I would classify sintua as being both cultural and religious, Brian.

Welcome to the thread, by the way; please feel free to stick around and chit-chat.

The answer is NO.

Down there, you are not allowed to own anything except food, basic clothes and a small amount of money.

Burning paper airplanes, cars, mobile phones, houses, servants and so on is totally meaningless and a waste of time.

Just for joke

I was hoping the guy would try to burn some petrol and end up being admitted to hospital after scalding himself.

Passage into the other world marks the commencement of penance and spiritual cultivation.

I do not approve of such vulgar rituals, as they will only serve to hinder the above.

I was trying to reason their behaviour.

Hi @nachtsider I've only discovered this thread yesterday and have only read until page 16 so far.

Want to jump the queue and thank you first and foremost for this informative thread. It was really nice and patient of you to explain almost everything in detail and I do enjoy the fun facts every once in a while where you would do some intro on the deities

I've always been doubtful of the authenticity of mediums and their channeling powers and as you have mentioned, it is almost impossible to tell if someone is the real deal or not without seeing the end product. I'm curious though and would like to ask if you have any particular temple/medium in Singapore to recommend that i can pay a visit to see for myself?

My gf's family 'sees' Ji Gong pretty frequently and it seems that Ji Gong has saved them from a lot of trouble and even their lives from an accident once. Other people who tell me this i would just take it with a pinch of salt but i really dont think she and her family are the bullshitting kind lol which makes me wonder, why have i not encountered any deities personally? is it a good thing bcos it means i'm staying out of harm's way? or is it a bad thing that's why they dowan see me

*edit: the medium my gf and her family sees used to be the real deal but then he went astray down the road. apparently the deities stopped coming to him one day but he continued to act as a real medium and asked for lots of financial favors. so from a real medium he became a cheat, and he lost everything afterwards. His wife, his kids, his properties... everything. So i have no idea where to find a real medium now lol

This post has been edited by zozzle: Apr 7 2016, 01:22 PM

Hi zoz, the gratitude and pleasure are all mine for your viewership. I'm glad I managed to entertain and educate. Please do stay tuned.

Where encountering deities is concerned, oftentimes, 'no news is good news'. You may not encounter them on account of your life being fairly smooth, and thus not requiring any divine assistance. Communing with them can also sometimes boil down to a matter of putting yourself out there and making an effort to establish contact. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and fortune favours the bold. How often do you attend temples or shrines - for that matter, do you attend those temples or shrines that conduct trance sessions? Try hanging around a reputable place and attend a seance or several; you might just find yourself striking up an interesting relationship.

Unfortunately, the Ji Gong medium of whom you speak is not alone in his behaviour. There have been a fair number of mediums who 'turn' or forsake their vows, lose their divine patronage as a result, but continue to fradulently claim that they still channel and defraud the unwary. Some are simple conmen who play-act, with their temples and shrines now completely devoid of any spiritual presence, but others go so far as to form alliances with and channel dangerous supernatural beings who impersonate deities in order to convincingly keep up the pretense, their temples and shrines now harbouring these evil creatures instead of gods. The fake mediums from the latter category can be very dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. Both types may find the life of a conman rewarding, but ultimately, nothing awaits them but misery and retribution.

There are a number of places in Singapore that I recommend, one of the most reputable being the Red Water Palace (Ci Shui Gong/赤水宫). You can visit them at No. 2, Yishun Industrial Street 1, Singapore 768159. Consults with Sudhana/Shan Cai take place on the 1st and 15th of every lunar month, and consults with a Sixth Court Tua Ya Pek take place every Friday night; call Simon (+65 9005 0904) or Jestina (+65 9800 7977) beforehand to make a booking.

Bump for a simple wayside shrine to Guan Yin.

It's not ideal, in that any shrine is ideally as shielded from the elements as possible so as to circumvent damage and dirt, but this case appears to be more born out of scant resources than anything else, not because someone was lazy or malicious.

respect is from heart, or from the method you pray?

What do you mean by evil creatures? How can you tell?

Let me rephrase myself.

Do our heart differs from ritualistic action?

If so, then the better the ceremonial the better heart you have there?

Or the most important thing is, your first thought?

Supernatural entities whose intentions are much, much less than righteous.

You can tell if the sintua or temple you have attended definitely shows signs that something otherworldly is afoot (e.g. the mediums performing superhuman feats such as telling you accurate things about yourself that they could not have previously known), but nevertheless also shows signs that less than reputable activities are taking place there (e.g. the mediums being active gang members, demanding sexual favours of devotees, demanding monetary payment and so on).

How come they put Guan Yin on the floor? Anyway she looks happy..

Oh...I remembered a Guai Tan series saying that even evil spirits can reside in a Guan Yin statue...heh.

wait wait... you mean the real deal cannot do that meh?

Read the paragraph again, my friend.

If the place is legit, the mediums will be able to perform supernatural feats, but will not do unethical stuff.

If the place is fraudulent but harbouring malevolent spirits, the mediums will be able to perform supernatural feats, but will also be engaged in unethical stuff.

a more rare display of ba ji jiang , moves are quite unique My Webpage

Bump for a home altar to Tua Li Ya Pek.

Such a great read, Natch! Really appreciate such well written posts. And I'm amazed that you can convey your messages in such a neutral but also positive manner. Loving it!

Not sure if this is relevant to Sintua (probably not, more towards occult stuff), basically when I was really young, my sis/mom said I was befriending "something" bad because they found me waking up in the middle of the night, for idk how many days/weeks, crying/ screaming and running around as if I was being chased by something. I even drew that thing on a piece of paper because my sis asked me about the thing that chased me. So, they brought me to a chinese temple, bathed me in something idk and my nightmares kinda stopped after that I guess. To be honest, I have no recollection of whatsover demons/ spirits chasing me until my family told me about it.
Sorry if this is poorly conveyed because I had no idea what was going on either. I just hope that there's no adverse effect from ritual they did to me at the temple.