Jin Long Si Temple
From Buddhist Encyclopedia
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- Chinese: 金龙寺
Jin Long Si Temple is located on a hilltop at Lorong How Sun (off Bartley Road), is a unique "san-jiao" (three religion) village temple in Singapore, with its teachings derived from the books of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Within its premises, lies a Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa) dating to the late 1880s, which is the oldest of its kind found in Singapore to date. The Bodhi tree shares a symbiotic relationship with the temple as its roots are deeply intertwined with the building's foundation. In 2003, the Singapore government announced that both the temple and the Bodhi tree will have to make way for redevelopment in early 2008. The temple began to actively organise events to generate public awareness and support of its plight, as well as making repeated appeals to the relevant authorities to review its decision to acquire the temple. The case generated much publicity and growing calls among Singaporeans and nature-lovers to preserve the old temple and its ancient Bodhi tree as a common heritage of Singapore.
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.
The temple started off as an attap hut on a land donated by a grateful devotee earlier. It was later rebuilt by Wan Guan Lin into a zinc-roof and wooden structure which has remained almost 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 demonstrate a high level of religious tolerance 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 Hokkien dialect every Sunday afternoons.
Occupying an area of 1,840 square metres today, the temple has approximately 4,000 regular worshippers and more than 300 registered members. It continues to provide free vegetarian meals each day to more than 100 aged and impoverished devotees residing near the temple. The temple has also been active in contributing to the grassroots organisations in Braddell Heights with funds and manpower despite modest resources to this day. A notable example was featured in The Straits Times that the temple regularly sponsors functions for its next door neighbour, the Ramakrishna Mission Home for orphans and wayward boys. To reciprocate their kindness, the home opened its gates for the devotees to take a short cut through its premises for those walking uphill to the temple.
Ancient Bodhi tree
The Bodhi tree is considered sacred to all Buddhists. Its significance can be traced to 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 nineteenth century. It has an age of approximately 120 years (as of 2007), is over 30 metres tall and has a girth of 8.5 metres, 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; any land development at the tree's location has a high likelihood of causing soil movement and undue stress to the tree roots. Due to its ancient age and its symbiotic relationship with the temple, both the NSS and Nparks have recommended the Bodhi tree to be preserved as a 'Heritage Tree' after their findings. Trees that are classified as 'Heritage Tree' cannot be cut down and are protected with lightning conductors with money from the Heritage Trees Fund. A panel of officials and nature-loving volunteers decide if a tree should be placed on the register, based on its appearance, height and girth, as well as its social, historical and educational significance.
Jin Long Si Temple today
Urban redevelopment
On 20 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 nearby Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) construction of the Circle Line Project (Phase III). The new rail-line stretches from Bartley Road to Marymount Road, and will have five stations along its 5.7 kilometres stretch. To be built in five stages, construction has started for the first two phases of the Circle Line, and the construction on this phase, which will cost billion, 800 million) will take five years to complete. As a result, both the temple and the Bodhi tree will have to make way for redevelopment in early 2008. The URA said the temple grounds are being acquired to be joined with state land next to them so more homes can be built there. It said:
Public appeals
The temple has been offered an alternative site in Punggol as well as compensation, 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 of its plight as well and has made repeated appeals to the relevant authorities to review their decision to acquire the temple, urging them to preserve the rare and ancient Bodhi tree found within its compound. As a result, there was considerable public and media interest in the fate of the temple and its Bodhi tree, as well as other gradually disappearing natural heritage landmarks. Busloads of local visitors as well as tourists from countries like Japan, Thailand and China flock to the temple every weekend and some visitors have set up blogs and started an online petition to save the temple and the Bodhi tree. The online petition mentions how the Land Transport Authority spent S$200,000 in 2005 and changed the alignment of a stretch of Braddell Road to protect an 80-year-old angsana tree (Pterocarpus indicus). It appeals to the authorities to show the same attitude to the Bodhi tree at Jin Long Si. A concerned reader wrote to the Straits Times Forum Page twice to highlight the issue: Her first letter was dated 11 April 2007. Another follow-up letter was dated 18 July 2007.
Since 2003, the temple's management has not received a positive reply. The most recent joint reply by the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of National Development dated 23 March 2006, says the NParks and the URA will "assess and consider the merit" of keeping the tree but the temple may have to go. The acquisition order is not being withdrawn to date.
See also
External links
- [http://saveourroots.googlepages.com/morepictures Picture gallery of Jin Long Si Temple and its Bodhi tree
