Article Courtesy by Mr Victor

Hi folks,

It was something out of the blue literary. I got word from Matt that he will be town. I was on leave and I thought, hey, why not do a quick temple tour. And Jave came in with just the right offer, visit Koo Chye Ba Sheng Hong Temple and San Qing Gong. It would not be just a visit and pai-pai (praying) but a study visit. Given the constraints of time and space (in my little iron horse carriage), we had to limit the group to just the few of us, Aaron, CW, Matt and Gilles (on his own trusty iron horse, always fighting against the threatening rain).


From Left: Jave, Master Zheng, CW, Gilles, Victor, Matt (Photo taken by Aaron)

At 11am, spanning from different parts of Singapore, we gathered at Koo Chye Ba Sheng Hong Temple at Arumugam Rd. Jave was there to meet us and with the rest of us, we were introduced to various members of Sheng Hong Temple. Taoist Master Zheng was also there to welcome us. With many of us bursting with all kinds of questions about Tao, questions after questions were plied to Master Zheng. Of course, it was an informal and friendly discussions and not a serious forum. CW was later commenting to me that he has learnt alot within one day! With Jave and CW as our unofficial interpreter, it was a very fruitful morning chatting, drinking wonderful Chinese Tea, thanks to the friendly Auntie who also ensures that we got plenty of reading materials! And if you think that this is just the hospitality, no, we were invited to lunch, simple homecooked fare that sure beats much of what we ate at home! Ah, to the auntie who was doing the cooking, the two AngMos were no strangers to her. She has an angmo son-in-law! Our discussions continued over lunch, with the dishes being continued added on by the Aunties. We even got to enjoyed the homecooked Yam-Cake (Ohr-kueh), wow, the best I have tasted in decades. Wah, I envy the people in Sheng Hong Temple.


From Left: Master Zheng, CW (Photo taken by Victor)

We got Master Zheng to demonstrate some of the finger formation. It sure was finger twisting feat which we were not able to achieve. So, we decided to start with the basics, how one should fold the fingers and hand in our gesture of prayer/respect to the Deities and to Taoist Priests. Simple but certainly not known by many who visit temples, there are simple procedures such as using the left hand (considered as the "most important") to hold the joss-sticks. And in placing the three joss-sticks onto the joss-urn, one should put in the middle, then right (as one sees it) and then left, about one inch apart. Ah, Matt knows this very well! I think we can get him to write for us some Taoist Practice 101.

We had coffee - ah, to me, this is real kampung kopi-o - as we sat and talked. But time was moving fast and we should be on our way to San Qing Gong at Bedok North Ave 4.



We were greeted by Master Kang and Wei Yi was also there to join us. We were standing in the main hall listening to Master Kang as he explained to us the San Qing - The Three Pristine Ones, namely Yu Qing (Primeval Lord of Heaven), Shang Qing (Heavenly Lord of the Numinous Treasure) and Tai Qing (Heavenly Lord of Dao and its Virtue). Questions were asked on the representation of the things that the San Qing were holding, like the pearl, the ru-yi and the fan. We adjourned to the Conference Room where we warmed up again and this time, it was a long and exciting series of questions and ideas being put forth by us, the visitors and Master Kang, the host. To understand the development of Taoism, one has to understand the history of China. It was interesting to hear the discussions on the golden era of China and how Taoism contributed to the golden era. I did not know that at one time, all Chinese were decreed to have a copy of Dao De Jing and to know/understand the contents of Dao De Jing. Wah, I must go and study the 5000 years of Chinese History to be able to appreciate the development of Taoism better.

History in China has seen some big upheavals. And there were occasions when great Taoist scriptures were burnt. We even discussed on the impact of the cultural revolution on Taoism. But we know that the Chinese people have been resilient and the great scriptures of Taoism continued to be studied and followed today. We were also curious about the Taoist Canon, of which only a small part was translated to English. Someone was interested in mantras. There were questions pertaining to the ZhengYi and QuanZhen sects of the Taoist "Tree". We were inspired to try to work out a tree diagram to show the development of Taoism through the various groups, and hence the formation of different schools/sects over the centuries.

We agreed that knowledge about Taoism, getting a better understanding of the development over the years, should be made more readily available to the public. Even workshops/talks on the history and development of Taoism would be of interests to many. And there are also many Tao-related activities such as Chinese tea appreciation, Wushu - such as Taiji and QiGong, even food, traditional medicine, much of which have been deeply influenced by Taoism.

I sense that there is a growing need and demand for more information and knowledge by many, especially the young (and the not so young) about their heritage (even by angmos who want to know more about Tao) on one hand, and the realisation of the need to reach out to these people by the Taoist scholars and priests. That time is anytime now.

I will leave it to the other members of the study team to add in as the discussions were sometimes running very deep and some of them may be more articulate in sharing such information.

Thought that this is an exciting development that I should share. And certainly kudos to Jave who helped made this possible and of course, to Wei Yi, Master Zheng and Master Kang who took time and patience to share with us their knowledge and entertain our many curious and direct questions.


From Left: Jave, Weiyi, Victor, Gilles, Master Kang, Matt, CW, Aaron (Photo taken by an Assistant)