Temple Visit Group Essay Done by: Guo Huang, Koh Yong Siang, Lim Qing, Ong Li Ting

Introduction

A temple is simply speaking, a structure reserved for spiritual or religious rituals, events, and activities such as prayers and sacrifice. It serves as the nerve-centres of religious organizations, essentially trying to spread the all-time valid principles of righteous conduct and discipline. Temples form an essential part in the development of our moral thoughts which are undoubtedly responsible for making people straightforward, open-minded, liberal and compassionate. Thoughts of temples and God discipline us and make us realize the significance of these values in life. It is ignorant to ignore the importance of temples in our social and spiritual life. In this essay, we will introduce Sheng Leng Temple (显龙宫) and touch on the various aspects of the temple such as its background, gods, rituals, activities, and more.

History of Sheng Leng Temple

The story of Sheng Leng Temple started in a Hakka Village named Ke Ren Ba. The history of Sheng Leng Temple can be tracked down starting from the 1960s, at Bukit Timah 10th milestone which is today’s Teck Whye area. There is a known story regarding the establishment of Sheng Leng Temple. In the

1960s, a duck farm in the village was vacated and the words “Gan Da Di” (感天大帝), were left behind. The villagers happened to be looking for a deity to bless the village. Hence, they concluded that the words left behind was a message sent from the Heaven and the villagers started to worship Gan Tian Da Di. Those who worship Gan Tian Da Di were seemingly blessed with smooth progression in their lives, and a few were even rewarded with good fortune. Thus, to show gratitude to this God, a temple was built to formally worship Gan Tian Da Di.

Around thirty years later, Singapore underwent urban development in the 1990s. Sheng Leng temple had to relocate, and thus partnered with Tian Gong Tan Zhao Gong (天公墰昭灵宫) and West Coast

Hock Teck Si (西海岸福德祠兴) to build Jurong West United Temple (裕廊西联合宫), which was consecrated in 1996.

Temples are great samples of Asian architecture. In this respect, Chinese temples are particularly noteworthy since they mirror the architecture of China, and include religious elements. At the entrance of the temple, we were greeted by impressive works of art such as the two dragon pillars fronting the temple. It was mentioned that the exquisite carvings of the new temple were meticulously crafted by skilled artisans from Quanzhou, Fujian. Among them was the Jade Emperor’s shrine that was built as a cost of SGD75,000. The shrine includes a 9-dragon chair for the Jade Emperor and 12 other dragons surrounding the shrine, as well as 4 Heavenly Kings and the Eight Immortals.

Gods in the Temple

Sheng Leng Temple consists of many Gods, in which Gan Tian Da Di (感天大帝) is the main god of the temple. The secondary gods include Xie Tian Da Di (协天大帝), Monkey King (齐天大圣), Goddess of

Mercy (观音娘娘), Anxi Tua Li Ya Pek (大二爷伯), Five battalion Commanders (五营神将), City God (城

隍爷), Justice Bao (包大人), Datuk Kong (拿督公), The Jade Emperor (玉皇大帝), Four heavenly Kings

(四大天王), Eight Immortals (八仙), Tua Pek Kong (大伯公), Xuan Tian Shang Di (玄天上帝), (妈

祖), Shan Cai Tongzi (善财童子), Hei Ling Jiang Jun (黑令将军), Tu Di Gong (土地公) and Tiger god (虎

爷). Most of the deities are in the main hall of the temple, whereas the Gods that are in charge of Yin Cao

Di Fu (阴曹地府) are in the basement of the temple. This arrangement helps to differentiate and indicate where the different Gods are based.

The origin of Gan Tian Da Di can be traced back to 3rd to 4th century. Gan Tian Da Di’s name is Xu Xun

(许遜), and he was born in the Year 239. Xu Xun loved to hunt since young. One day, he hunted down a baby deer. Just as he was about to carry the dead baby deer home, the mother deer appeared and started moaning. Overwhelmed by sadness, it died beside its baby deer. Xu Xun brought both deer home and he cut opened the mother deer’s body upon reaching home. To his shock, the internal organs of the mother deer had shattered into pieces over the sadness of her child’s death. Xu Xun was extremely touched by the love of the mother deer towards its baby deer and this incident caused Xu Xun to stop hunting. Xu Xun was a Ling (县令) from Year 280 to Year 291. Ba Wang Zhi Luan (八王之乱), a series of civil wars, started in Year 291 and Xu Xun left his post and started to promote the values of filial piety in the Yu Zhang (豫章) area. At Xu Xun subdued numerous demons and Deities in his lifetime. At the age of 136, Xu Xun passed away and Sheng Xian (升仙).

One unique deity in Sheng Leng Temple is Na Du Gong as it is not found in Chinese history. Na Du Gong is a god worshipped by people in Malaysia and Singapore. Na Du is the Chinese translation of Datuk, a title of respect, and Gong is usually used as a form of respect in the Chinese community. The name Na Du Gong thus came about due to a fusion of Malay and Chinese cultures in Malaysia and Singapore. Na Du Gong is a general name used by many temples, and the spirits in each temple differ. Most of the time, the spirits are malay spirits and it can only be identified through the spirit medium (乩童).

Sheng Leng Temple: Present

The Sheng Leng Temple has no links to any other temples in Southeast Asia, neither does it have a mother temple. However, it has the tradition of inviting priests from China over during busy periods, for example, during period, where there are many rituals and processions.

In Singapore, land leases for temples last for thirty years. For a small number of temples such as the

Man Fatt Lam Temple (万佛林) and Foo Hai Ch'an Monastery (福海禅寺), permanent leases are held.

