Poh Ern Shih Temple
Poh Ern Shih (Chinese: 报恩寺, Hanyu Pinyin: bào'ēnsì, English: Temple of Thanksgiving) is located on a small hilltop at Chwee Chian Road, off Pasir Panjang Road, on Singapore's southern coast. The Buddhist temple was built as a memorial to those who lost their lives during the Battle of Pasir Panjang in 1942, villagers as well as Allied and Japanese soldiers. The temple's first abbot, Venerable Sumangalo, an American Theravadin monk, was the first Westerner to be appointed abbot of a Buddhist temple in Singapore. Following a major development project which began in 2003, Poh Ern Shih became the first religious building in the country to incorporate both eco-friendly and elderly-friendly features.
History
The hilltop where Poh Ern Shih stands today was an important strategic location for the British colonial government before the onset of the Second World War. Facing the hilltop is Bukit Chandu, which means "Opium Hill" in Malay (known as Kent Ridge Park today), where the British had an opium factory that processed raw opium from the Golden Triangle for sale to China and South East Asia. The sale was through licensed retail outlets owned by citizens of the British Empire and the British East India Company since the 19th century.[1]
Behind Bukit Chandu was Normanton Park, an oil depot, where the British stored fuel for their military forces based in Singapore. Next to Normanton Park was a sprawling residential estate for the British officers and their families. Further down the road from Normanton Park was Alexandra Hospital, which was a military hospital for sick and injured British soldiers to recuperate. In order to protect its various strategic interests in the vicinity, the British placed heavy artillery guns on Chwee Chian Hill in anticipation of seaborne attacks by the Japanese off the coast of Pasir Panjang.[1]
Japanese invasion
During the Battle of Pasir Panjang, Bukit Chandu was the last bastion of the 1st and 2nd Battalion Malay Regiment who, together with the 2nd Loyals Regiment, defended the western and southern parts of Singapore from 8–14 February 1942. Despite running low on ammunition and food, the Malay Regiments put up strong resistance, inflicting a heavy toll on the Japanese invaders. Finally however they were finally outnumbered, and massacred by reinforced Japanese forces. A famous Malay officer, Second Lieutenant Adnan Bin Saidi was captured alive, tortured. and executed by the Japanese. Many innocent Chinese and Malay villagers were caught in the crossfire and killed. The regiments' heroism is now commemorated at a on-site war museum named Reflections at Bukit Chandu.[2]
Founder Lee Choon Seng
Poh Ern Shih was established as a modest single storey temple by philanthropist Lee Choon Seng (1888—1966) in 1954, as one of the few Chinese Mahayana temples in Singapore dedicated to the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Based on the concept of liberating the spirits of those who were sacrificed during the Japanese invasion in World War II, the temple was constructed on the site of the bloodshed on Chwee Chian Hill.[3]
Lee was born in Yong Choon county, Fujian province, in China. He joined his father in Negri Sembilan in his youth, before moving to Singapore to set up his own property business. He was very successful, and achieved positions of leadership in the local Chinese community. He was widely known as one of the founders, as Acting Chairman of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) during the Japanese Occupation.[4] As one of the early Buddhist pioneers, Lee was also involved in the foundation of the Buddhist Publications Circulation Centre in 1933, and the Singapore Buddhist Lodge (新加坡佛教居士林) in 1934.[5]
First Western abbot
Venerable Sumangalo (1903—1963) was born as Robert Stuart Clifton in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States in 1903. After receiving his Doctorate in Literature, he lectured on Buddhism in the United States before moving to Asia to further his study of Buddhism. In 1957, he joined the Theravada Order in Laos and received the monastic name Sumangalo, meaning "very auspicious". He then left for Malaya and later visited Singapore on a Dharma tour in late 1959 with another American Buddhist monk, Venerable Susiddhi. Through his efforts, a number of Youth Circles and Sunday schools were set up locally.[6]
In January 1959, he was offered the honorary abbotship of Poh Ern Shih and became the first Westerner to be the abbot of a Buddhist temple in Singapore.[7] While in Singapore, he assisted Pitt Chin Hui in her translation of the 'Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra' from Chinese to English. He return to Malaya and spend his later years at Penang Buddhist Association where most of his Dharma lectures were held. His lectures were later compiled in English and Chinese and distribute freely to visitors to this day. Venerable Sumangalo died on 6 February 1963 and was cremated in Penang.[8]
Female Buddhist pioneer
Pitt Chin Hui (1906—1981) was born as the youngest child to a wealthy family in Guangzhou in China. She was brought to Penang by her mother to receive her early education there. In 1924, she sat for the Senior Cambridge Examination and while waiting for the examination results, she became an English teacher at the Fujian Girls' School. In 1927, she left for further studies at the Zhongshan University in Guangzhou. However, she terminated her tertiary studies and returned to Penang when her mother became seriously ill. While in Penang, she attended Dharma lectures by Venerable Taixu and his disciple, Venerable Cihang, at the Kek Lok Si Temple and subsequently became a disciple of Venerable Cihang and studied under him. She was responsible for setting up the Maha Bodhi School in Penang and later in Singapore in 1946 to promote Buddhist education to the young. Besides her school duties, Pitt was also an active and hardworking Buddhist worker.[9]
In December 1959, she embarked on the task of translating the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra from Chinese to English at Poh Ern Shih so that it is accessible to the English-educated. Venerable Sumangalo helped in rendering Chinese and English nomenclature into Sanskrit and offered suggestions for improving the English version. In 1964, Pitt was awarded the prestigious Public Service Star—BBM (Bintang Bakti Masharakat)—by Encik Yusof bin Ishak, First President of the Republic of Singapore. In 1973, she was appointed as Justice of the Peace by Dr. Benjamin Henry Sheares, Second President of the Republic of Singapore. Pitt Chin Hui was also a Vice-President of the World Fellowship of Buddhists. She died in 1981 while on a trip in India.[9]
Building design
To allow for expansion, the old premises were demolished. Reconstruction began in 2003, and the office wing was completed in April 2007, in Phase 1 of the project. Designed by Lee Coo, who is also the architect behind the Venerable Hong Choon Memorial Hall of the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Temple,[10] the new Poh Ern Shih building is a architectural synthesis of classical features combined with modern eco-friendly technology.
