Saturday 29 December 2007

The History of Puay aka Bei or Divination Block (筊杯的由来)


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What is Puay (筊杯)?

Puay is a set of object made of wood (木), bamboo (竹) or plants-root (植物根類) that used to seek advises from Deities while a devotee made a request or enquiry in front of the Deities.

In the past, Puay is treated as a very Holy & Spiritual Object, not everyone can just take and use it, usually have to go according to situation and the permission of the Deities, etc.

Nowadays, due to the Modernization, a lot of people tend to ignore the importance of the Puay and some, even change the outlook of the Puay to some interesting forms.

So how Puay come about?

According to myths and records, the Puay was invented in the Ming Dynasty (原至明朝), so the story goes like that:

Liu Bo Wen 劉伯溫 (the Advisor of Emperor Zhu Yuan Zhang 朱元漳之軍師), Chang Yu Chun 常遇春 & He Da Hai 何大海 (the 2 sworn brothers of Emperor Zhu Yuan Zhang 朱之異姓兄弟) were on the way to look out for a good location for Emperor Zhu Yuan Zhang to start his Empire-building Base.

In order not to let the others recognized who they were, the 3 of them disguised themselves as Chinese Physician (醫師).

One day, while they were passing-by one village, an old rich man approached them. After communication, the 3 of them realized that the old rich man was actually looking for Physicians to cure his daughter's unknown disease. With no choice, the 3 of them were had to follow the old rich man to his place to take a look.

After examining the daughter's situation, Liu Bo Wen realized that the daughter was not ill but was being affected by some negative entities (Liu Bo Wen is a Taoist Cultivated Person who know Medical Skills & Spiritual Power).

Soon, Liu Bo Wen asked the old rich man to leave the room. After the old rich man left, Liu Bo Wen took out a small pack of herbs for the daughter to consume and soon, the daughter seems to be able to communicate. And so, Liu Bo Wen asked her a few questions and then the 3 of them left the room.

1.00Am in the morning, Liu Bo Wen and the other 2, came to the garden where was located near the room of the daughter. After wandering around, Liu Bo Wen started to mumble to himself, soon after he mumbled, 3 demons appeared in front of him. Without hesitation, Liu Bo Wen took out his Imperial Sword to fight with the 3 demons. Due to Liu Bo Wen’s highly cultivated power, the 3 demons were being subdued.

After a gust of fume, Liu Bo Wen went to take a look at the 3 demons, the 3 of them turned back to their original form, a Thousand Years Wooden Lock (千年木精所化之門栓), an Antique Bamboo Hand-stick (千年竹子精) and a Cultivated Frog Spirit (青蛙精).

After cleaning the Frog away, Liu Bo Wen handed the Lock to the old rich man for keeping and requested to have the Hand-stick as a return, the old rich man was delighted and accepted the request.

On the next day, the daughter recovered and was able to get off from bed.

Soon, the Liu Bo Wen had to make a leave.

After the leaving the premises, the 3 of them started their journey again.

One day, while the 3 of them were in the forest, they came to a 2 ways exit, didn’t know which way to go, suddenly the Hand-stick stood up and pointed to one direction. The 3 of them were shocked, with no choice, they had to follow the instruction and soon, they met up with the other groups of sworn brothers.

From then, the 3 of them used the Hand-stick as a form of Leading Guide while they were out to do searching or Battling.

One year, while they were out in the forest to do their inspection, a group of bandits approached them, after several rounds of fighting, the bandits ran off, but to their horror, the Hand-stick that Liu Bo Wen used as weapon to fight the bandits was being cut into pieces.

With disappointment, Liu Bo Wen had to pack them up and keep with him as a form of gratitude.

Soon they met with choices making at a 2 way exit again. This time round, no more Hand-stick could be used and so, Chang Yu Chun suggested how about taking 2 pieces of the cut Hand-stick to do the leading.

After consideration, Liu Bo Wen communicated with the 2 pieces and told the pieces, if they agreed that the 2 of them to go by the left road, the 2 pieces would show 1 face facing up (正面) and the other facing down (反面).

After 1st try, the left road was being rejected and so the 3 of them tried the right road, immediately after Liu Bo Wen threw the pieces out, the pieces showed a Yin & Yang sign (正反雙面).

