As with my mother-in-law's tradition, temple visits are a necessity.
“城隍庙” at Paya Lebar...
This is the God of Fortune. Unlike the usual God of Fortune which we see, this is the fiercest one I've ever seen. He doesn't look smiley and approachable... All humans (regardless of race, religion, colour) pray for wealth. Most Chinese specifically pray to Gods of Fortune for "side wealth" or "横财” a.k.a. big / huge wins from Toto, 4D, Big Sweep.... so that they could quit their jobs the next day and "throw money at their bosses"...
Other than the God of Fortune, other objects will supposedly bring luck and little fortune too... like the abacus or “算盘”. All you have to do is roll your hands back and forth the beads. This temple's abacus is also one of the biggest I've seen so far. The size of each bead is that of a block of cheese the English chase down the hill every year....
Temples in Singapore are well maintained. I suppose the management of the temple (yes... they have management and board of directors too....) puts donation money collected from donation boxes around the temples to upkeep the look and keeping the temple away from the old notion of old, dusty, musky, dark (blackened with soot from the incense and candles) and creepy image, to appeal to the younger generation?
Most temples have intricate work done on them. The table tops where offerings are laid, the urns for the incense, the beams and pillars, even the statutes of various gods, saints etc etc... However, human by nature have itcy hands...They'll touch here, feel that, dig here, poke there, and worse, some stuff cigarette butts or rubbish into the crevices within the carvings... hence, causing the dragon to be locked within grills - as shown above...
Apart from statutes of gods, there are also guardian animals abound the temple grounds. Most of the time, you can find dragons, lions and the gold kirins... They ward off evil spirits and keep the temple "clean"....
But, if you see a tiger with chunks of meat stuffed in its mouth, you are not supposed to kneel down to it... apparently, it represents evil people who does you harm or “小人”... just put your joss sticks in the urn any way other than kneeling (i.e. squatting, standing, bending, etc etc... )
"天福宫” at Tanjong Pagar....
This temple was closed down for renovations for a few years. It was recently reopened and is one of the few temples housed within Singapore's financial district.
The Thien Hock Keng is a “妈祖” temple. Long long ago in ancient China lives a family of fishermen. One day, her father and brother had gone out to sea to catch fish. The “海龙王”(similar to King Tritan / Neptune) was in a fowl mood and had stirred up the sea. The sea turned rough resulting in fishing boats capsizing. 妈祖 sacrificed herself to the sea in exchange for calm waters and smooth wind (hence 风调雨顺）to bring her beloved father and brothers back home. Since then, 妈祖 is the protector of all sea farers. Nowadays,y as "cruise" is not as popular as flying, 妈祖's job scope has been expanded to include "flyers" as well...
It is impolite to visit other people empty handed. This applies to visiting Gods too. However, at the temples we don't say they are gifts. They are called offerings. Offerings includes the usual joss sticks / incense and candles, peach buns, fruits, roast duck / chicken / pig, noodles or mee suah. Affluent people who wish to show that they are super sincere will even offer gems, gold, thousands and thousands of $$$ as donations... Food offered can be taken back by the offeror because the Gods have taken them spiritually and have the physical food blessed for human consumption. The gems, gold, $$$ will stay....
One of the demons who causes the stir-up, and 妈祖 delegating her task to "sea angels", bringing sea farers to and fro safely.
大伯公 or Tua Pek Gong temple at Amoy Street...
This small temple is famous amongst punters. Apparently, any 4 numbers that was shown within the temple grounds will be drawn... i.e. 4D punters buying the 4 numbers with numerous iterations have a high chance of recovering lost bets from Singapore Pools.... According to my in-laws, any new numbers that were given will soon be bought out (i.e. you cannot place bets on that number any more...). But of course, you can always buy them with "other sources"....
The number shown for that day was 0508... True enough, it did materialise... it was in the Starters category, better than consolation... every dollar bought would have "earned" you more than a hundred bucks... easy money right?
However, be cautiouned... In my opinion, going to temple to pray for extra / excessive wealth is greed. And that there's no such thing as a free lunch - even in the spiritual world. Should you win based on the numbers given, you are obligated to "return the favour"... i.e. return to the temple and give something (usually $$) back.... or whatever you have promised the god in return for the wealth.