Civic consciousness
Conscious that a large percentage of its devotees were in their 60s, the Honorary President/Director of Poh Ern Shih, Lee Boon Siong, a retired lawyer and grandson of its founder, and its chief architect, made every effort to ensure that the temple was accessible to the elderly and the wheelchair-bound. A gentle driveway stretches from the gates to the upper levels of the temple, and every storey of the building has level flooring. The lavatory cubicles are fitted with easily reached "call-for-help" buttons, and the doors are designed so that they can be unlocked from the outside in the case of emergency.[10]
Eco-friendly features
The temple takes advantage of Singapore's abundant sunlight by having three different kinds of solar energy cells on its rooftop. They are the poly-crystalline silicon solar array, mono-crystalline silicon solar array and amorphous silicon solar array. Poh Ern Shih's water is heated by its solar panels, and its night lighting is powered by electricity converted from solar energy, With its breezy location, wind generators have also been erected to convert wind activity into electricity.[11]
The rainwater which falls on Poh Ern Shih is collected from surface run-offs and rain gutters and used to irrigate the temple grounds, as well as to generate electricity used for charging the batteries of in-house motorized wheelchairs. The electricity is produced by water from the highest floor of the temple passing through hydroelectric-generators. A purification system is also being installed, so that the collected rainwater can be filtered and made potable.[11]
In line with the aim to make use of renewable resources, the furniture in Poh Ern Shih for its resident Sangha is made from bamboo. Bamboo is considered to one of the most ecologically friendly materials for use in home furnishing and flooring, because it can be harvested without felling the entire tree. There is therefore no need for for replanting, and the bamboo is allowed to regain its full height again over about 5 years, ready to be harvested again.[12]
The second phase of the temple is expected to be completed towards the end of 2007, featuring a new Main Ksitigarbha Prayer Hall as well as a Guanyin Meditation Hall with lapis lazuli statues and a 7-storey stupa.[13]
The temple today
To reinvigorate itself and attract younger blood, Poh Ern Shih sought partnership with the Buddhist Fellowship, a non-sectarian Buddhist organisation known locally for its revolutionary projects and activities intended to ensure that the Dharma is propagated in contemporary language and form. The story began two years ago when the Buddhist Fellowship—whose more than 2,000 members are mainly English-speaking professionals, mostly under 45 years of age—rented a space at Eton House in Paya Lebar. Lee Boon Siong contacted the Fellowship's President, Angie Monksfield, a Chinese Singaporean married to an English Catholic, offering use of the temple premises. In early 2007, Angie took up the offer after the rental of Eton House's was raised by 57 per cent—a sum which was difficult for the fellowship to afford. The rent charged by the temple is the same as that which the Fellowship was paying before the increase demanded by its previous landlord.[14]
On 29 May 2007, an opening ceremony attended by Khaw Boon Wan, Minister for Health, and its two spiritual patrons, Ajahn Brahm and Venerable Kwang Sheng, Abbot of Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Temple, marked the Fellowship moving into 4,000 sq ft (370 m2) of space in Poh Ern Shih. The group conducts programmes such as Dharma talks, Sutta discussions and meditation courses by visiting Sangha and notable lay Buddhist teachers such as Piya Tan, Dr. Ang Beng Choo and Prof. Tan Hun Tong and many more. The temple is open to the public daily, and admission is free.[14]
See also
References
Notes
- ^ a b "History of Bukit Chandu". Poh Ern Shih. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
- ^ "Reflections at Bukit Chandu". National Archives of Singapore. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
- ^ Koh, "Renewing the Temple of Thanksgiving", p. 112.
- ^ "OCBC History". Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
- ^ Ong, "Lee Choon Seng", pp. 48—49.
- ^ Piyasilo, 1992h: 1—3.
- ^ Piyasilo, 1992: 17—19.
- ^ Venerable Sumangalo, p. 4.
- ^ a b Ong, "Miss Pitt Chin Hui", pp. 111—112.
- ^ a b Koh, "Social Consciousness", pp. 113—114.
- ^ a b Koh, "Making Good Use of That Which is Abundant", pp. 114—115.
- ^ Koh, "Renewable Resources", p. 115.
- ^ Koh, "What's in Store", p. 115.
- ^ a b Lee Chee Keng (30 May 2007). "Two Buddhist groups share space". The Straits Times.
Bibliography
- Koh, c-u Pinn (2007). "Renewing the Temple of Thanksgiving"—Vaidurya (May/Jun 2007). Singapore: Golden Pagoda Buddhist Temple.
- Piyasilo (1992h). Charisma in Buddhism. Malaysia: Dharmafarers Enterprises. ISBN 983-9030-10-8.
- Piyasilo (1992). New Directions in Buddhism Today. Malaysia: Dharmafarers Enterprises. ISBN 983-9030-03-5.
- Ong, Y.D. (2005). Buddhism in Singapore—A Short Narrative History. Singapore: Skylark Publications. ISBN 981-05-2740-3.
- Venerable Sumangalo (2006). Lectures by Venerable Sumangalo Bhikkhu (in Chinese). Malaysia: Penang Buddhist Association (Free distribution).