My Diary

The City God Temple of Yongchun is located at the central administration district and next to the Yongchun General Hospital. An ancient temple first built in the late 1900s and renovated in 1991 with the support of oversea donors. The size of the temple is not smaller than a standard football field. This temple is well known in Yongchun County of Fujian Province, China. Besides dedicated to The City God aka Cheng Huang Gong, there is also an Imperial Official of Fude, the Goddess of Guanyin, as well as 24 Division Secretaries. At the same time, the temple management also provides venue for public to conduct gongteck prayer ceremony. Every year on the 23rd day of fifth lunar calender month is the temple official celebration in respect of The City God. The temple management as well as the villagers will engage a traditional Fujian liyuan aka opera troupe to perform. Our Hian Eng Taoist priests will perform a ritual of thanksgiving during the celebration. In addition, every fifteen day o

Puchong is a main town in Petaling Selangor, Malaysia. It used to be a rubber estate and tin-mining town about 40 years ago. In the past, it consists of only one two-lane road running through estates and villages. Since then, urbanization has occurred rapidly in recent years with many industrial parks, commercial buildings and residential areas mushrooming along Jalan Puchong, the main road. Tian Ling Dian Chinese Temple is located within the vicinity of Bandar Puchong Jaya. In conjunction with its 6th Anniversary Celebration, taoist priests from Hian Eng Daoist Group are invited to conduct a ritual of thanksgiving during the celebration month. Last year its local devotees have witnessed a special ritual called “Spiritual Area Cleansing” by our taoist priests. It is a combination of mock attack by priest with sword and Chinese healing arts display that lasted for at least an hour. The purpose of this event is to eliminate all kind of evils, negative forces as well as outer black magic

This event was occurred in a merciless ocean during the Qing Ming festival. Just before sunset, I received a telephone call from a funeral parlor operator and asking me to conduct a taoist prayer for a dead seaman. Upon arrival at the World Trade Center of Singapore, I looked at the sky and stars twinkled in the dark night. I guess it would be a good weather to conduct the ritual at sea. We took a speedboat towards the direction of the Strait of Malacca. We were stopped by the Malaysia Police Coast Guard during the journey and after showing our travel documents, we continued our search for a cargo vessel. About eleven o’clock, we were finally discovered the ship in spite of bad visibility. It was understood that the dead seaman was accidentally fell down from his working tower. When the accompanied medical staff carried out health check for each crew on board, I went to conduct the prayer together with the funeral parlor staff. It saddened to look at the body of the deceased. On knowin

Perhaps you or your friends are faced with a terminal illness, and looking for treatments. Traditional treatment methods such as medication, surgery and counselling are focusing primarily on physical rehabilitation. During the recent visit of a group of qigong students from the United Kingdom at Kuan Sheng Tong Temple, I shared with them the significance value of Healing Prayers. There is a boy who suffers a disease and he does the prayer. He said: “Master, you know that I am in the stage of struggle of pain and despair. You know that my wish is to cure the disease. I know you have the ability to cure me. I also know that you will choose what is best for me. I pray I will be close to you, and you will be my comfort and strength. I pray that no matter what the final result turns out to be, you will be my honor.” I told the qigong students that from his beginning to do the healing prayer, he has demonstrated his eagerness to live longer by following both the physical rehabili

Yongchun County is located in the southeastern part of Fujian Province in China. Total land area approximately 1400 square km and its population about 500,000. Dongping Town is a mountainous area in Yongchun County. Between the town and village is separated by large tracts of rice paddies. During my stay in Yongchun County, I was called to conduct a funeral ceremony for a passed on lady who lived more than 90 years. The whole atmosphere of the funeral scene was not sad, but also many people came to pay their last respects. It could be considered large buried scenery as far as a small town was concerned. The death of a person was also a matter for the whole village. The villagers were busy setting up tentage and handling bamboo tables and chairs as well as kitchen utensils in orderly manner. As we were presiding over the spiritual enlightenment ceremony as early as six o'clock in the morning, the village women came very punctual in the morning just to prepare meals for our taoist

There is a suburban taoist temple known as Jiutiaoqiao Xinba Natohgong Temple 九条桥新芭拿督公庙. This is a temple that worships three deities, each representing a deity of the three major ethnic groups, ie, Chinese, Malays and Indians in Singapore. During the early fifteen century, our Chinese immigrants first arrived in Southeast Asian countries, and they brought along their taoist gods and deities to these lands. They have realized that to ensure security and prosperity in this foreign land of strange religious practice, they have to enlist the help of the local gods. The Chinese immigrants began to worship local pre-Islamic holy men, commonly called Datuk or Dato, meaning “chief” or “lord” in the Malay language, which soon became known as “Natoh”. The suffix “gong” which means “lord” in Chinese was added to “Natoh”, and hence “Natohgong”, the amazing Chinese-Malay deity which is found only in Singapore, Malaysia and several parts of Indonesia. This temple, with a history of not less th

