Jin Long Si Temple
Jin Long Si Temple (Chinese: 金龙寺) located at Lorong How Sun is a unique "san-jiao" (three religion) village temple in Singapore with its teachings derived from the great books of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. What is older than this temple is the approximately 120-year old Bodhi tree which is the oldest of its kind found in Singapore that has survived well to the present day bearing witness to generations of worshippers the temple has served.
History
Jin Long Si Temple (originally known as "Jin Long Miao") was constituted under a trust and established as a religious and charity mission in 1941 with funds and donations from philanthropic Chinese merchants. It was founded to provide public shelter and a place of worship for the Chinese community during the period of great uncertainty of an imminent war sweeping through South East Asia in the 1940s.
Starting off as an attap hut on a land donated by a grateful devotee earlier. It was later rebuilt into a zinc-roof and wooden structure which has remained barely unchanged ever since. Displaying much resourcefulness and artistic talent, the devotees had constructed a huge statue of the Laughing Buddha out of saw dust, a pagoda and also a pavilion with the life-size figure of their patron deity, Nan Wu Wu Ji Sheng Mu.
While the temple is basically a Chinese Mahayana Buddhist temple, its teachings is a fusion of the "san-jiao" (three religion) derived mainly from Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The temple also has many unique Taoist deities like Nan Wu Wu Ji Sheng Mu and Pan Gu (盘古) which clearly demostrate a high level of religious tolerence and acceptance by the temple's community since its early days. The taped teachings of the temple's late master continue to be played especially to the elderly devotees in Hokkien dialect every Sunday afternoons.
Occupying an area of 1,840 square metres today, the temple has approximately 4000 regular worshippers and more than 300 registered members. It continue to provide free vegetarian meals each day to more than 100 aged and impoverished devotees residing near the temple. The temple has also been very active in contributing to the grassroots organizations in Braddell Heights with funds and manpower despite modest resources to this day.
The Oldest Bodhi Tree
The Bodhi tree is considered sacred to all Buddhists. Its significance can be traced when it sheltered the Buddha from the elements during his quest for enlightenment and it is under the Bodhi tree that the Buddha attained enlightenment subsequently. Thus the Bodhi tree has come to symbolise the Buddha's enlightenment, His wisdom and compassion.
The Bodhi tree at Jin Long Si Temple was one of the twelve seeds that were brought by monks from Sri Lanka in the nineteen century. It has an age of approximately 120 years and over 30m tall and has a girth of 8.5m which is considered to be the most ancient and largest Bodhi tree in Singapore according to verifications made by the Nature Society Singapore (NSS) and National Parks Board (Nparks) separately. Its roots are deeply embedded into the slope of the hill where the temple is located and even extended to the inner recesses of the temple premises. Due to its ancient age and its symbiotic relationship with the temple, both NSS and Nparks have recommended the Bodhi tree to be preserved as a Heritage Tree after their findings.
Uncertain Future
On 20th January 2003, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) issued a compulsory land acquisition order to acquire the plot of land belonging to the temple as part of URA's redevelopment plan for a Mass Rapid Transit construction (Circle Line Stage 3). As a result, both the temple and the Bodhi tree will have to make way for redevelopment in early 2008. The temple has been offered an alternative site in Punggol, but its management still hopes it will be allowed to stay.
Since then, the temple has actively organised events to generate public awareness and support on its plight as well as making repeated appeals to the relevant authorities to review its decision to acquire the temple. In its plea, the temple presents a number of objective reasons and social benefits; amongst them to preserve a rare and ancient Bodhi tree ever found within its compound but has to date not received a positive reply.
Despite surviving two World Wars earlier, the shared fate of Jin Long Si Temple and its ancient Bodhi tree remained bleak today. Even if the appeals are successful and an extension of stay is granted by the government subsequently, it may still fall victim to the unrelentless urbanisation in land-scarce Singapore in the near future too.
Notes
Opening hours: 9am to 5pm daily (Monday to Sunday)
Nearest MRT: Bartley Station
Bus: 22, 24, 43, 58, 62, 70, 76, 80
Remarks: Entry via Upper Paya Lebar Road (10 min uphill walk)
References
- Tan Hui Yee, "Visitors flock to save revered Bodhi Tree" (Aug 19, 2006), The Straits Times.
- Archived news of Jin Long Si Temple, Jin Long Si Blog. Retrieved on May 1, 2007.
- Official website. Retrieved on May 1, 2007.
- Site visit and photo taking by original creator on Jan 21, 2006.
External links
- Picture gallery of of Jin Long Si Temple and its Bodhi tree. Retrieved on May 1, 2007.
- Online petition to save the Jin Long Si Bodhi Tree. Retrieved on May 1, 2007.