A common thread 2, Singapore

24 April 2013

Today I noticed there was a big celebration in a temple along Tembeling Road in Singapore. Many devotees were there from early morning with flowers, oranges, joss- sticks and candles. The smoke from the joss sticks rising up into the air and surrounding the temple ceiling gave it a surreal cloud-like feel. As I walked in, I saw that the big laughing Buddha statue with two arms stretching up holding a big gold ingot actually has two sides to it, one facing the road and one facing into the temple. I have always looked at the side facing the road each time I walk past the temple because the sight of the laughing Buddha is so up-lifting, as though it urges one to positively go forward one's day with a smile, and to take life lightly.

Inside the temple, there were many representations of different deities. There was the great Buddha; the Goddess of Mercy ( even she came in two forms; one, the simple white-dressed 'Guan-Yin' standing on a lotus flower, with a jar and a pearl in each hand and the other, a Goddess with 18 hands). On the side-line, there were the courageous and righteous 'Guang-Gong' with his sword; and the honorable and moral black- faced judge, ' Bao Gong', often depicted in TV drama series as an upright and impartial judge. There were other deities which I could not tell, perhaps they were 'Arahans', the equivalent of Saints as in the Catholic Church.

As I watched the devotees, men and women, young and old, from all walks of life, each praying so fervently, each with their own petitions, I can't help but feel that we all share the same humanity; we need a 'Supreme Being', someone who understands our earthly problems, to help us in the burden of our daily chores; to give us peace and harmony; to help us understand our anxieties so that we can find solutions to them; and to give us hope and courage to carry on in our lives. Among the crowds, I am sure many were there to give thanksgiving for blessings received or a prayer answered. Some were meditating with beads; some holding candles and closing their eyes in prayer; some just looking intently at the deities with murmurings on their lips. As I sat on the same carpet on the floor with them, I felt I could spend all day there, just absorbing in the aura of a spiritual atmosphere. We are there together to connect to a loving and merciful God.


                   The best religion is the one that gets you closest to God.
                    It is the one that makes you a better person.

                                                                           - Dalai Lama-