Name CHUA ZHI QING, EBELL KWAN SHU HUA, JOEY PEARLYN POON MAN LIN SIH CHEE SENG

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Temple YIN ZHEN DIAN GONG MIAO

Submission Date 03 Nov 17

Temple Visit Report: Yin Zhen Dian Gong Miao (阴阵殿公庙)

1. Introduction

1.1 Overview of Yin Zhen Dian Temple Association Yin Zhen Dian Temple is a Hokkien temple that was founded and established in 1980 by 朱金昌师

傅, Master Choo Kim Cheong. Master Choo was chosen by 齐天大圣 (Qi Tian Da Sheng) to be his spirit medium which prompted him to set up the 救世 or known in english as “sintua” in 1980. It is through this spiritual connection that Master Choo had that he found his purpose in life and his conviction to guide the masses towards salvation in the name of the deity whom which he is serving. Since then, Master Choo has continued to help 大二爷伯 (the 2 Gods of Wealth from Hell) with some of its work. In the year 1994, Master Choo developed yet another affinity with 周包贝爷 Bao Bei Ye and has since served as Bao Bei Ye’s primary spirit medium.

1.2 Temple Location

Figure 1. Address of Yin Zhen Dian Temple Association

Every year, the Yin Zhen Dian temple prepares for the rituals and processions that take place during festivals significant to the local Chinese population. Much of their temple processions still take place in Bukit Merah, the original location of the temple. The Yin Zhen Dian temple was originally housed in a humble one-storey HDB unit at Blk 122 Bukit Merah Lane 1. However the decision of the government to enbloc the HDB building has resulted in the relocation of the temple. Throughout the years, the temple has had to shift venues a few times to other locations such as Kim Poh Road, Kim Tian Road, and Bukit Purmei before finally moving to its current location at 21 Lorong 34 Geylang in 2007. The temple keepers decided on the current location in Geylang due to its cheap rent, significantly reducing their financial expenses, and more importantly, the attractiveness of it as a freehold land. However there exists a trade-off in that the physical space of the temple for temple activities and storage of donated items is limited. This hence also accounts for why many of the temple activities are held at Bukit Merah, and not the physical site of the temple.

1.3 Temple Features

Fig 1-5: (Clockwise from top-left) Incense Paper Burner; Incense Urn; Eight Trigrams;

Dragon carvings on pillar at the main entrance; Various Gods on Temple Altar

Unlike the traditionally larger temples in Singapore like the Thien Hock Keng, the Yin Zhen Dian Temple consists of only one main gate. This is mainly due to the land constraints that the temple faces. From the outside of the temple at its left there placed an incense paper burner, Figure 1. An incense paper burner is used for the burning of incense paper to send blessings to spirits in the other world. The ritual of incense paper burning has the function of lighting up of the path for spirits and lost souls to find their way to their family members in Hades.

Located on the both sides of the temple frontage are the carvings of 四海龙王 (Dragon of the 4 seas)

in Figure 5, a mythical creature featured in the Chinese mythology of 西游记, which is in reference to 齐天 大圣, the former deity that was in service to the Yin Zhen Dian temple. The depiction of dragons also symbolizes potent and auspicious powers in Chinese mythology. Finally, on approach to the main door, the last temple feature is the 八卦 (eight trigrams), Figure.3 that is positioned on the ceiling and can only be spotted when one looks upwards at the temple door. The bagua a symbol of Taoist Cosmology which represents the fundamental principles of reality and maps the relationships of the various elements on earth in the 4 holy cardinal and intercardinal points. The bagua is also used by the priest to analyse the spiritual and elemental energies of a space and is often said to have the powers of cleansing spirits on approach into the temple. This is to protect and ward away unwanted or evil spirits into the temple. Finally, devotees will stand inside the front courtyard and facing outwards to pay respects to the sky god, 天公. The main temple door is painted with elaborate illustrations of Chinese landscape art and folklore symbolizes the crossing of sentient being into the spiritual realm. Devotees are then supposed to step over the raised step at the temple door before finally making their first steps into the temple.

