How should I understand repeated pilgrimages and spiritual encounters without knowing what I learned?

That question deserves further understanding of the learning in an activity. I wondered similarly early on. Initial pilgrimages and spiritual encounters felt novel, with spiritual energy filling the body. After ten or twenty repetitions of arrival, practice, and departure, I asked whether cultivation consisted only of these. This did not declare the activity wrong, but questioned what I had learned.

A senior female teacher once reminded me in conversation that personally passing through difficulties, overcoming them, and learning provides experience to share when others meet similar situations. From that perspective, practice involves not only strong immediate sensations but understanding the process.

After becoming a teacher, I understood more clearly that performing and teaching differ. Some earlier teachers trained apprentices through watching, listening, and learning alongside them. In my teaching, I wanted clear principles explaining why something is done, its intended aim, and differences between doing and not doing it. Knowing what you are learning makes participation easier to connect with understanding.

Revisiting the same temple may still teach something different. Different companions and greater personal understanding can reveal previously unnoticed details. YOYO felt early itineraries visiting five temples daily allowed only incense offerings before leaving and were regrettably brief. But I also said a short, sincere visit was not meaningless.

With time, observe hospitality and cooperation, and hear clearly what rituals do. Willingness to adjust old behavior in life afterwards is another lesson. Counts of temples or strength of perceptions alone should not decide whether the trip was worthwhile.

Itineraries need room for learning. After a crowded Yilan-Hualien trip where worship was followed by rushing for transport, I considered one location daily when travel across counties was long, allowing more stillness, practice, and experience. Within one county or for particular tasks, arrangements might differ. This was not a universal one-temple limit.

Learning also must not neglect the body. A solemn Heaven-worship event in Hualien was extremely hot without suitable shade. With elders accompanying us, we left after about half an hour. The extra time instead allowed practice in a better-ventilated Earth Mother temple. This showed me that benefits do not require enduring an event to the end. Leaders need to recognize when to adjust.

Discussing itineraries with Dao Xing, we also compared many visits with deeper experience at one place. More destinations do not necessarily mean more learning. Consider whether you understand its deity and activities. Shi Ting shared no obvious feeling on a first Sanqing Temple visit, while later visits differed after learning. That was her experience over time, not a requirement that everyone feel heat or movements for pilgrimage to matter.