SSA1208 / GES1005 – Everyday Life of Chinese Singaporeans: Past and Present

Group Essay Ho Lim Keng Temple

Prepared By: Tutorial [D5] Chew Si Hui (A0130382R) Kwek Yee Ying (A0130679Y) Lye Pei Xuan (A0146673X) Soh Rolynn (A0130650W)

Submission Date: 31th March 2017

1 Content Page

1. Introduction to Ho Lim Keng Temple 3 2. Exterior & Courtyard 3 3. Second Level 3 4. Interior & Main Hall 4 5. Main Gods 4 6. Secondary Gods 5 7. Our Views 6 8. Experiences Encountered during our Temple Visit 7 9. References 8 10. Appendix 8

2 1. Introduction to Ho Lim Keng Temple

Ho Lim Keng Temple is a Taoist temple and is managed by common surname association, Xu (许) Clan. Chinese clan associations are benevolent organizations of popular origin found among overseas Chinese communities for individuals with the same surname. This social practice arose several centuries ago in China. As its old location was acquisited by the government for redevelopment plans, they had moved to a new location on Outram Hill. Under the leadership of 许木泰宗长 and other leaders, along with the clan's enthusiastic response, the clan managed to raise a total of more than $124,000, and attained their fundraising goal for the reconstruction of the temple. Reconstruction works commenced in 1973 and was completed in 1975. Ho Lim Keng Temple was advocated by the Xu Clan in 1961, with a board of directors to manage internal affairs. In 1966, Ho Lim Keng Temple applied to the Registrar of Societies and was approved on February 28, 1967 and then was published in the Government Gazette on March 3. A layout of the temple can be found in the Fig.1.1 to Fig.1.3 of the Appendix.

2. Exterior & Courtyard

Walking pass the main gate into the temple, the spacious courtyard gives visitors a panoramic view of the entire temple (Fig.1.4). The courtyard is enclosed by fences and surrounded by vegetation, isolating the courtyard from the outside world. A few steps away from the main gate, there is the tablet with the words “金玉满堂” (Fig.1.6) engraved on it , which refers to abundance of wealth and knowledge. Nearby, the White Tiger Deity (Fig. 1.7) sits under a cemented shelter painted red. The White Tiger Deity, also known as 虎爷 usually awaken in Spring, and opens its mouth to yearn for food. The Chinese, particularly the Taoists, who worship the White Tiger deity believe that if it is well-fed, it will protect them against all odds. Offerings can be made on the 2nd and 16th day of each lunar month during the White Tiger Festival. Besides joss-sticks, candles and incense papers, food offerings such as raw meat and uncooked chicken or duck eggs are laid out before the deity. Lard as well is used to wipe the Tiger deity’s mouth to appease it. Usually, the Tiger deity is worshipped by those who hopes to seek protection from accidents, mishaps or to fend off bad luck.

3. Second Level

On the second level of the temple (Fig.1.8), it houses the tablets of the deceased members of the Xu Clan. The arrangement of the tablets is categorized as central, left and right sections. Specific placements of the ancestral tablets (Fig.1.9) of Xu Clan members depends on the amount of donations made by their family members. For the central section, it is further classified into three vertical

3 columns. To be in the middle column, a donation of S$1,500 must be made for each tablet, and for other two columns at the side, a donation of S$1,000 must be made. The remaining sections will only require a donation of $500.

4. Interior & Main Hall

The entrance of the Ho Lim Keng temple is adorned with two poetic couplets as seen in (Fig.1.5). The couplet on the right side of the entrance reads “存心正直入门不拜无妨”, which means as long as you are fair and upright, it does not matter whether you make any offerings to the deities. On the left, it reads “作事奸雄到庙烧香何益” implying that if you are a deceitful and treacherous person, there is little or no use worshipping the gods as they may not answer to your prayers.

Upon setting foot in the temple, one can see an array of revered artefacts of different gods. The main gods are placed in middle of the table while the secondary gods sit on its both sides. Decorations in the Ho Lim Keng Temple is simple and traditional with a splash of exquisite details on the table frame and roof. Red colour, which suggests happiness and prosperity was used generously on doors and the interior. Intricately embroidered red silk fabrics flank the alter table, and offerings such as fresh fruits, peanut-oil lamps and peacock feathers are arranged neatly before the gods. There is a total of four incense burners, with three placed inside the temple while the biggest-sized one is placed outside, right in front of the entrance. Cushions are positioned in front of the offering table, before each main god, for people to prostrate themselves on when they say their prayers to the god.

There is an inscribed notice board on the right side of the interior of the hall, which has recordings of all the names of the donors and their respective donation amounts. Starting with the left column, the donations are arranged in descending amount, from the highest donation record of S$20,000 to the lowest record of S$30. The amount of fund used to build the temple was S$97,040 and the total funds raise accumulated to S$124,288.38.