Once inside the temple, devotees will typically pay respects to the respective deities and 齐天大圣，

虎神 place their Joss sticks and incense inside the urn Figure 2, as an offering of scents to the deities. The incense urn is positioned on the immediate left to the entrance and has the pottery carvings of the words ”狮 城阴阵殿” – a symbolic gift that was offered by a patron of the Yin Zhen Dian temple.

2. Temple Gods 2.1 Main God: 周包贝爷 Zhou Bao Bei Ye

Bao Bei Ye(s) are compassionate beings from Hell who serve as clerics and paymasters. They heal suffering souls and bestow wealth upon the deserving. At least 8 of them exists, all with unique surnames. Zhou Bao Bei Ye is commonly seen to possess a stern and strict demeanor. Unlike many deities who exists solely as a spiritual being, Zhou Bao Bei Ye was a real person existing a long time ago. Master Choo was the first person to invoke this God in Singapore. However, the origins of Zhou Bao Bei Ye and his biography were not revealed by Master Choo as he wishes to remain a low profile. Despite the curiosity of many people, inquiring about the origins of the deity through interviews on news media, he refused to leak out any information. Figure 6. Zhou Bao Bei Ye

Zhou Bao Bei Ye is considered to be a rare god; he is very uncommon and few people know of him.

Prayers usually pray to him about anything and everything. We did not know the existence of Zhou Bao Bei Ye until we visited the temple. We usually pray to the more common God known to be Guanyin. She is more well known for her mercy and compassionate nature whereas Zhou Bao Bei Ye appears fiercer and more stern. Zhou Bao Bei Ye may pass off as an unfriendly and unapproachable God but unexpectedly he is known to be very good at handling and discipling young children. Most of the parents who are devotees will bring their kids who are mischievous or rebellious to come see Zhou Bao Bei Ye for advice. From then on, the children will become disciples of the temple where they will help out with housekeeping matters regarding the Temple and attend temple events. Zhou Bao Bei Ye had a special connection with the children and could communicate with them well, his actions and words could prove himself worthy of the children’s respect.

2.2 Secondary God: 齐天大圣 Qi Tian Da Sheng The secondary God in Yin Zhen Dian Temple is the almighty Monkey God, whom many are familiar with from the popular novel, Journey to the West. He represents the creative, playful and rebellious side of humans. Devotees of the Monkey God send their “naughty” kids to Yin Zhen Dian to receive mentorship from the Great Sage himself. To adults, the Monkey God can be said to represent the creative, playful and rebellious side of every man and even the dominant character of some others. These are not necessarily negative attributes as they also have a natural affinity to right the injustice in the world, and a desire for equality. With the help of a mentor, it is believed that given the space for creative expression, the ‘naughty’ children are able to achieve a lot. Figure 7. Qi Tian Da Sheng

A lot of people are not familiar with the Taoist and Chinese Buddhist Monkey God called Sun Wukong and a lot of Westerners think that having a Monkey God is a preposterous idea. However, the truth is Sun Wukong, or the Monkey God, is one of the most wonderful and powerful Taoist immortal and Buddhist deity. However, Sun Wukong is also one of the most misunderstood Buddhist deity. A lot of people think that Sun Wukong is merely a Taoist God or an immortal, but the truth is that Sun Wukong is highly embraced and revered in the Chinese Buddhist religion.

2.3 Tua Ya Pek An interview was conducted by Ramesh Kula with 大爷伯 Tua Ya Pek, the deity himself to find out more about the Taoism way of life and the religious procession of invoking spirits. This was done through a ritual with the help of the spirit medium Master Choo, and senior temple devotees, Victor Yeo and Eugene Lim. The devotees begin the séance by chanting Taoist prayers, as the spirit medium meditates, invoking the deity. The invocation happens without warning as the spirit medium convulses, repeatedly and violently thumping the back of his head against the sedan chair. In an instance, the spiritual realm is connected to the human realm and the spirit of Tua Ya Pek begins to speak.

Figure 8. Alter for wandering spirits during Bao Bei Ye’ birthday celebration Tua Ya Pek explained that everybody has three souls. When a person dies, their first soul, the soul of

emotions and animalistic urges is buried with the body, the second soul is led to the ancestral table, and the third is borne off to Hades for judgement and eventual rebirth. In Taoism, when a person dies, 9 out of 10 will go directly to Hades, a place for spirits and souls to dwell. The time spent in Hades depends on our individual karma. However, there is a special condition for the death of premature babies, seeing as how they have yet to live a life. When a baby dies prematurely, or a live foetus is aborted and killed, their souls return to Hades to be reborn. These “spirit – babies” are delivered by a special mid-wife in Hades.

