Induction Ceremony For New Taoists

Last Sunday morning, I was pleased to witness an important milestone in Singaporean Taoist history. More than a hundred Taoists took vows to uphold the dignity of our Taoism.

The Taoist Federation of Singapore collaborated with the Longhushan Celestial Master Mansion of Jiangxi Province, China, 江西龍虎山嗣漢天師府 to hold its first induction ceremony for Taoist followers at San Qing Gong Temple.

As expected, I saw many familiar faces during the ceremony, all there to support the betterment of our root religion. Additionally, many of my seniors from Longhushan Celestial Master Mansion, such as Master Ceng Guang-Liang 曾廣亮道長 and Master Zhang Gui-Hua 張貴華道長, were present and had conducted the ritual since the day before.

Taoist priests from the Longhushan Celestial Master Mansion conducted a cleansing ritual to properly prepare the place for worship. During the ceremony, they performed a formal ritual to invite deities and request their blessings.

In the finale of the ceremony, all new Taoists made their promises in front of the Great Dao: to love our country, to practice filial piety, to love all beings, to love oneself, to promote justice, to be empathetic, to be truthful, to be modest and humble, and to respect our religion.

Two new members from my working group also participated in the ceremony. One of them said that the ceremony was very meaningful. The other member has a strong desire to become a qualified Taoist priest as soon as possible. There's a Chinese saying, 台上一分鐘，台下十年功, which means you may only need a minute on the stage, but it takes ten years of preparation. I encouraged him to approach learning with a positive mindset and prepare to help others.

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