Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels
BUDDHA TOOTH RELIC TEMPLE SINGAPORE
Singapore City, Singapore - May 2015
Our friend LK took us on a mini-cycle adventure around Singpore City after the morning's Singpaore Brompton Day event. After lunch at the Maxwell Hawker Centre, we popped over to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum. Now, that was a name that intrigued me and drew me in. I had previously visited the Ounalom Temple in Phnom Penh which is purportedly suppose to hold Buddha's eyebrow. Now here we have one that have that holds a relic of Buddha's tooth. This I must go in and see.
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| Main entrance to the temple. |
The temple is located at South Bridge Road within the China-town area of Singapore City.
The following excerpts from Wikipedia gives a brief introduction to the architecture and history of the temple:
"The temple is based on the Tang dynasty architectural style and built to house the tooth relic of the historical Buddha. The ground breaking ceremony was conducted on 13 March 2005. Costing S$62 million and 2 years later, a soft launch was held to coincide with the 2007 Vesak Day celebration (it was officially opened in 31st May 2007). It is claimed that the relic of Buddha from which it gains its name was found in 1980 in a collapsed stupa in Myanmar. Since opening, the temple has become a popular attraction within Chinatown. Simple vegetarian fare is served in the basement of the temple, though donations are accepted."
Right at the entrance stands two tall fierce looking temple guards. Although they may take different forms at different temples, these are the Dvarapala that one will find at most Buddhist temples.
A close up view of one of the temple guards.
The roof eaves and column header shows the distinct style from the Tang Dynasty.
MAIN PRAYER HALL
The entrance to the Main Prayer Hall is preceded by an open foyer courtyard.
The roof architecture above the Main Prayer Hall as seen from the entrance open courtyard.
Just at the hall's entrance is this niche that holes a colourful porcelain statue of Buddha. Here, devotees start an acknowledging prayer before continuing inwards for further prayers.
The Main Prayer Hall.
Tables have been laid our for chanting and offerings.
The main altar and offering table.
Buddha is flanked by two hand-maidens.
Close up view of the golden Buddha statue sitting on a throne with a stylized peacock tail.
Near the entrance into the hall, candles and flowers are offered in prayer for devotees' ancestors.
A simple cup candle prayer offering.
On the two side walls are niches holding statues of the Buddha in various meditating and praying poses. Above them are rows of golden dragons.
Devotees praying.
OTHER DETAILS
Chinese-style lantern chandeliers.
Closer bottom-up view of the lantern chandelier. The motifs look like Chinese paper cuttting.
Another lantern-style chandelier. This one with peacock motifs.
Closer bottom-up view of the Peacock lantern.
A red lotus flower giant joss urn.
Asymmetrical lines of roof rafters.
Detailed embossed entrance signboard with small Buddha statues.
Wind chime, do we see an owl there?
Lotus flower drain covers.
Red timber temple entrance door with brass studs and lion door handle.
Lion door handle, this close up also shows the detail of the brass studs.
Buddha Tooth Relic Museum
288 South Bridge Rd, Singapore 058840
Tel.: +65 6220 0220
Hours: 7:00am to 7:00pm (Everyday)
GPS: 1.281327, 103.844620
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First some bitter to start off with to cool down on a hot afternoon and work up our appetites.
The main order came: three large and thick sausages enclosing a large scoop of mash with golden-brown onion rings and topped by a green sprig. I cut open one of the sausage...
... inside were pork that had been ground but not to an extent where they become too fine like those sausages from the supermarkets. Here is a solid sausage with coarser meat that was good to munch into - flavourful and juicy.
For desserts, I ordered coconut ice-cream that came in a coconut shell and topped up with some slices of sea coconut. Although beautifully served, there was some real disappointment here. It was not coconut ice-cream made from fragrant santan (coconut milk) but milk ice-cream with coconut shavings inside. This had happened to me before; when will I learn that coconut ice-cream the Western way is just this, and not the santan ice-cream the Eastern way.
Their menu (click on photo to enlarge).
#01-106/107 Vivocity (Lift Lobby F), 1 HarbourFront Walk, Singapore 098585.
