Induction Ceremony For New Taoist

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 finale of the ceremony was all new Taoists made their promises in front of the Great Dao to love our country, to be filial piety, to love all beings, to love yourself, to promote justice, to be empathetic, to be truthful, to be a modest and humble person, as well as to respect our religion.

Two new members from my working group were also participated in the ceremony. One of them said that the ceremony was very meaningful. Another member has an ego to become a qualify taoist priest as soon as possible. As a Chinese saying, Tai Shang Yi Fen Zhong, Tai Xia Shi Nian Gong, 台上一分鈡，台下十年功 meaning you may require to be on a stage for just a minute, but you need ten years to prepare yourself up the stage. I have encouraged him to learn with a positive mindset and prepare to help others.

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