In the Ten Courts of Hades, our souls are first led to the First Chamber where we will be made to

face the Mirror of Judgement. During this time, all the sins that we have committed in our lifetime will be recorded down. We will then be sent to individual Courts for retribution, depending on our sins. Some examples of major sins include being disrespectful to our parents and the deities, killing, cheating, etc. Examples of punishment that are meted out in the Ten Court of Hades include, burning at the stake, being gutted and disembowelled, being thrown into a pit of poisonous snakes, etc. When our punishment is complete, we will then be released into Hades where we will live a “normal” life. That means we will be reunited with our family, live in houses, maybe even marry and have children. However, it is only temporary as we will soon have to be reincarnated and re-join the circle of life and death.

There are basically two reasons why the dead become wandering spirits: 1. If one dies without

getting married or have not left any children behind to continue their legacy, 2. Those who die without worshipping their ancestors; upon death, their souls will not have an ancestral tablet to go to; to seek a final resting place. Most Taoist temples hence provide shelter for these lost souls until they can be born over to the other side. Tua Ya Pek explained that he was originally a peasant from China and that he has lived on our Earth a long time ago. During his lifetime, having grieved over the sudden death of his sworn brother, he decided to take his own life. Thereafter, having faced the mirror of judgement in the realm of Hades, he was given the task of “Ghost-catcher”. He was originally responsible for leading the souls of the newly dead to Hades but as time went on, more and more people started to pray to him and worship Tua Ya Pek. Until, one day, the king of Hades, Ti-Tsang Wang, bestowed a title upon him and he was assigned the task of visiting our world to help the living.

3. Rituals & Processions 3.1 Spirit Mediums

Master Choo has been a spirit medium for Tua Ya Pek for many years. He was chosen as the spirit medium for three reasons. First, he is one of few people who can go into a trance. Secondly, he supposedly had a short life-span where he was expected to die in his thirties. However, by acting as a medium and devoting his life to the gods, he has been bestowed with a longer life. Finally, Master Choo was chosen as he was a devout Taoist who visited temples and prayed fervently since young. Figure 9. Master Choo acting as a spirit medium

A spirit medium has to wear striking gold accessories including gold necklaces, a tall golden conical shaped hat and carry around a golden fan and a golden abacus. These tools that he carries and wears are

given to him as a special weapon to catch the demon and protect himself. However, the clothing and fabrics that the spirit medium dons during processions do not represent any beliefs. Instead they are designed in such a way based off the initial founders’ intuition and gut feelings. The three lights in Taoism speak of how every human being has three lights – one on the tip of each

shoulder and one on the forehead. These lights indicate the health and fortune of an individual. The light on the forehead is called the “Heaven’s Veil”. It serves as a protection against spirits. Most spirits are afraid of the light on our forehead and it wards them off. This light on the forehead is said to be the point at which our soul is attached to our physical body.

Master Choo first became a spirit medium in 1978 when he was 14 years old. This was when the spirit of deity Tua Ya Pek entered his body. As a little boy, the younger Choo would visit the Sheng Fa Tan temple often as his mother will leave him there under the protection of the temple keepers. Although the younger Choo was a mischievous child and very playful, the master of the temple saw something in him and chose to become his teacher and mentor in the field of spirit possessions. The master then patiently prepared him for a life as a spirit medium. Master Choo’s first experience at invoking the spirits of Tua Ya Pek happened without notice whilst he was meditating and praying. He suddenly felt light-headed, nauseous, with a sense that something was trying to enter his body. All of a sudden, everything went blank. The spirit of Tua Ya Pek has taken control over Master Choo’s body. Throughout this possession, Master Choo remains unconscious and unaware of the on-goings around him. He believes that Tua Ya Pek’s soul still resides in his body and that he is now sharing the body with the spirit of Tua Ya Pek. Although this is mere speculation and he is not exactly sure if his instincts are true.