The famous Zhang Gong Sheng Jun aka Fazhugong’s Mother Temple is located at Mount Shiniu of Dehua County. The cave approximately 1700 meters above sea level at Mount Shiniu also known as Shihudong. A folk tale is saying that the cave housed five ghosts in the past and finally being captured by Fazhugong and his two brothers. This deity with unkempt long hair and one hand carrying a sword but the other hand entangle with a snake. Shihudong’s air is fresh throughout the year. When you stand outside the cave and appreciate the beauty of large clouds, you would feel like the heaven on earth and comfort. During the temple celebration, many devotees come from China and Taiwan as well as Malaysia. They will wake up as early as possible and walk up to the cave so that to catch the sunrise outside Shihudong. The auspicious day one during the annual thanksgiving day, after our taoist priest beats a drum and follow by burning the crackle of gunfire hopes that all things go lucky to prosper. T

Mount Faber is located at the southern end of Singapore. At the top of the hill, you can see a well-known tourist island of Sentosa, and high-rise residential apartments in the surrounding area. Within the residential area long established a Chinese temple which housed an eighteen hand Goddess of Mercy aka Guanyin Pusa statue. The name of this temple is called Kuan Sheng Tong. From the main signage above the door entrance, it is crafted during the 6th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu in Qing Dynasty. This penultimate Qing emperor ruled China from 1875 to 1908. Hence the temple has established more than 100 years already. The structure of the temple building still looked neo-modern with tiles of the Peranakan age. Upon the completion of it consecrated a stone statue standing Guanyin outside the temple, the temple management has requested the service of our taoist priests to conduct a ritual of thanksgiving offerings. The folk is accustomed that the land and rock is a fountain of

In Chinese tradition, bereaved family members of a deceased will set up a home altar for the purpose of ancestor worship after funeral. The altar normally includes a photograph of the deceased, an inscription of its name on a memorial tablet and urn for offerings. Daily or twice-daily offerings are made to ensure the deceased has a good start in the afterlife. Necessities such as the deceased's favourite food and drink are placed on the altar. Altar is usually taken down after 49 days, the period during which the deceased is believed to be undergoing judgment in the netherworld. After that, the deceased is worshipped along with all the other ancestors of the family by inserting its name next to the patrilineal ancestors. Ancestral tablet is a piece of wood inscribed with the name of the deceased. It is kept in a small shrine at home or in the clan ancestral temple. Incense is lit before the tablet daily and offerings of food and prostrations are presented twice a month. Chinese fam

To mark the continuation of family tree diagram and the launching of the genealogy books, Taiping’s Lee Ancestral Temple holds a big celebration last year. Genealogy is primarily to promote the Chinese culture, and also satisfy the trace the origin of the Chinese civil society, the desire to inquire about the ancestors. In addition to records of a family rise and fall migration, genealogy has also recorded emigration, the marriage, breeding status and family ties between the home country and the rest of the world. The organizer has invited the lineage descendants to participate in a grand celebration and Malaysians are the greatest participants in number. Our taoist group was selected to host the ceremony. The celebration mainly divides into the trilogy and first salvation ritual of the spirits of ancestors. The folk is accustomed to put lantern floated along river before the salvation begins. Its main purpose is to invite drowns in the water spirit, to follow the affiliation floated l

A local shrine by the name, Lian Sheng Tua has been exist for a decade and operates in a typical public housing unit aka HDB flat. The main deity of the shrine is The Goddess of Guanyin. Not long ago, they were celebrating the Manifestation Day of The Goddess of Guanyin at the Tampines New Town, an eastern part of Singapore. Our daoist group was invited to conduct a taoist ritual of thanksgiving during the celebration. One of the rituals is crossing the seven-star bridge. Normally, the seven-star bridge is made of wooden or steel with walkway that has a total of seven steps. On the bridge, you could see five different colour talismans or flags, each of which is positioned at five different corners of the bridge. At the front entrance or walk up of the bridge, which is called the gate of dragon, a fire urn is usually placed on the floor. The devotees will need to cross over the fire urn before going up the bridge. At the rear exit or walk down of the bridge, which is called

Last year I was called upon to conduct a funeral ceremony for my friend’s relative in Jakarta City of Indonesia. In our moral values among the Chinese is a filial piety, so worship their ancestors from generation to generation has been passed down since young. Chinese descendants generally believe that their ancestors passed on the good deeds will enable future generations to stay good life and vice versa. The concept of salvation ancestors is therefore based on the belief that the bereaved family members of a deceased have a continued existence and possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. The deceased was an old lady who came from Pu Tian County in Fujian Province, China. Inside the mourning hall, it was the local practice to place two incense urns for praying purpose. One set for the immediate family members and the other set for friends and relatives to put joss sticks. A Spiritual Enlightenment Ceremony was conducted at night. Before conducting a funeral se

For several hundred years our Chinese descendants live in Cambodia, and actively contribute to the industrious undertaking through participation in the country economic development. The Cambodia Fujian Clan Association was established in 1992, with the support of local as well as oversea Chinese, Xie Tian Gong 協天宮 Temple was established two years later. In 2004, I was invited by the Association to conduct a Thanksgiving Ritual during the Manifestation Day of the Prince of Guan Peng, one of a pantheon of deities in the Guan Tek Gong Temple. During the ceremony, I was interviewed by a Cambodian Chinese newspaper reporter and I shared with him that Confucianism & Buddhism as well as Daoism have a common thought and in consistency with our belief. There is a common saying that every Chinese wears a Confucian cap, a Taoist robe and a Buddhist sandal. A famous Chinese writer Lu Xun 魯迅 ever said that Taoism and our Chinese culture cannot be separated. We must receive ancestors' lofty