gods idea. I'll keep you posted ont those revelations.