Man Mo Buddhist Temple

I visited my first Temple, the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road in Hong Kong. Literally, "Man" means "Civil" and "Mo" means "Martial." The Man Mo Temple itself is dedicated to the two gods, King Man and Holy King Kwan. Simply put, Man is the god of literature and Mo is the god of war. This temple was built in 1847 and is quite stunning.

When you first step into the temple you immediately smell the incense burning. The incense is believed to either attract the attention of the gods or serve as food for the spirits that have gone before.  Below you can see people burning handfuls of incense and paying their respects. Those coiled things hanging from the ceiling are also incense that people burn.

This is one of the Divine Chairs in the Man Mo Temple. Made in 1862, this divine chair of elaborately carved teakwood and gold-plated was donated by the then Chinese business and kaifong associations. There are two of them and they are used for carrying the statues of Gods in parade and constitute part of the relics of the temple.