Deities and Faith
Will Lü Dongbin break up couples who visit Zhinan Temple together?
English translation draft · Based on the Chinese article. This is not a word-for-word translation approved by Master Shengyuan.
I do not agree that visiting together causes this. Understanding a deity includes virtues, not directly imposing human jealousy and romantic attachment.
I have said an accomplished deity would not destroy others’ relationships because of personal romantic failure. A deity still driven by such jealousy would differ from my understanding of an upright god.
Consider the reasoning in such legends rather than accept inevitability because many repeat them. I have seen the temple share a video of visitors later marrying, but one couple need not merely cancel another story. The point is not using legends to demean deities.
Likewise, later relationship difficulty cannot be blamed on a deity merely because a temple was visited together. Actual events must be understood before judgment.