5. Main Gods

There are three main gods (主神) in the Ho Lim Keng Temple, namely Xu Xun Gong Zhen Jun (许逊 公真君), Xu Zhao Ying Hou Gong (许昭应侯公) and San Wang Ye Gong (三王爷公).

The first main god Xu Xun Gong Zhen Ren (许逊公真君), was a famous taoist priest born in Nan Chang, China, of the Eastern Jin dynasty (AD 265-420). He was also the founder of Ming Clan taoism. People celebrate his birthday annually on every 14th October to 16th October (农历) of the

4 Lunar Calendar. Recorded in history scripts, Xu started practicing Taoism due to a deer hunting incident he experienced during his early teenage years. Enlightened by what he saw, Xu discarded his bow and swore not to hunt again. He picked up Taoism and observed its values. At middle age, he was favoured by many generations of the imperial dynasty as well as commoners who respected him. He advocated filial piety, eliminated corruption, greed and also implemented of a number of measures which benefited his country.

The second main god, Wu Xiao Kuan, more commonly known as San Wang Ye (三王爷公) was a prominent figure in the Sui-Tang dynasty. His birthday falls on the thirteenth of August. Born in JiangSu province of China, Wu was an avid practitioner of geomantic feng shui and astrology. Hence, during early days of the rise of Tang Dynasty, he helped the imperial court to build its government. As a governor, he loved his people as if they were his own children, imparting to them agriculture techniques and basic survival knowledge selflessly. On a lighter note, Wu was also known as the only Wang Ye, out of five, who did not grow a beard.

Last but not least, we have the third main god, Xu Zhao Ying Hou Gong (许昭应侯公), whose birthday lands on the seventh day of January. Xu Tian Zheng (AD 649-718) was his birth name. Since young, Xu was talented and proficient in economics and war intelligence. As a deputy general, who was also the right hand man of the head general, he founded numerous schools, accepted hooligans and developed agriculture business. He was then honoured with the title of “Zhao Ying Hou” due to his significant contributions to the country and eventually took up the post of provincial governor after the head general’s death.

6. Secondary Gods

There are five secondary gods in the Ho Lim Keng Temple, namely 城隍爷 (Cheng Huang Ye), 济公

(Ji Gong), 牛头马面 (Niu Tou Ma Mian), 五營神將 (Wu Ying Shen) and 地主财 (Di Zhu Cai), as seen in Fig 3.0 and Fig 3.1.

The City of God is a tutelary deity who protects people, its cities and towns. He can provide divine protection within the boundaries of the city. During imperial times, it was widely believed that these patron gods are deified deceased officials. Secondly, we have Ji Gong, a real historical figure who was aware of the pain and sufferings of the people. Therefore, his virtue was widely praised by individuals and won the hearts of the people eventually. He was also known as the Living Buddha, with him being a profoundly knowledgeable man well known for his good deeds.

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As for Niu Tou Ma Mian, also known as the Ox-Head and Horse-Face, they are the two guardians of the Underworld. As indicated by their names, both have the bodies of men, but with the heads of animals, Ox and Horse respectively. Their main duty is to escort the newly dead to the Underworld. Wu Ying Shen Jiang refers Camps of the Five Armies of Spirit Soldiers and according to Taoism and folk beliefs, these five camps serve as protection for the temple as well as its important deities. They are mainly known as the five god army to ward off demons. Besides that, it is interesting to note that they are mostly arranged in colours and each colour represents a different camp which thus, protects different god.

Lastly, we have Di Zhu Cai, known as the God of Wealth who is to be placed on the ground. On the surface, it may seem very disrespectful to place the God on the ground but in reality, it is because the underground is the base of the God of Wealth. The God of Wealth can be typically seen in temples, households as well as buildings of business enterprises, all for the purpose of attracting and generating more wealth.

7. Our Views

During our site visit to the temple, the uncle who showed us around shared some of his views about the significance of temple in the lives of Singaporeans today. At first, he was quite doubtful about the fact that we are doing site visit in this temple because as compared to other temples, Ho Lim Keng Temple was not as beautifully designed and as significant as compared to other famous temples like the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. After explaining to him that this was for our school project, the uncle was more willing to bring us around and by the end of the visit, he started sharing his concerns with us as well.

As the Ho Lim Keng Temple is located at a rather inconvenient location, the number of people visiting this temple has been gradually decreasing over the years. Worshippers mainly consist of elderlies or the older generation. He was concerned this temple will be gradually forgotten and together with rapid urban development in the surrounding area, it might be facing the threat of demolition as well. Furthermore, the temple may be forced to merge with others due to limited funding and space. However, despite his worries, he mentioned that changes are inevitable and if there comes a time when his fear and worries come true, he will face them optimistically.

