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Mediums and Media in Singapore's Popular MESSENGERS OF RELIGION: MEDIUMS AND MEDIA IN SINGAPORE’S POPULAR RELIGIOUS PRACTICES LIM ENG HUI ALVIN (MA, NUS) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE AND DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH KING’S COLLEGE LONDON 2015 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my original work and it has been written by me in its entirety. I have duly acknowledged all the sources of information which have been used in the thesis. This thesis has also not been submitted for any degree in any university previously. _________________ Lim Eng Hui Alvin 12 December 2014 LIM ii Acknowledgements I am grateful to Associate Professor John W. Phillips, my supervisor, for years of guidance and wisdom. His words encouraged me to pursue this project. His patience gave me the courage to write this thesis. I was challenged, I struggled and I waited for inspiration. Professor Phillips waited with me. Dr. Kélina Gotman, for shaping me as a writer, as she pushed me to refine and revisit my thesis. More than that, she also gave me a vision to pursue and became an inspiration to aspire to, that is, to be as committed and clear in my writing as she is. Though it was only a year, I have learned a great deal from her. Uncle Cheong, for his gracious sharing and letting me into his community and religious life. He explained and took time to talk to me for hours. Without his generosity, this project would not have been possible. Gospel Light Christian Church, and everyone who was involved in the Christmas production, for inviting me to work with you and welcoming me. Everyone from the Theatre Studies Programme and the Department of English Language and Literature, where I received a valuable university education and made lasting friendships. All my friends and family. My parents who constantly nagged that I could not stop studying. I have at last finished my thesis but the studying will continue. My long-suffering and beloved wife, who is also my reader, my editor, my comforter, my inspiration, my joy, and the reason why I can finish this project. Lastly, I thank God for helping me get through many nights of solitary writing. Without them, this thesis would have been a much poorer thing. LIM iii Table of Contents Chapter 1 Religious Messengers 1 Chapter 2 Medium’s Medium 45 Chapter 3 Corporeal Gods 81 Chapter 4 Cybernetic Deities 128 Chapter 5 Digital Spirits 181 Chapter 6 Christian Interfaces 231 Chapter 7 #ECCESS 296 Bibliography 310 LIM iv Summary My research follows the work of a spirit medium’s assistant. Our conversations led me to understand his relationship to a spirit medium of the Monkey God. He became an important reference point—as a medium where other mediums and media converge. His use of social media to share his experiences online, his vast personal knowledge of Taoism, his memories of religious experiences, and his techniques and habits when practicing his religion provide compelling insights into how embodied practices can be studied alongside virtual practices. Our interactions began to form the spine of the thesis and we now share a space where his particular religious experience of popular Taoism in Singapore is reconstituted in my writing. Chains of signification, performativities, translations, interpretations and diversions emerged out of our different positions and they led me to consider the importance of mediumship and positionality. At the heart of religious practices are mediums. The formation, adoption, adaptation and/or destruction of mediums make a spiritual exchange possible. An exchange between gods and their mediums, worshippers, believers and religious objects may involve only a gesture but it is also informed by various perceptions of reality. This thesis aims to explore the ways in which mediums induce changes in perception and thus re-define how religious knowledge and efficacy are produced and proliferated. More importantly, a myriad of religious mediums are constantly co-performing, co-relating and changing roles, forms, agendas and perspectives. I propose to examine mediums as traces that are not confined to a human and non-human binary. Instead, they are entangled and these converged traces are capable of bringing about an affective experience of spirituality. The Nine Emperor Gods festival in Singapore is used as a case study to illustrate the above process, where a convergence of traditional practices and new media technology takes LIM v place. Computer technology echoes the ancient knowledge of Taoist codes and trigrams. When combined, they preserve a newer expression of popular Taoism. Traditional practices adapt and change over time and place when technologies and techniques