nach,
I was wondering if folk religion do also practice vegetarian day during the 1st n 15th calender day.
Cos it seems to me it was supposed to be Buddhism practise.

Some folk religion practitioners do so, yes, although I personally don't see the point in going vegetarian for two days of the month while eating meat during the remaining twenty eight.

Smacks of slacktivism, of half heartedness.

You want to truly make a statement, go full time vegetarian.

Sintua doesn't forbid the consumption of meat, anyway.

In fact, there are certain schools of thought that state being slaughtered for food, making the ultimate sacrifice to ensure others are fed, ensures that an animal enters heaven, or at least gets a shot at being reborn as a human being.

Weekend booze-up.

Justice Bao and friends.

Is Justice Bao 1 of the hell deity?

He is the Imperial Magistrate of Hell.

Have yourselves a merry little Christmas, everyone!

Today, it came to my knowledge that Puay, my teacher's successor and our current medium, has completed his contract with his divine patrons (Na Zha, primarily) and will no longer channel.

My teacher's sintua will once again fall into dormancy, it would seem.

While this is sad in a way, I am happy for Puay, as he will be able to enjoy more time with his wife and three small children; his wife was always concerned about the hazards he faced as a medium.

Thank you for your service and for the splendid memories, my friend.

Godspeed and best wishes.

How would they know the contract ended? So now the temple can't perform channeling anymore to help the people?

The medium will be informed by his patron.

Not for the foreseeable future, although the possibility exists that we could serve as an additional premises for mediums from affiliate temples, thus not completely closing ourselves off from the public.

Who is the Rogue Prince?

Identifiable by his white/silver hair and dark skin, the Rogue Prince is not related to Na Zha, although the two look similar.

Neither is he identical to the Black Prince, the Hellish aspect of Na Zha.

Once upon a time, a wicked emperor arranged the death of his very own son, the crown prince, in order to take his son's wife as his concubine.

The princess consort was with child when this occurred, and she agreed to her father in law's demands in order to safeguard her unborn child; he allowed her to keep it in exchange for her body.

On the sly, she swore payback, making an assistance pact with the spirit of a fox slain by the emperor; he entered the body of her unborn child and was born from her womb as her son, doing this in order to help her obtain revenge and also exact his own vengeance.

The resultant prince proved to be a holy terror.

He showed a smouldering intelligence almost from his birth, and proved capable of handling weaponry with frightening skill at a tender age, both impressing and alarming his grandfather.

Before long, mysterious, horrific deaths began to take place within the palace.

All those who were killed were those who played a part in deposing and murdering the crown prince.

The terrified emperor strongly suspected his grandson but could not prove it; the assassins he sent to murder the boy were themselves slaughtered.

Before long, he was dead himself.

The boy prince, drunk on blood, did not stop there; he went on to turn the entire kingdom into a charnel house before the gods reined him in and subdued him.

Now a captain of the forces of Hell, he is known as Liu Mang Tai Zi/流氓太子, the Rogue Prince, and remains a wild and ferocious being.

The Hell deities at my teacher's sintua have been moved to a chamber of their own around the back of the building.

Here are pictures of the new set-up, plus of me and sales.convenience paying our respects.

Yes, that's right - Sales made another much welcomed trip to Klang.









This post has been edited by nachtsider: Dec 30 2016, 08:48 PM

From a currently dormant temple in Klang.

Ancient statues form a miniature tribunal of the Netherworld.

From your photos, some deities statue were placed at top position and some at the lower position.

What are the criteria used to decide the positioning of the deities statue among many of them?

Kindly enlighten me. Thanks.

Rank is the sole criteria.

Generally speaking, the high officials and commissioned officers are placed in the top tier, the non commissioned officers are placed in the middle tier and the enlisted men are placed in the lower tier.

Most of the mediums I know seem to be serving for life. Are there any difference between those with contracts and those serving till ripe old age?

Hope your teacher's temple can get a new medium.

I witness a temple/shrine that lived a glorious past. Celebrations days packed with devotees coming with lots of offerings. Chinese opera going for days. Things started to decline after the long time medium passed away. There were periods of no mediums and also the temple moved from town to the suburbans. Many older folks who do not have transport could not visit the temple as often. These days, celebration days are very quiet. No more operas too. The committee members which served 40-50 years seem to accept the fate that very few new or younger devotees are visiting. Could the deities help to revive in this situation?

talking about medium , i has a friend of mine that takeover this role generation by generation . his grandfather is the first medium , his father is the current medium and either he or his bro will takeover once his father not fit enough for this task. I thought the medium are chosen by deities and not decided by human being.

That sounds exceedingly suspicious.

No medium in his right mind would want his son to become a medium, not that he would be able to dictate that his son succeed him anyway.

It is the deities who appoint their mediums, not anybody else.

I can say the whole temple management is like a family affair/business from what I see.

From what I know from his dad(current medium) is his son will continue the service when he is not capable in future.During my time to see him in trance , he performed quite hardcore 'actions' ; slice tongue several time and get the blood to write on yellow paper , put whole bunch of josstick in mouth ;compared to another medium i seen before this

The length of one's contract as a medium hinges on the magnitude of the sins, past and present, that one has to pay penance for.

It is rare for a medium to last until 'ripe old age'; premature death is common, as a result of the stress and strain of trance (my teacher was not quite 55 when he died, and others have died younger still).

Dormant sintuas/temples may not necessarily remain dormant for long (replacement mediums may yet show up should the deities decide on a curtain call), but if the dormancy persists, one option to avoid total extinction would be to assimilate the dormant sintua/temple with an affiliated sintua/temple that is still alive and active.