Taipei | Taipei History Museum & Botanical Garden

| Taipei History Museum & Botanical Garden. The Taipei History Museum is a tranquil corner of time, located within the Taipei Nanhai Academy, which was once the 'Guest House' during the Japanese occupation era. Built in 1908, Nanhai Academy is not only one of Taiwan's earliest higher education institutions but also witnesses the evolution of Taiwan's education from the colonial period to modern times. After the Japanese occupation period, the academy gradually transformed into other educational institutions and eventually became the site of today's Taipei History Museum. The museum is separated from the Taipei Botanical Garden by a glass window. On the second floor, various lotus paintings by Zhang Daqian are displayed. The elegant pink and white hues, or the slightly blue-tinted ink-splashed lotus leaves, seem to bring the lotus pond next to the museum into the paintings. Zhang Daqian's exquisite skills capture the transcendent beauty of the lotus, creating a harmonious reflection with the real lotus pond in the botanical garden, bringing a sense of tranquility. The Buddhist statue exhibition on the first floor is thought-provoking. These ancient statues, with their solemn postures and serene expressions, seem to silently convey the wisdom and tranquility of Buddhism over the centuries. Standing before the statues, one feels a transcendent peace, as if time has frozen at that moment, filtering out all the noise, leaving only an enlightened heart to feel the impermanence of the world and the compassion of the Buddha. Each exhibit carries the warmth of history, making people stop and gaze, savoring the details. Exhibit six, according to the 'Universal Gate Chapter' of the Lotus Sutra, suggests that if a female devotee wishes for a child, she only needs to think of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, and she will conceive. Therefore, the image of the 'Child-Giving Guanyin' gradually developed in the Central Plains. Some scholars believe that exhibit six might be the earliest image of the 'Child-Giving Guanyin'. Walking out of the museum, strolling by the lotus pond in the adjacent botanical garden, it feels as if history and nature have perfectly merged here. The purity of the lotus and the serenity of the Buddhist statues together create a transcendent atmosphere, allowing one to rediscover inner peace and tranquility.