After hearing his thoughts, we can sympathize with his predicament. We think that it is true that the younger generation today are heading towards the ‘atheist’ and ‘freethinker’ mindsets. We believe

6 that most children were first introduced to religions by their parents when they bring them along to places such as churches or temples. Religious concepts and beliefs are not yet established and children pray to gods without understanding why. Gradually as they grow up, they are unable to relate to the rituals and practices they perform in these religious places.

Also, the younger generation nowadays are more open-minded and are persistent in their own view and opinions. People now rely on logical thinking and practicality instead of institution and customs. Some feel that gods are unnecessary when it comes to decision-making as logical thinking and scientific analysis would better guide in their life.

8. Experiences Encountered during our Temple Visit

Fortunately, the staff at the Ho Lim Keng temple as well as the clan organization were very helpful in assisting us with the information we needed. The clan organization even offered to lend us the temple’s official book for education purposes, which was indeed of great use to our research. We would like to express our gratitude to the uncle and the clan for their kind assistance and time during our visit and with our research.

At the time of our visit, there was only one uncle managing the place and no other worshippers were seen in the temple. It was probably due to it being a weekday and noon timing. Uncle was amiable and very friendly, offering us drinks, and allowed us to roam around the temple for pictures. However, the uncle could only speak Hokkien, hence a few of us had difficulties in communication and only understood bits and parts of his story. Luckily, one of us was fluent and Hokkien and the uncle provided as much assistance to us as possible. Halfway through the visit, after we have noted down all the details of level one, we stumbled upon a staircase that leads up to the second level. Uncle was kind enough to enable our access to the second level which consisted of the ancestral tablets. He even asked in a concerned manner if we were afraid and needed accompaniment to study the second level. Hence, we took extra precautions and kept our noise level low while looking around.

7 9. References

Chiew, M. (2010, March 4). Power of the White Tiger. The Star Online. Retrieved from

http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/features/2010/03/04/power-of-the-white-tiger/

Singapore Khoh Clan Association. (2013). 60th Anniversary Commemorative Special. Singapore Khoh Clan Association.

10. Appendix

10.1. Stories of the Main God: Xu Zhen’s Magical Birth

One day, Xu Xun’s mother dreamt that a Golden Phoenix was flying towards her with a pearl in its mouth. A string of strange and queer events occurred after that. Still deep in her sleep, Xu’s mother saw that the Phoenix threw the pearl into her arms and flew away. After waking up, she played with the pearl out of curiosity, and swallowed it accidentally as she was too engrossed. She then called upon a doctor due to concern over her health, but was instead greeted with great news of her sudden pregnancy. Xu’s parents was extremely delighted as they have been hoping for a child for a long time. However, as days passed by, things became odd. This child, unlike normal babies, was not born even after 10 months of pregnancy. On the eighteenth month, Xu’s worried parents consulted a fortune teller about the situation. The fortune teller assured them that this baby, when grown up, will definitely become someone who is very significant to the world, which is either a king or a god. Just when both of the parents were still confused, a cry was heard, and Xu was born. The fortune teller’s prediction came true when Xu became a prominent Taoist figure during his living days and was worshipped as a god by the future generations.

10.2. Stories of the Main God: Xu’s Ascend to the Heaven It is rather controversial regarding the ascendent of Xu Xun into the heavens. There are mainly three myths being commonly spread amongst people, however, no one can be sure which is the rightful version of the story. First, Xu brought along his family, relatives and disciples with him to the heaven during the ascendent.. Secondly, his extended family of 42 members, together with his douse ascended to the heavens, and only the carriage and blankets fell through the clouds, back onto Earth. Thirdly, his extended family of 42 members, with his domestic livestock ascended to the heavens all at once.

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Fig.1.1. Floor Plan of Ho Lim Keng Temple

Fig.1.2. First Floor of Ho Lim Keng Temple

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Fig.1.3. Second Floor of Ho Lim Keng Temple

Fig.1.4. View of Temple

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Fig.1.5. Entrance of the temple

Fig.1.6. Tablet for Prosperity and Wealth

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Fig.1.7. White Tiger Deity

Fig.1.8. Overview of Second Level

Fig.1.9. Categorization of Ancestral Tablets

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Fig 2.0. Overview of the interior of the hall

Fig 2.1. Three main gods of Ho Lim Keng Temple

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Fig 2.2. Xu Xun Gong Zhen Jun

Fig 2.3. San Wang Ye Gong

Fig 2.4. Xu Zhao Ying Hou Gong

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Fig.2.5. Secondary Gods (Left Side)

Fig.2.6. Secondary Gods (Right Side)

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