Leang Shen Temple, Spaoh




Leang Shen Temple, literally in Chinese is ‘Two Sages Old Temple’. There is no record on where the ‘two sages’ were from as there are a total 7 main host deities in the temple; when the temple was first initiated, there was only Ma Zhu, the Taoist Goddess of the Sea worshipped in the temple.


Spaoh is a small town of Betong division, about half an hour off the Trans Borneo Highway; it is about 3 to 3 ½ hour drive from Kuching City. The temple is situated next to the Paku River, and nearby a friendly Malay fishing village.



The origin of the temple was said to be from a businessman who used to travel along Paku River & nearby tributaries to do businesses. He brought along the deity Ma Zhu & censer in his boat for spiritual support & protection.

As the population of Spaoh grew, he settled down in Spaoh in about 1920 (& became the first Kapitan or village head), and naturally also built a simple temple for Ma Zhu in this small town. As time went by, additional deities were added to the ‘Ma Zhu’ temple as to devotees’ demand.

In the early 1950s (during the Korean War), the demand of local produce (such as pepper) were good; local farmers (many of them Chinese) were having good days. The first rebuilding of the temple was thus initiated partly for thanks giving & there was a week long celebration & religious procession.

The recent upgrade of the temple was done in 2000. Like the previous rebuilding, there was week long celebration & procession; many devotees & visitors from outskirts, other towns came for the occasion.


Location: Spaoh, Sarawak, Malaysia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poh Lin Shan (保灵山), Serikin, Bau – The Floating Buddha

Image
The host deity, the Golden Buddha was first found drifting along the Lundu river by a group of Iban boys in 2012. It is now hosted in Poh Lin Shan 保灵山 at the road junction to Serikin in Bau, in a natural limestone cave by devotees. One of the local devotees, Tan, earlier on was already planning for a place of worship in the area; coincidentally, this mysterious Golden Buddha Statue was found, the rest is history. It was said to be floating a thousand miles in the sea, at sitting position, before reaching Lundu. Could this be due to the mega tsunami in 2012? There are many mysterious stories or sayings on this floating Buddha and the limestone cave; one of those is about the mystical sangha shadow glimmering on a limestone wall in the cave, it is believed that the invisible image will only appear to those with faith. Undoubtedly, Poh Lin Shan has added another attraction in Bau recently to both the religious devotees and the tourists, and hopefully continued to bring pro...
Read more

Mt Hosanna Chapel, Sri Aman

Image
Mount Hosanna Chapel is located at 157 KM of the Kuching/Sri Aman Highway. Its unique architecture & white paintings makes it very eye-catching as you passed by the site even on the very first time. The building signifies three large white candles. The steps of the staircase to the top is said to be 100 steps. The place is opened only on Sunday at 1000am.
Read more

The Bau Chinese Insurgence 1857

Image
This is a forgotten sad story of a Chinese leader Liu Shan Bang, the Twelve Kongsi operating in the Mau San gold mine, and the once prosperous self governed mining town of Bau Lama or Mau San. The Mau San Tian Tsze Lung Kung is more than a century old. It was founded around the time when gold & antimony were discovered in Mau San, about 1820 – 1830. The host deity is Lau Chu Tian Tsze, a deity of Hakka origin since most of the miners were Hakka, originally mostly from Sambas, Kalimantan. This temple provided the pioneer miners spiritual supports and also served as a centre for cultural activities & other administrative matters of the Twelve Kongsi. Before the arrival of Sir James Brooke, Sarawak was under the rule of Brunei. Around that time, Sarawak, particularly the settlement around the gold mining areas were facing an uprising against the Brunei ruling from native Dayaks and the Malays. James Brooke assisted the Sultan of Brunei to settle the local civil war ...
Read more