Past and Present Temple Visit Report Jayamangala Buddhist Vihara Tutor

SSA1208/ GES1005 Everyday Life of Chinese Singaporeans: Past and Present Temple Visit Report Jayamangala Buddhist Vihara Tutorial Group D8 App profile ID: 128 Jacinta Pang Sze Hui Yeo Jie Ling Yoong Jun Ming Introduction Our group has been assigned Jayamangala Buddhist Vihara (吉祥佛社) which is a Buddhist temple located at 23 Jalan Mas Puteh, Singapore 128628. This essay encompasses various aspects such as the temple’s history, layout, Gods, artefacts and rites celebrated. History of Jayamangala Buddhist Vihara Jayamangala Buddhist Vihara (吉祥佛社) was founded by the head monk, Ven Dr Vicitta and Melissa, a Buddhist devotee on 10 September 2009. Its name “Jayamangala” came from a Buddhist text called Jayamangala Gatha or 8 victories of the Gautama Buddha (释迦摩尼佛). Despite being a Burmese Buddhist temple, Melissa decided that a Chinese name was necessary. She came up with the name 吉祥佛社 as 吉祥 means Mangala as in “Jayamangala” and 佛社 means Buddhist society. She originally had plans to name the temple 吉祥佛寺 but it did not happen due to a mix-up during registration time. Prior to the setup of the temple, Ven Dr Vicitta came to Singapore for a field trip in 2002 after graduating from his degree in Sri Lanka. There were over 200,000 Burmese of Rakhinese ethnic in Singapore at that time and he saw the need to provide spiritual respite for his ethnic group. With the hope of continuing his missionary without visa restrictions, he decided to set up a temple in Singapore. After setting up his first temple here, he subsequently set up a sister temple in Yangon, Myanmar under the same name. Today, the Singapore temple houses 8 monks, including Ven Dr Vicitta. Being relatively new, the size of the temple is rather small and it occupies two units on the second level of a shop house at 23 Jalan Mas Puteh. Jayamangala Buddhist Vihara has been located at its current location since the beginning. The units have different lease terms where Unit 23A is renewed every 3 years and 25A renewed annually. Before the temple opened its doors to its devotees, Ven Dr Vicitta rented big event halls at places such as Arena Country Club to host seminars for his devotees. With regards to membership, the temple stopped keeping track after the number grew to over 100. Their active members contributes in several ways such as donating money for the temples’ maintenance and volunteering for their events. 1 Layout of Jayamangala Buddhist Vihara The temple occupies two units on the second level of a shop house and its address is 23A and 25A of Jalan Mas Puteh. Upon climbing the stairs, visitors are led into two areas. (Fig 1.1) The area on the right consists of 2 bedrooms and a living room. The bedrooms are the monks’ sleeping quarters and they use the space in the living room to have their meals. The area on the left consists of the temple’s main hall and a pantry (Fig 1.3). The hall has a spacious space for devotees to partake in mediation exercises or paying of respects. There are 4 Buddha statues of varying sizes in the centre of the hall - 2 large gold plated statues, 1 large copper statue, and 1 medium porcelain statue (Fig 1.6). In replacement of a censer or tables, the front of the statues is covered by green plants and a water fountain. According to Ven Dr Vicitta, the water fountain is used to help devotees relax their mind during meditation. To the right of the Buddha statue, a wooden chair is placed (Fig 1.7) and reserved for Ven Dr Vicitta. The chair symbolizes his status as the Head Monk. The main hall serves as a place for devotees to pay their respects to Buddha and also as a praying room where Dharma classes, prayers, meditation and concentration is conducted. At the most right corner of the room, there is a chart called Circle of Four Noble Truths (四圣谛) which represents the cycle of clinging and taking birth in one desire after another. With the chart positioned at a prominent corner of the room, the Head Monk uses the room to educate devotees on Buddhist teachings of letting go and freeing themselves from suffering. A bookshelf is also set up in the corner, filled with Buddhist scriptures and books which devotees are able to browse at their own leisure. There are numerous Buddhist flags (Fig 1.6) adorning the walls of the hall. These Buddhist flags have blue, yellow, red, white and orange horizontal stripes and a sixth stripe containing blue, yellow, red, white and orange vertical stripes. This flag originated from Sri Lanka and is a symbol of faith while representing the colours of the aura that emanated from the body of Buddha when he attained Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree. (The Origin and Meaning of the Buddhist Flag, n.d.) Gods Since the temple focuses on the teachings of