My Diary

In mid-November this year, Hian Eng Taoist Group was honoured to conduct a thanksgiving ritual for Nam Yong Keng Temple located at Klang Central in Selangor State of Malaysia on invitation. The main deity of the temple is Hui Ze Choon Ong 惠泽尊王, the Ancestral God of Chinese Surname Ye 叶族祖佛. Before the grand ritual, the temple management has engaged a puppet performance service of Master Huang Zhen Cai 黄振财师傅, the 5th Generation leader of a famous puppet troupe in Johore State of Malaysia. The main ritual of thanksgiving lasted for 3 days. It basically involves prayer to bless the livings and to salvage the spirits from sufferings. Taoist believes in the harmony between the Yang aka Positive Energy and the Ying aka Negative Energy so as to achieve a state of tranquility between both realm. The grand finale of the ritual was crossing a seven-star bridge. I was told that the temple has never performed the crossing bridge blessing ceremony since it was established more than 40 years ago.

Upon invitation by the temple management of Soon Hock Keng Chinese Temple, taoist priests from Hian Eng Taoist Group were there to perform a 3-day rituals of thanksgiving. The temple is operating a temporary place of worship located within the vicinity of Central Klang Valley. The main god of the temple is dedicated to Zhang Gong Shen Jun aka Fazhugong 张公法主. During the three days ritual, many questions were raised from a taoist rite of Chi Shui Jin Tan aka Cleansing Water 敕水禁坛. A cleansing water ritual begin by inviting Gods to purify the water and create a sacred space is a taoist rite which can wipe out the dirty stuff and stop black magic or negative activities at the place of a taoist worship. Taoist priest from zheng-yi sect will perform the high-spirited movement of playing sword and destroying the bronze flag column. Since the purpose of Chi Shui Jin Tan is to clean the ceremonial space and facilitate the smooth progression of the whole ritual, only selected people from the

Despite the rain, there was a great turn up from members of Singapore Heritage Yahoogroup. Representatives from Lam Ann Clan Association and Hong San See Temple were present to welcome us. Bro Lim Liong Kee who manages the temple gave us a history of the temple. He showed the picture of an old postage stamp of Hong San See. In the case of the 174-year-old Hong San See temple in Mohamed Sultan Road, along River Valley Road, its Cinderella-like transformation began in early 2006 with a termite infestation in its roof. The attack was so bad that a corner of the roof collapsed, prompting the Singapore Lam Ann Clan Association to initiate a full-scale restoration that year. Works were completed last year and the restored temple clinched the Award of Excellence at this year's Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation earlier this month, a first for Singaporean architecture. Bro Yik Han who also traced the history of the temple showed the location of the fir

In the past, the seventh moon prayers mainly organized by residents of a small town or a village. When more and more private and public housing estates being built, it became scatter over various places and as a result from small to medium size prayer events would be seen at different occasions depending on its financials.   Klang is the royal capital of the State of Selangor in Malaysia. It is located about 32 km to the west of Kuala Lumpur and 6 km east of Port Klang. It was the civil capital of Selangor in an earlier era before the emergence of Kuala Lumpur and the current capital, Shah Alam. Taman Indah is a small town which is situated along Tepi Sungai within the vicinity of Klang Central.   The seventh moon prayers which commonly followed by majority of Chinese descendents living at Taman Indah. In fact, the wide appeal of the old and the tradition practise as I have seen during the ceremony might help to preserve our culture and especially our younger generation so enamour

Last month I was invited by The Temple Chairperson of Dongshan to participate in the celebration of its annual thanksgiving activities. The temple is located at Pingtan County in Fujian Province. Pingtan County is formed by not less than 100 small islands with a total area of approximately 300 square kilometers. It is understood that one of the main island namely Hai Tan is now the largest island in Fujian Province of mainland China. Amongst the small built taoist shrines and temples within the vicinity of Pingtan County, Dongshan Temple is an unique religious place that constructed in a middle of the mountain. The total land area is 51 m length, width 12 m, and it is completed in the year 2006. The main deity of this temple is Lord Wang of the Qing Dynasty. The temple has attracted many pilgrims and also a recognized taoist temple in Pingtan County. Apart from the thanksgiving rituals conducted by Taoist Priests, the temple has also invited a group of entertainers to perform northern

The hot afternoon suddenly turn grey with a threatening sky as we gathered in front of Thian Hock Keng Temple along Telok Ayer Street. Some 35 people or more turned up as we have members from the Singapore Heritage Yahoogroups and Taoism-Singapore Yahoogroups. Busloads of tourists were also arriving and so we were hardput to find a quiet place for our anthropologist, Bro ChanCW to share his cellful load of information. In this tour, Bro Chan brought the people to the era of post Mazu. During the Song Dynasty in ancient China, the northern silk route was troubled by the warlords and bandits. China had to find another means of transport and trade. The sea silk route was eventually established. The boatman and the merchants travelling by sea were at the mercy of the sea. Many would seek the protection of Mazu in their sea travel. Mazu's history (you can read about it on the beautifully designed poster in Thian Hock Keng) is interesting and she lived in Meizhou Island, Putian County o

