Dear Readers,
This week I have been doing less than usual because of a big cold. This is a kind of flu that has been going around for weeks here. My husband finally had to break down and visit the doctor to get drugs. It just wasn't going to go away. I have been down for a week with a cough, chest pain, sore throat, and runny nose. I have been stealing my husband's drugs to try and shorten this thing.
In the midst of this pain, I had already signed up for a tour of the oldest Buddhist monastery in Singapore. I decided to go and spread the misery around. This monastery (1880's) was hard to get to because it is now located inside a housing block. Orginally it was built in a swamp on land owned by a spice grower. He and his son had a dream that people were coming to see them to built a temple for Buddha. So they went down that day and waited at the harbor. On the last ship were a group of Buddhist monks and nuns. He took them home and let them stay for awhile. One monk stayed and helped design the temple. The monastery was huge at first but as Singapore grew up around it, it lost its land. It became a big martial arts school taught by monks because the swamp land was where the criminals hung out. During WWII Chinese guerillas were taught to be machinists and mechanics to help overthrow the Japanese. So the Japanese quickly shut it down when they got there. The monks were put in prison camps. After the war, they reopened.
Now the monastery is still a large place with twenty one buildings. The only have about five monks there to hold down the fort. I was told monks like to travel. They never stay in one place for more than a couple years and then it's on to the next place! Buddha said suffering is caused by ignorance so they travel to learn things. Their needs are few.
This monastery has been in the midst of remodeling. It got termites and they did a number on the roof. The government told them to replace it or else so they went out and raised the money by begging, selling relics and beads, and squeezing patrons. They only have one microphone to chant with but lots of other good stuff-gold statues, bonzai trees, ying and yang everywhere. This temple to dedicated to the Buddha of mercy, a woman buddha (some say like Mary, mother of Jesus). Everywhere there were offerings of candy, fruits, and stacks of oranges.
We weren't supposed to take pictures inside but the women I was with snapped them right and left. One even got the sign that said no photographs. I thought about ignorance and what would Buddha do! They were definitely going to get extras lives for that!
Next door and run by the monks was a Chinese temple dedicated to the Chinese god of Singapore. This was packed by old people burning incense and stacks of paper money. Here you could buy paper laptops and cell phones to offer to the gods as well as the usual money and houses. It was time for the birthday of the god and they were selling paper costumes. The god needed a new pair of shoes. Outside were horses wrapped in golden cloaks and whose legs were surrounded by red strings. This string, the guide told us, was to remind the soldiers when they left to fight, that they had "strings attached" to the family they left behind. They needed to come back.
After the tour, we walked through Toa Payuah, the place they built housing for the public the first time. These flats were the first attempt to house the homeless, landless, and general population of Singapore. Senior citizens got apartments that were only one four levels because they were afraid of heights. The original flats are gone now, all rebuilt as all apartment buildings are after they stand so long. Now these aren't free. Each person buys them and then pays the government rent. The key here is ownership. They own their flats-making about a $30,000 down payment before they can have it. They are interviewed, the government makes the loan, and they can cash in their "social security" to make the payment. Why? The government determined that "ownership" is all that keeps people from poverty, rioting, and other bad stuff. You see, they believe, give a person his own place and they will be law abiding and successful citizens. Give a person public housing without strings and they will be dependent on the government, not take care of the property, and in general fall into crime, drugs, and poverty. They use the US as one example. You can see the same things in China and most other Asian countries (India for example).
These apartments ( I walked through demos at the headquarters) are great. One-Three Bedrooms are available. People pick out their colors, cabinets, appliances, odds and ends. Then the government builds them. Singapore houses 87% of their population this way. The rest live in private apartments and houses (the rest that were left). They cost a fortune!
On the way over to the headquarters of the housing authority, we stopped by a grassy knoll between buildings. Here, the guide told us, the construction crew found an idol under a tree. They considered it a sign from heaven and refused to bulldoze the tree. The engineer got on the bulldozer and said he would do it himself. The dozer flipped over killing him. They left the tree and constructed a temple on the spot. They set up a shrine in the folds of the tree. I saw a Zen cat napping there.
So, an interesting time was had by all.