interplay. However, play can also be a destructive force when excessively pursued. The case of Ku Witaya, a spirit medium who thought he could take his life and be reborn as a digital spirit, disrupts the narrative. At odds with a thesis of creativity and productiveness (that the examples of popular Taoist practices suggest), is the extreme case of performance leading to a destructive end. Ku Witaya took his life along with his best friend, Sia Chan Hong. Perhaps there is more to the concept of medium than the creative play that individuals introduce to religious practices. In the last case study of Protestant performances, an assemblage of mediums and media, and the technological and spiritual, form what I call an interface of mediums. A popular religion’s interface has the capacity to fuse forms and showcase faces—because God has no face, his messengers’ faces come to the fore. As the messengers travel and carry the gods’ messages, what this message will become remains a critical question. [500 words] LIM vi Figures and Table 1. Uncle Cheong’s family altar, with seven invited gods. From left to right: Zhun Ti Fo Zu (准提佛祖), Lian Hua San Tai Zi (莲花三太子), Da Bo Gong (大伯公), Goddess Of Mercy (观音佛祖), Monkey God (齐天大圣), Guan Di Sheng Jun (关帝圣君/关帝 爷文) Guan Gong (关帝爷武). 2. Screenshot of a YouTube video, posted by “isetan78” that shows a man who was unsuspectingly possessed by the temple’s patron god and begins to convey messages to the people around him. 3. Screenshot of Huaguoshangong.blogspot.com, a blog Uncle Cheong maintains to document his temple’s events and festivals. 4. Uncle Cheong’s Godfather with his crown of colours. 5. Temple Signage, “花菓山宫” (Huaguoshangong). 6. Uncle Cheong takes a picture of the burning ashes of joss paper. 7. A juxtaposition of Kavali carrier, Thaipusam and Mr Wu, Sun Wukong Birthday Celebration. 8. The spirit medium’s table. 9. A hanging photograph of Wu Dadi in his temple. 10. Mr Wu, moments before his possession as he poses his stance of the Monkey God, 2013. 11. A possessed Mr Wu, and the ‘V’ hand sign; Screenshot of YouTube video uploaded by Uncle Cheong. 12. The main temple altar with the figures of gods; the central figure is the Monkey God. 13. Main icon of Xuanzang, the Monkey God’s master, along with the demi-gods from hell. 14. Footpath of Priest through the temple. LIM vii 15. Numerical Representation of the Nine Emperor Gods in relation to the Eight Trigrams. 16. Luo Shu. The black dots represent even numbers and the white dots represent odd numbers. This order of dots would later become the order for the Eight Trigrams. 17. He Shu. An ancient binary system that determines the basic breakdown of all attributes of Heaven and Earth. 18. The nine spirit mediums gather at the central position and form a circle; they bow before the altar of the Jade Emperor. Others, such as the boy next to the Jade Emperor, whip out their cameras to document the event. 19. The nine spirit mediums gather back outside of the inner temple and pose for a group shot. 20. This in turn draws the attention of two different groups: first the worshippers who pray to the gods and second the photographers. 21. The exorcism rite. 22. Praying devotees act also as archivists of their religious activities. 23. Documented image of one of the nine spirit mediums. 24. Photographer takes picture of Flag-bearer. 25. Talisman to paste on the front door of a house as protection. 26. Talisman to drink for personal blessing. 27. Paper boat with paper wishes from devotees. 28. Illustration of the Nine Stars (北斗九星) 29. Footpath of the gods through the temple. 30. Leibniz’s binary table to explain the Figure of the Eight Cova. 31. Paper ashes of joss paper. 32. Scattered joss paper. 33. Rite to send the gods off. LIM viii 34. Final rite before the gods leave the mediums’ bodies. 35. One of the spirit mediums drinks a cup of water after the possession. 36. Screenshot of Choa Chu Kang Dou Mu Gong Facebook page. 37. Screenshot of a search on ‘choa chu kang dou mu gong 2013’. 38. Screenshot of a search on ‘dou mu gong’ on the Twitter platform. 39. Screenshot of “StevenDavid Foto,” a Facebook photo album of a Facebook ‘Page’ consisting of photographs taken by Steven David Foto during one of the Nine Emperor Gods’ processions on October 18, 2012. 40. Singapore’s one-dollar coin has the shape of a hexagon or Eight Trigrams. 41. Believers bow and pray as the possessed spirit medium blesses them with the performative act of waving the flag. 42. Screenshot of a YouTube video that shows a female spirit medium during a spirit possession. 43. Captured imaged of the Chan Hong’s diary, from the article covering the suicides, on the Lianhe Wanbao, published on August 24, 2008, the day the diary was found.
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