4. Others 4.1 Temple Finances and Operations

The Yin Zhen Dian Temple is a non-profit religious organization and depends largely on donations and charity dinners to generate the cash flow required for their temple operations. The management of temple finances is crucial for Yin Zhen Dian temple as their annual major events that take place during 中元节 and 千秋日 involve the procurement of logistics and preparation of materials that will be used for the blessing rituals and invocation processions. This is a hectic and complicated process and involves meticulous and conscientious organisation of resources.

Their main source of finance comes from Yin Zhen Dian’s worshippers, patrons and beneficiaries.

When we visited the temple, the keepers showed us the altar of wandering spirits where the offerings to the wandering spirits are being placed. The temple keeper then explained to us that these offerings are largely donated by their beneficiaries. Those who have benefitted from Yin Zhen Dian’s spiritual services will often donate food items, toys and cash amounts to express their gratitude to the temple.

Figure 10. Namecard for marriage and funeral services & Figure 11. Annual charity fund-raising Lastly, Yin Zhen Dian also hosts fund-raising dinners where statues of deities, alcohols, fortune

emblems, and a variety of priced goods will be auctioned off by the large temple audience. The fund-raising dinners are usually graced by the local Grassroots advisors and the temple patrons who will chip in a generous sum of charity donation to help alleviate the financial constraints of Yin Zhen Dian temple operations.

4.2 Community and Grassroots Involvement The Yin Zhen Dian Temple also has an active presence in the Bukit Merah community where they used to be situated at. Yin Zhen Dian has had numerous collaborations with the local grassroots organizations where they co-organized festival celebrations and dinner events for the elderly in Henderson Dawson and Tanglin-Cairnhill. Yin Zhen Dian organized the 2015 Mid-Autumn Festival celebration together with the Bukit Merah View Merchants and Hawker Committee (商联会) and Thong Keng Senior Activity Centre (Tanglin-Cairnhill) pooling together shared resources to benefit the beneficiaries in a more effective manner.

Figure 11. Grassroots event graced by Min. Indranee

During the Hungry Ghost Festival in 2016, the Yin Zhen Dian Temple also organised a charity dinner and stage entertainment at Blk 123 Bukit Merah View which has helped in supporting the neighbourhood Henderson Dawson CCC Welfare Fund. Yin Zhen Dian Temple’s contributions, which extends beyond the usual function of a Chinese Temple, goes towards benefiting and empowering the needy amongst the public.

5. Conclusion The Yin Zhen Dian Temple plays a huge role in the life of many Singaporean Chinese. The Taoist

spirit medium services that Master Choo is engaged in has liberated the souls of many wandering spirits and resolved the vexations in many families. Having documented the anecdotes and operations of Yin Zhen Dian Temple, we can now better appreciate how the local Chinese communities share a strong connection and faith with the respective deities and why they wholeheartedly believe in the spiritual effects of the various temple processions. The temple visit itself also allowed us to observe the various Taoist motifs and incense materials that have a deep symbolic meaning and cultural significance for the Taoist community. This understanding has allowed us to gain an added sensitivity as to how the Bao Bei Ye is a symbol of liberation for the beneficiaries and how the Yin Zhen Dian temple holds a significant place in the hearts of many Chinese Singaporeans.

This temple visit has allowed us a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture and religion in Singapore. Such experiences have been obscured from the conventional Singaporean lives, mainly focused on excelling in school and work. It is hence important to explore the cultures and the insights that they have to offer for us, accumulating up a rich historical and unique background of the Chinese Singaporeans. In an increasingly westernised Singapore, it is imperative for us to maintain our distinctive traits that set us apart from the rest of the Chinese communities all over the world. The identity of Chinese Singaporeans is shaped by social forces unique to the Singapore culture, one that cannot be replicated elsewhere. Hence, the appreciation of the various temples is indicative of the preservation of the values and memories left behind

by Chinese forefathers of Singapore, in which the conservation of them allows a lasting legacy in the Singapore Chinese community.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong 3. Heibai Wuchang. (2017, August 12). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heibai_Wuchang 4. Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from

https://www.facebook.com/IndraneeRajah/ 5. Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1404013333200372/?ref=group_header