From then, Liu Bo Wen started to use the 2 pieces as a form of Prediction Object.

After Emperor Zhu Yuan Zhang got his Empire, in order to show the gratitude of the Prediction Block, Emperor Zhu Yuan Zhang ordered Temples in the whole Countries to place 2 pieces of Bamboo Blocks on the Altar for the devotees to communicate with Deities.

From then till now, this practice is still being passed-down.

35 comments:

  1. i see...
    so this is the story behind the puay.

    thx alot

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  2. Welcome.

    This is only one of the myths of the Puay.

    But so far, I have yet to see the other myths :P

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  3. oo bro, am i right to say that when one up one down, means whatever u asked, is agreed, then when both flat side up, means they smiling, then when both curved side up means?

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  4. Yup, Yin Yang is consent.

    Yin Yin is smiling, cos the Deities or Spirits dont know how to answer your question and so, one self will need to change the question abit.

    Yang Yang means no consent or they not willing to answer anymore and so, sometime, we will get another person or a Spiritual Person to do the enquiry.

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  5. oic.. then if we use coins, which is yin and which is yang in respective to head and tail.

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  6. Usually we will use Head to represent Yang and Tail to represent Yin.

    Best is to use the Singapore 1 Dollar Coin, cos the coins are already enhancement with certain power :P

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  7. Hahahaha, yup.. that was created to block away the negative forces that being pushed into our Country in many many years ago..

    anyway, now, the negative forces is being blocked, but.. haizzz.. other forces are coming in...

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  8. haha really like wat? care to share or divine secrets cannot be leaked? ha =0

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  9. Hahahaha.. the change in the nature forces in the Universe and Spiritual World.

    Once the forces change, alot of things will be affected, this include our own nation.

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  10. haha yup.
    It was created during the construction of MRT.

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  11. haha yup.. heard was ordered by then prime minister. interesting!!!

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  12. ya..
    this story very popular. Even a teen like me also know.

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  13. Hahahaha.. yup, due to the "conflict" with the Earth Dragon Deities.. as for more.. lets discuss in the future :P

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  14. sure!
    lets talk more about Singapore's fengsui.

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  15. haha cool interesting.. many other interesting things in singapore is related to fengshui. eg, merlion at singapore river, cbd area around the entrance of singapore river, mrt and $1 coins, one underground tunnel which looks like a tomb and more..

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  16. Yup.. in Singapore, most of the time we will regard our nation as a Modernise Country, but in someway, almost every where we go, there something related to Feng Shui :P

    Suntec City, a Hand Palm formation.

    Ngee Ann City, the main Entrance - the Shape of an Ancient Tomb.

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  17. ha interesting.. maybe u can set up a series of thread on all these next year =0

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  18. Hahaha, some of such skills, I will passed down to those who are interested :P

    Just that, sometime, it's quite sensitive to share openly.. hope u can understand.. hee hee

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  19. Hahahaha, sure, will keep you inform on the sharing session.

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  20. Hi Jave, have you ever seen before one of the puay stand up when it was thrown onto the floor?

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  21. You throw I never see before, but for me, I have seen quite a few times.

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  22. This happened to me when i throw puay at havelock teegong beo many years ago.
    I was stunned when i saw it..duno what to do...ahhahaa
    Is there any meaning?

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  23. Usually when such Puay ended up like that, meaning that something that the Heaven doesnt want to reveal it out.

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  24. Sorie, typo error..type too fast ...

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  25. What do you mean by cross?

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  26. The puay over lap each other forming a X sign. I heard from temple keeper as " kissing puay".

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  27. Haha, I c. That is a symbol of changing. Usually when incenses drop, then we can see that.

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  28. Care to further explain? Thanks

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  29. Usually this happen to inform you that you needed to change something. But I'm not sure of what needed to be change, cos I was not around to justify.

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  30. Hi Master, I seen that for certain occasions some people will seek for 3 successive Seng Puay with no break in between when consulting with deities, sometimes 1 Seng Puay is enough. Usually for what kind of occasions will people seek 3 and for what occasions 1 is enough?

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  31. In Taoism, usually one time will do, whether is big or small issue. But when the Culture of using puay came into the daily life of the folks, they changed to 3 times, hoping that the Deities would give them the REAL and CONFIRM answer.

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