I Kuan Tao (Yi Guan Dao)

Have you ever heard of I Kuan Tao (Yi Guan Dao)

I Kuan Tao differs from a religion in that the Tao is the root of all holy teachings while religions are branches of the tree that grew from the root. Toa is our conscience, true nature, and real self. Receiving the Tao is not accepting a new belief or religion but realization of our true self as we engage in the worship of God through our religions. With this relisation of our true self, we become stronger in our love for God.

A spiritual temple is a House of God. It is a place where we honor God through sacred ceremonies. In the I Kuan Tao Temple, holy functions such as Receiving the Tao, repentance, and praying are conducted under the Holy Spirit in the highest respect to God.

As in any temple of worship, the I Kuan Tao Temple has specific holy settings pertaining to the devotion of God. These holy settings provided for the fundamental sacred environment to facilitate our worship of God and allow for the divine spirits to easily flow through the temple.

Descriptions of the holy settings in the I Kuan Tao Temple are summarized below.

The Photos on the Wall in the Main Temple.
The pictures are our holy teachers the Great Master Chang Tien Jan and the Great Mistress Sun Su Chen. They were the last patriarchs who made the Tao available to the people in China. Their propagation of the Tao in China eventually created the establishment of Tao teachings in Taiwan and worldwide after 1949.

Great Master Chang Tien Jan was the reincarnated Buddha Chi Kung and Great Mistress Sun Su Chen was the reincarnated Bodhisattva Yueh Hui. Both of holy teachers overcame multiple challenges to propagate the Tao and participated in many events of miracles.

The Three Levels of Altar Settings. They represent the three levels of the universe describes as follows:
- Upper Altar Table - Heavenly World and the Tao relating to the True Self.
- Lower Altar Table - Spiritual World and the Yin and Yang connecting the Six Senses.
- Cushions - Physical World representing the Physical Body.

The Eternal Lamp and Dual Lamps.
The Eternal Lamp at the center of the Upper Altar Table represents the Light of God as the origin of all manifestation and essence of truth. When we receive the Tao, the holy teacher will use the incense stick and draw the light from the Eternal Lamp and point it towards us. This symbolizes that the Light of God has lit our internal spiritual lamp.
The Dual Lamps with one on each side of the Lower Altar Table represent the Yin and Yang. The duality means that the two separate parts of the same unity and one cannot exist without the other. This meaning is shown in the diagram of Tai Chi where it protrays the harmonious relationship of the Yin and Yang.

The Framed Writing above the Altar in the Main Temple.
This writing describes the divinity for each of the five major religions and they listed as follows:
- God in Christianity
- Origin in Taoism
- Heaven in Confucianism
- Buddha in Buddhism
- Allah in Islam

The Buddha Statues in the Main Temple.
The Buddha Statues are on the Altar as representative reminders forus to continously walk on the holy path. We need to remember that the Buddha nature is always within us and when we follow the holy philosophy of the Buddhas, it will bring our inner self closer to God.

One of the Buddha statues in the temple is Buddha Maitreya who has the big belly to show a sense of forgiveness, acceptance, and is always smiling. Buddha wants us to smile often so that we can release our stress.

The statues of Bodhisattva Nan Hai and Buddha Ji Gong are also in the temple. Bodhisattva Nan Hai is the Goddess of Mercy who always has compassion to relieve people from disasters. We can faithfully chant her name to help solve our problems. Buddha Ji gong represent good deeds, righteousness, and high virtues.

Fruits on the Altar.
We express our gratefulness with fruits because all fruitful results come from the grace of God. The arrangement of fruits are placed in odd numbers to represent Yang for symbolizing God. The many fruits and their colours each have different meanings.

Incense on the Altar.
We offer lit incense to represent the center of our guiding principles for improving ourselves toward divinity. The smoke arising from burning incenses shows that our ignorance is gradually disappearing as we consistently cultivate righteous thoughts and actions.

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