For Sheng Leng Temple, the temple has to pay a fee of $700,000 to $800,000 in order to secure another thirty years’ lease at the current venue. The temple has a few sources of earnings to pay for the lease, religious materials as well as its maintenance fees. Firstly, believers can drop money into a donation box, in exchange for religious materials such as incense paper. In the Chinese culture, donations are deemed as acts of accumulating merits, and the more merit one accumulates, the more blessings he will receive from the Gods. As such, many devotees donate out of freewill. Secondly, Sheng Leng Temple collects a monthly fee of $40 from its 21 members, a small number compared to bigger temples. In return, the priests will offer prayers and perform rituals for these members. The temple also organises yearly auction dinners as part of the seventh-month Zhongyuan celebration and invite its members to the dinners. During the auction dinner, members bid for items that are ‘blessed’ by the Gods, ranging from urns to household items, and the highest bidder will get to take the item home1. The funds from these auctions go into the funding of the daily maintenance and lease of the temple.

1 http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/shy-businessman-wins-lucky-urn-record-488888-bid-hungry-ghost- auction?page=0%2C2 Thirdly, the temple also sells Tai Sui lamps (太岁灯) and Ping An lanterns (平安灯). Tai Sui lamps are purchased by those who conflict with the Tai Sui (犯太岁) that year, where it is believed that they will have a turbulent year2. Every year, certain zodiac signs will violate the Tai Sui, also known as the Grand Duke Jupiter, who is placed in charge of all mortal affairs. This position is rotated among the different deities every year. For example, in the year 2017, those with zodiac signs rooster, rabbit, dog and rat will be in conflict the Tai Sui. Thus, the believers belonging to these zodiac signs should take part in rituals to ward off the bad luck and calamity that will befall them, and to propitiate the deity, permitting peace and good fortune during the year3. These lamps are priced at $50 each, and it is usually purchased for the whole family. These lamps are placed in the main hall of Sheng Leng Temple, and the family names of those who have purchased the lamps will be printed below each lamp. As for the Ping An lanterns, they are priced at $38 each. The lanterns are hung from the ceiling of the temple, and are purchased as a sign of protection and peace from the gods of the temple4.

Rituals in the temple

The temple holds many rituals, many of which are tied to the many events that the temple organises. On the fourth day of Chinese New Year, the temple will have a ceremony to Qing (请神). On the ninth day, there will be rituals to Bai Tian Gong (拜天公) and on the 15th day, the temple will Jie Cai Shen (接

财神). On the eighth day of the second lunar month, the temple will Bai Hu Shen (拜虎神) and on the tenth day of the same month, the temple will celebrate the birthday of Gan Tian Da Di, and hold celebrations for its Shen Dan (神丹).

Throughout the year, as mentioned about, rituals to bai tai sui are held. A special ritual that was held in the temple was the bu yun (补运) ritual. Devotees who felt that their lives were not going as smoothly as they wished for it to go come to the temple to have this ritual done to ‘replenish’ their luck. All these rituals are done by a priest from China that was invited by the temple. During our visit to the temple, we got to witness a priest from Anxi, China, performing the bu yun ritual for a believer. Firstly, the priest blew into

2 https://www.facebook.com/BuddhaToothRelicTemple/photos/gm.480623515454234/958834297498138/?type=3& theater 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_Sui 4 https://tw.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090202000016KK05492 a horn shaped instrument to ‘summon the celestial guards’. Next, after reciting some words, he took a whip with a snake’s head at its handle and whipped it on the ground. According to the priest, this action will summon the celestial guards to stand guard around the devotee, protecting him from evil powers that might try to take away his luck.

The temple also holds chou shen xi (酬神戏) for devotees and the Gods. For devotees, there will be actors acting on the stage. These shows are of a smaller scale. For grander shows, hand puppets will be used, in what is known as mu ou xi (木偶戏). For shows that are meant for the Gods, puppets controlled by 12 strings will be used. These shows, called shi er tiao xian (十二条线) are performed for the Gods only.

The temple used to have a spirit medium who will perform rituals for the temple. However, the most recent spirit medium passed away. According to the temple’s caretaker, the spirit mediums are ‘selected’ by the Gods. The Gods will ‘select’ the next spirit medium, and the medium will go to the temple by himself, in accordance to the wishes of the God.

Conclusion

Sheng Leng Temple has been in Singapore for quite some time, and on our field trip to the temple, we were lucky to have met the caretaker who was willing to share with us stories of the temple, and to witness a ritual being performed. This has been a fruitful assignment where we were able to gain more insights about the workings of the temple as well as its religious practices.

Appendix

楼梯 中 齐 感 协 观 大殿 致地 坛 天 天 天 音 元 大 大 大 娘 帅 圣 帝 帝 娘 五营神将

神台

香炉 神台 仪式桌 钟 仪式椅 填油箱

太 岁 灯

大门

Fig 1: Layout of Main Hall

仪式椅 地下殿 神台

大 二 楼梯至 爷 安息城隍爷 爷 楼梯至 大厅 伯 伯 院子

Fig 2: Layout of basement

楼梯 大厅 至地 院子 孤魂祠 下殿

显 龙 赫 宵 威 宝 玉皇大帝 后门 灵 殿 风 国 调 八仙 泰 雨 民 大二爷 四大天王 伯 炉 银

拿督公

化金炉

土 地 土 先锋黑 虎爷将 地 主 地 令将军 大门 军 婆 公 公

Fig 3: Layout of Courtyard