April 11, 2010
Marionette Performance in Celebration of the Monkey God's birthday
Pardon me for the backdated entry..the Henghua marionette performance was held from 8-10 March at Kampong Kapor Road in celebration of the Monkey God's (齐天大圣) birthday
As the performance was staged at Kampong Kapor, a place frequented mostly by Indians and tourists, performance on the first night was especially swarmed with curious onlookers who stood there for quite a while, enjoying the rare sight. The tourists behind us were also busy clicking their cameras away.
Besides the performance, the Tian Xing Gong temple (天性宫) nearby also came 'alive'. Ronni told me the temple was usually closed (opened at night) when he visited it a few times. He sounded very excited when the temple was finally opened and I was also happy to 'discover' yet another Henghua temple.
The puppeteer bringing the puppet up to the temple after the Eight Immortals performance 八仙戏
Food for thought: Ronni suggested that I took a photo of the marionette performance from Tian Xing Gong to see the 'connection' between the temple and the performance..can you spot where it is?
April 7, 2010
Puppet troupes
Was supposed to watch puppet performances in celebration of Guangze Zunwang's birthday but probably due to getai, both performances held at Hong San See and another one in the open space at Hougang Central ended early. They usually performed at 8pm but this time round, they performed from 5pm-7pm. Nevertheless, here are some of the pictures:
Xin Cai Yun puppet troupe's stage (新彩云木偶掌中班) at Hong San See (凤山寺)
A closer look at the puppet stage
Xin Xing Lai (Glove) Puppet troupe's (新兴来掌中班) stage at Hougang Central
April 2, 2010
The Classics
Was quite into reading the classics though I don't deny that was done with some difficulty..the reading started partly for a better understanding of the philosophy and thoughts as an attempt to link to the present. First it was Daodejing (道德经) and while searching for the translated versions of Hanfeizi (韩非子), I found a good website that places both the Chinese and English versions side by side for easy reading and reference.
Here is the table of contents in English and Chinese (just the chapter name is hard to translate if you have not read or understood the Hanfeizi):
Book One
1. 初见秦 The First Interview with the King of Ch'in: A Memorial
2. 存韩 On the Preservation of Han: Issue Between Han Fei and Li Ssŭ
3. 难言On the Difficulty in Speaking: A Memorial
4. 爱臣On Favourite Vassals: A Memorial
5. 主道 The Tao of the Sovereign
Book Two
6. 有度 Having Regulations: A Memorial
9. 八姦 Eight Villainies
Book Three
10. 十过 Ten Faults
Book Four
11. 孤愤 Solitary Indignation 12. 说难 Difficulties in the Way of Persuasion
13. 和氏 The Difficulty of Pien Ho
14. 姦劫弑臣 Ministers Apt to Betray, Molest, or Murder the Ruler ('assassinate' is more appropriate?)
Book Five
15. 亡徵 Portents of Ruin 16. 三守 Three Precautions
Book Six
20. 解老 Commentaries on Lao Tzŭ (Laozi)'s Teachings
Book Seven
21. 喻老 Illustrations of Lao Tzŭ (Laozi)'s Teachings 22. 说林上 Collected Persuasions, The Upper Series
23. 说林下 Collected Persuasions, The Lower Series
Book Nine
30. 內储说上 Inner Congeries of Sayings, The Upper Series: Seven Tacts
Book Ten
31. 內储说下 Inner Congeries of Sayings, The Lower Series: Six Minutiae
Book Eleven
32. 外储说左上 Outer Congeries of Sayings, The Upper Left Series
Book Twelve
33. 外储说左下 Outer Congeries of Sayings, The Lower Left Series
Book Thirteen
34. 外储说右上 Outer Congeries of Sayings, The Upper Right Series
Book Fourteen
35. 外储说右下 Outer Congeries of Sayings, The Lower Right Series
36. 难一 Criticisms of The Ancients, Series One
Book Sixteen
38. 难三 Criticisms of the Ancients, Series Three 39. 难四 Criticisms of the Ancients, Series Four
Book Seventeen
40. 难势 A Critique of the Doctrine of Position 41. 问辩 Inquiring into the Origin of Dialectic
42. 问田 Asking T'ien: Two Dialogues 43. 定法 Deciding Between Two Legalistic Doctrines
44. 说疑 On Assumers 45. 诡使 Absurd Encouragements
Book Eighteen
46. 六反 Six Contrarieties 47. 八说 Eight Fallacies 48. 八经 Eight Canons
Book Nineteen
49. 五蠹 Five Vermins: A Pathological Analysis of Politics
50. 显學 Learned Celebrities: A Critical Estimate of Confucians and Mohists
Book Twenty
51. 忠孝 Loyalty and Filial Piety: A Memorial 52. 人主 The Lord of Men
53. 饬令 Making Orders Trim
54. 心度Surmising the Mentality of the People: A Psychological Analysis of Politics
55. 制分Regulations and Distinctions
Reference: http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/saxon/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=xwomen/texts/hanfei.xml&style=xwomen/xsl/dynaxml.xsl&chunk.id=tpage&doc.view=tocc&doc.lang=bilingual
Taoist mission dinner 1 April 2010
It was great to see friends whom I had not seen for some time or never met at the dinner yesterday.
The 3 bows and 9 prostrations (三叩九拜)
I asked Chan about the cream-coloured strip-like thing that Master Lee Zhiwang, President of the Taoist Mission was holding. He said it was believed that this was used when officials presented memorials or reports to the Emperor, or probably they could have used it to cover their eyes since eye contact with the Emperor was not allowed then. That sounds very new and interesting to me. Perhaps anyone can share more information about this?
Chanting the Qi Dao Ci (祈祷词)
Announcement by Master Lee on the agreement with Keng Teck Whay to use its premises
A glimpse at those who attended the dinner at Furama Riverfront Hotel
Various representatives reading the Religious Harmony Declaration (宗教和谐声明) 