Theravada Buddhism, they only worship Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. (Fig 2.1) Buddhists believe that Gautama Buddha was an 2 enlightened teacher who realised the right way of living. He was born as Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini, Nepal. Originally a prince, he left the palace as he wanted to end human suffering and rebirth. He picked up meditation and discovered the Noble Eightfold Path which is a well-known symbol in present day Buddhism. The Noble Eightfold Path consists of eight practices and followers will be able to attain Nirvana upon completing them. Nirvana represents the cessation of suffering and rebirth. Upon 49 days of meditation under the Bodhi Tree, Gautama achieved Enlightenment and obtained complete understanding of the Four Noble Truths (Fig 2.2), a conceptual framework for presenting and explaining Buddhist thoughts. After achieving Enlightenment, Gautama become known as the Buddha. He took in disciples and they travelled around India and Nepal to spread their teachings. Through the ongoing efforts of his followers, the teachings of Buddha were widely propagated and Buddhism became the fourth largest religion in the world. Regular activities The temple performs Theravada Buddhist practises such as Dana (generosity), Sila (precepts), Buddha-Dhamma (Buddha's teachings), Puja (chantings), Meditation and observing Buddhist events like Uposatha Day, Magha Puja Day (Fourfold Assembly or "Sangha Day"), Asalha Puja Day ("Dhamma Day"), Abhidhamma Day, Vesak Day （卫塞节）, Vasso (Rainy Retreat), Kathina (end of Rainy Retreat), and Upasampada (Ordination of monks). (Appendix 3) Many of the temple’s devotees are immigrants from Myanmar who have left their hometown to work in Singapore as the temple provides spiritual respite and sense of belonging outside their home. In addition, the temple offers advice and assistance to abused Burmese maids and workers. Further, it also provides family support for its devotees such as resolving marital and relationship problems. Keeping up to date with social media, Jayamangala Temple is proactive on updating its Facebook page. With a large following of more than 12,000, their Facebook page provides information and photos about the temple’s activities, and creates engaging content with Facebook live videos. (Jayamangala Buddhist Vihara, 2017) Being a small temple, it is rare to conduct larger scale rituals. During normal days, devotees come to the temple to read Buddhist scriptures and chants, and also pay respects to Buddha and the monks. They will get blessings from the monks, consult about life questions and make 3 donations（添油）(Fig 1.8) to the temple. They will also partake in meditation exercises before having their meals in the temple. To demonstrate, the head monk kindly taught us the meditation exercise. (Fig 3.4) We were asked to sit down with our palms open and we have to breathe in and out 8 times before we put one finger down. We will then repeat the breathing exercise till our hands are in a fist position. That is considered as one round. To keep track of the number of completed rounds, we can tap our elbows, shoulders, ears and head, each tap holding for 8 breaths. In total, there should be 5 completed rounds. The monk shared that the purpose of meditation was to let go of attachment, which is the root cause of human suffering. Celebrations Its annual calendar of events includes New Year special offering to the Sangha; New Year's Eve chanting; observances of the Water Festival (Thin Gyan) and Vesak Day; the Vassa (Rain Retreat) offering of Kathina robes; and the Kathina celebration. (Appendix 4) However, due to space and regulatory constraints, the temple mainly celebrates Burmese New Year and Vesak Day in Singapore, and Thin Gyan, Vassa and Kathina in Yangon. Burmese New Year is one of the temple’s major celebrations. Annually, the temple would organize a 'Respect The Elderly' event to welcome the new year, where the elderly will sit at the front of the meditation hall to receive red packets and goody bags. (Fig 3.1) The Burmese community residing here in Singapore will gather at the temple to chant, meditate, and celebrate together during the festive season. Devotees also come forth to receive blessings from the monks and Buddha and seek for a fresh start to begin the new year. During Vesak Day, the temple celebrates the birth of the Buddha. This is one of the most important festivals in the Buddhist calendar as it commemorates three significant events in Gautama Buddha's life – his birthday, his enlightenment and his passing. According to the legend about his birth, baby Buddha who had a white canopy held over his head began to walk seven steps forward and at each step, a lotus flower appeared.

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