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Ceremony of Induction 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 Taoism.

The Taoist Federation of Singapore collaborated with the Longhushan Celestial Master Mansion of Jiangxi Province, China (江西省龍虎山嗣漢天師府), 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 present to support the betterment of our root religion. Additionally, many of my seniors from the 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 been conducting the rituals since the day before.

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

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



Two new members from my working group also participated in the ceremony. One of them remarked that the ceremony was very meaningful. The other expressed a strong desire to become a qualified Taoist priest as soon as possible. There is a Chinese saying, 台上一分鐘，台下十年功, which means that while one may appear on stage for only a minute, it takes ten years of preparation. I encouraged him to approach his learning with a positive mindset and to prepare himself to help others.
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Location: Bedok, Singapore

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