Even amidst the glitter of Taipei's Hsinyi District it is possible to encounter a place that is religiously and culturally unique. Pictured is a family hike in Sishoushan Forest Park organized by the Mt. Hsiang Buddhist Practice Community. (Jimmy Lin)

Amidst the glitter of Taipei's Hsinyi District can be found scores of high-end stores and luxury dwellings. Above it all rises Taipei 101, the world's tallest building. All the wealth and opulence of the times is flaunted here. However, not far away is a place that has been called a present-day Buddhist sanctuary. This is the Mt. Hsiang Buddhist Practice Community. For over a decade, there has been a religious community living here, joyfully engaging in spiritual cultivation together to achieve humanity's oldest dream-that of liberation.

You might think, upon first arrival, that the Mt. Hsiang Buddhist Practice Community is no different from any other urban neighborhood. The buildings are utterly normal, old-fashioned five-story apartment buildings, built along unremarkable tarmac roads. The lanes and alleyways are not especially wide, nor are the cars parked especially neatly. There is, however, a different feeling of freshness that comes from the fact that this place is the trailhead to climb Mt. Hsiang, part of Taipei's Sishoushan Forest Park.

If you pay close attention, you will discover green vines that have been planted in a seemingly symbolic manner outside many of the metal window grilles. Many of the first-floor dwellings display "Feel Free to Park Here" signs, rare in a city where jostling for a parking space is the norm. Furthermore, calligraphic works bearing ancient script adorns stairwells and walls, giving off a Zen-like air. One of the four-story apartment buildings in the community has even been adorned with a giant hanging image of the Buddha. As you pass by this building, you begin to hear the strains of Buddhist scriptures being chanted from within someone's home...

It dawns on you that there is something very different about this neighborhood after all.