Full Report: Paying Respect to Tian Jun Fu (天君府-一片丹心侍武侯)

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Other

Ack to Mr Victor Yue of Taoism Singapore eGroup


Tian Jun Fu 天君府
3 Tebing Lane #01-02
Punggol East
Singapore 828849
Tel/Fax: 63385632

Hi folks,
Last night (till this wee morning), two carloads of templers descended on Tian Jun Fu. The place was surprisingly quiet after the experience of loud colours and noise in the "entering of the temple" of the previous two temples (Tian Ci Gong 天慈宫 and Sheng Jia Miao 圣家庙) in this complex months before. With only a small stream of devotees, the temple members could have more time with us, explaining to us the deities of the temple.

This was a temple with a difference. There was an additional pair of Tua Li Ya Pek (Da Er Ye Bo 大二爷伯), said to be Tan Dua Nee 陳大年 and Lee Kek 李客 (Jave, can you give us the full name, and if possible the Chinese characters?) apart from the Xia 谢 and Fan 范 Tua Li Ya Pek respectively. As the statues were made according to the instructions from the medium in trance, each has a unique characteristic of its own. According to our guide, Tua Li Ya Pek advised that he should not have his tongue hanging out, as one would see in the other temples. Instead, it would be just like a usual person with the long beard. I also understand that the hair and beard are all real human ones.



Maybe, we can gather more information about the Tan and Li Tua Li Ya Pek.



The temple was quite meticulate in choosing the wall decos as well as how each statue was made. I learnt that it took them 4 years from the selection of the tree to the final completion of the statues. The time taken was also to allow the wood to mature and dry naturally, otherwise in our tropical climate, it could crack easily. The wood are all from the Zhang Su 樟树. And talking about luck or the moment, they were able to find a trunk that is about 3 metre tall to allow them to carve the image of Tan Tua Ya Pek (dressed in red).

If you look at the two heavy door with the huge Door Gods, you might have thought that the statues were probably plasters. Nope. They were carved out of the same block of wood. One member was telling me that the diameter of the tree trunk was longer than his height! All these were from trees of more than a hundred years old! All carved in Fuzhou, China. No details spared, all carved.





The statue of Guan Gong (known as Guan Sheng Di Jun 关圣帝君) is also interesting. One often sees Guan Gong riding on a horse with his famous weapon, said to be 84 katis heavy (its about 50 kg), or he reading a book. But here is a Guan Gong sitting in a very relaxed manner. It is said that in the 28 years or so of the existence of this sintua turned temple, through various phases of metamorphosis, Guan Gong only came three times! On the night of the opening (Fri 6Jun08), Guan Gong came for a brief moment. The resident medium is a lady and so, when Guan Gong came in through her, apparently, it was too much for her to take the energies. I understand that after Guan Gong left, she was depleted of strength and had to rest for more than an hour.

In front of Guan Gong is Guan Ping 关平太子 and General Zhou Cang 周仓將军.

To the left of Guan Gong is another interesting deity - that of Ci Ren Xian Weng 慈仁仙翁, said to be a Persian Deity. I suppose that is why he has red hair .. like the Hokkien saying, Ang Moh. (^^) It is said that he travels far and wide and would only pop by when he is in the area. We were shown an older and very much smaller statue of him, much more in the "sinocised" form. The feature of his face on the statue certainly has a character of its own. It is said that a temple member was in Fuzhou for a month just to supervise the making of the mould and then, the carving of such intricate facial expressions, to specifications.





Probably to the delight of many, there was the Qi Gong with a cockeral on his shoulder! Ah, I forgot to ask if there is any significance. Most of us who knows Ji Gong 济公活佛, loves his playful and cheeky antics .. probably from movies about him and watching his mediums in trance. The addition of the cockeral certainly adds colour! On the other side of Ci Ren Xian Weng is Lv Dong Ping 吕祖仙师, somewhat more serious in contrast.

In front of them were Ci Cai Tong Zi 赐财童子 with only a "tor-yeo" (covering for the front - exposing the bottom) and Huo Yan Tai Zi 火焰太子.




It could cost easily S$500K just for the carving of the statues plus with the temple construction and land lease, the estimated cost could be in the region of S$3M. And the land lease is only 30 years, of which some 6 years have passed.

This temple complex did indeed put much effort in using the intricate Chinese temple designs into the construction, save the original wooden forms.

The temple has its celebrations on 1M26 in honour of Tua Li Ya Pek and on 6M24 in honour of Guan Gong. In the past they used to celebrate on 5M13 but have since changed to 6M24. It is said that 5M13 is the birthday of Guan Ping, his son.

Victor
Singapore