Some eight of us turned up at the Poh Tiong Beo Temple along Lorong 6 Toa Payoh to learn a little more about this temple and the history behind it. Brother Chan was there to provide the background history to the Sung Dynasty of ancient China when the invading Mongols had the Empress Dowager being captured and the young Emperor fleeing south with the help of three faithful members of the imperial court, namely Wen Tian Xiang, Lu Xiu Fu and Zhang Shi Jie. At last, Wen Tian Xiang was caught. Much as the Mongols tried to induce him to join them but he refused and subsequently he was executed. Lu Xiu Fu fled with the little Emperor and brought him through Teochew County in Guandong Province. But unfortunately Lu Xiu Fu was caught and then he committed suicide with the young Emperor within the vicinity of Shenzhen today. Meanwhile, Zhang Shi Jie was drowned during the fight with the Mongols. His body floated up to a little village in Tong An County of Fujian Province. Brother Andy Yeo share

On the eve of labour day, I was invited by the Mentor of Evergreen Home Shrine to conduct its celebration with respect to Master Liu Ren, the main deity of the shrine. Upon arrival at Penang International Airport, I was pleased to see a warm and friendly reception from the Mentor and his committee members. During the preparation hours, I was glad to meet Mr Lim Soo Peng, a prominent and respected leader of the community in Pulau Pinang. He was a key player of Poh Hock Seah Temple Grand Procession held in early this year. The celebration of Master Liu Ren was commenced in the evening. An invitation of deity ceremony was officially performed according to the doctrine of taoist text. Followed by food offerings ritual with the attendence of their senior members. During the occasion, the shrine has also accepted three new members with a simple induction ceremony. The next day, we went to the Evergreen Home Shrine's parent temple at Fengshan and to pray for the Greatest Dao, The Pure

Last Sunday morning I was pleased to witness an important milestone in Singapore Taoist history. More than hundred taoists took their vows to uphold the dignity of our Taoism. The Taoist Federation of Singapore has collaborated with Longhushan Celestial Master Mansion of Jiangxi Province, China and hold its first induction ceremony for taoist followers at San Qing Gong Temple. As expected, I saw so many familiar faces during the ceremony. They were there to support the betterment of our root religion. Of course, many of my seniors from Longhushan Celestial Master Mansion like Master Ceng Guang Liang and Master Zhang Gui Hua were also present and they have conducted the ritual since the day before. Before the ceremony, Taoist priests from Longhushan Celestial Master Mansion have conducted a ritual of cleansing so that to make the place for worshipping in proper. During the ceremony, they performed a formal ritual of invitation to deities and to request for their blessings. The fina

When I was young, I liked and used to sing a favourite English song entitled “Beautiful Sunday” because that remind me to relax after a week of study. When I started to work, I tried to spare more times with my family during Sunday if available. Last Sunday, I was accompanied a group of Unitarian Universalists local members to a Chinese temple Thian Hock Keng. The main deity of the temple is Goddess of Mazu. During an hour tour to the temple, I shared with them about our taoist rituals for Goddess of Mazu in Singapore as well as China and Taiwan. It was a fruitful gathering especially the group members were able to explain the meanings of various offerings. Unitarian Universalists Singapore is a growing community of individuals who recognize the value of traditions and seek to learn from each other’s traditions as they work to promote spiritual growth for the community at large.

In a crowded housing estate of Jurong East stood a temporary tentage from a local sintua, Qi Shan Tua. On the opposite there was a music record company which played a few religious songs. It was commonly seen as a religious event but to have some background music from other sources can make the event became more grand and lively. The sintua was having its annual celebration and our daoist priest was there to conduct a ritual of thanksgiving. Though it was a week day, many pilgrims turned out for the celebration. The sintua has also engaged a troupe of lion and dragon dance for performances before sending off the Jade Emperor. Out of curiosity, there was a child who observed a high statue of Da Ye Bo aka Qi Ye and told his parents that the tongue of that statue has been fallen. The parents were very anxious and eventually prayed to the Da Ye Bo on behalf of the child for its forgiveness due to the child’s ignorant of everything.

Several months ago, I was entrusted to conduct a Thanksgiving Ritual for a local sintua known as Keng Sheng Tong during the Manifestation Celebration of Monkey Gods. Sun Wukong aka Monkey God is the mythical characters who everywhere in the world many people are familiar with. According to a report from a Chinese archaeology worker in Sunchang County of Fujian Province, he has reported that in the beginning of Ming dynasty, a Mongolian national minority dramatist Yang Jingxian composes "Monkey" in the theatre art has a section of Sun Wukong's confessing: “my eldest sister Lisan Laomu, second elder sister Wu Zhizhi, third brother Tongtian Dasheng, and my younger brother Suais Sanlang”. He thought that the famous fiction writer Wu Chengen from Ming Dynasty in his composition novel "Monkey" or commonly known as “Xi You Ji” needed to use a representative name and the excellent ability which had the joint forces of the fives. Thus, it has portrayed the myth hero of S

Traditionally a new statue should not be used if it hasn't gone through the Eye Dotting aka Kai Guang ceremony. Kai Guang is a traditional ceremony to bless and awaken a new statue and it signifies the existence or birth of a new statue into the world. According to the tradition if the statue is used without being awakened, it will bring no result or purely an antique. Traditionally a taoist priest present begins the ceremony chanting of prayers to heavenly gods and summon the spirit and soul of the deity from the heaven down into the statue. Offerings are made and spells are chanted. The taoist priest dots various parts of the statue with a red mixture according to the ritual texts. The actual eye dotting ceremony itself may differ from school to school. According to Chinese tradition red is regarded as a life giving colour as well as being associated with good fortune and prosperity. After the taoist priest conducts the dedication and dotting ceremony in which the god or