So was I one of them (who placed bets on the number and won some extra $$$)? - No... (so no treats from me... haha...)
And the latest, newest, most expensive one of all "佛牙寺” or Buddha Tooth Relic Temple at Chinatown...
The Buddha on the left is the Maitreya Buddha a.k.a. the future / coming Buddha. Legend has it that come the end of the world, He will come and save us.... This is not the usual version of Maitreya Buddha that we've come across. The more common image of the future Buddha is that of the Laughing Buddha or “笑佛”, who has a very jovial character, always having a hearty laugh, big pot belly and carries a gunny sack. The Laughing Buddha is also the most "molested" devine being of all. Why? Because people believe that if you touch his big ear lobes, you'll have longetivity, if you touch his laughing mouth, you'll be happy forever, if you touch his pot belly, you'll be blessed with fortune and never be hungry and last but not least, the gunny sack, so that you can bring wealth back!
This temple's theme is based on the Tang Dynasty. Hence, all figurines, architecture are highly influenced by the culture back then.
The God next to the Maitreya Buddha is none other than Guan Yin. However, this Guan Yin is again, different from what we usually see. This Guan Yin is no "娘娘". It is not the female form of Guan Yin. The Tang Dynasty's Guan Yin is a male. And when the touch up to the statute are done, the final stroke will be two moustaches on the compassionate Guan Yin's face.
Believe it or not, these two statutes are carved from one huge block of "balak" or timber (a special kind of hard wood that was preserved through soaking in river water - as I was told... sorry, forgot the name of the timber...)
Big statutes must be accompanied by big accessories right? The "wooded fish" and the alms bowl...
If you are not happy to share, you can "adopt" one too. They come in various sizes and pose (diferent pose, different meaning / blessing...). But mind you, adopting one is a very expensive affair. It is not normally done by ordinary people because it goes into the thousands!!!
The Maitreya Buddha will be flanked by 10,000 other Buddhas as well as 100 dragons on the walls.
And this bling bling - the Golden Stupa (and I mean GOLDen) will house Buddha's tooth. A total of 420kg of gold was melted and moulded into this stupa. Where did the 420kg of gold come from? Well, from kind donors of course. It signifies the utmost respect given by the donors to the Buddha and such action brings forth good merit and karma. Even some of the floorings within the chamber are made of gold. However, only the Sanghas are allowed to enter the chamber. All unauthorised persons are to stay in the viewing gallery. We were told that the tooth relic will only be open for viewing twice a year. Once during Chinese New Year and the other during Vesak Day.
The chamber will progressively be filled with other paintings of Enlightened Ones.
The whole temple had required up to SGD$43million to date to complete. For more information on Singapore's newest addition, please visit http://www.btrts.org.sg/Eng_Index.html
Of course, these are not the only temples that we've been to, but the ones that we've been able to capture on Esmond's camera.
Temples nowadays are no longer what it used to be. Most of them are so commercialised now, that they are running like a business empire. They "prey" on human's nature - greed. Some unorthodox will have their members going to the extent of "selling" their services, pushing for adoption of some of the artefacts / figurines etc, "threatening" that unless such and such is done you will not have an easy going life, "enticing" you with "you will be blessed with good fortune etc etc" if you do such and such / make contribution etc etc....
Whatever happened to contentment? Shouldn't it be whatever is yours will be yours? And in Buddhist terms, its your karma. If you are having it bad now, it must be because you've done worst in your previous lives, your family members had done wrong by others and the "retribution" / effect falls on you, or you are just reaping what you sow...
Call me outdated, call me old fashion... but I do not agree with the modern ways some Buddhist temples are run... I still prefer the shabby little temple where people turn to for some spiritual support. At least, it felt more sincere back then.
P/S: Whatever it is, I sincerely hope that all funds donated are put to good use, are monitored and audited independently and accounted for and does not fall into the wrong hands. We do not want a repeat of the NKF saga again - only this time on a much bigger scale....
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