Wei Tuo Fa Gong Temple (韋陀法宮) @ Pulau Ubin [Singapore]

I had been to Pulau Ubin countless times since I was a teenager and had even served as a tour guide to fellow friends who had never been to this idyllic oasis outside the concrete jungle that almost all of Singaporeans live in. 

However, there are still hidden corners yet to be explored and I decided to "jio" a friend to take on a quiet track I cycled past very often, with a sign that pointed towards a place of worship; Wei Tuo Fa Gong Temple. 

After a ride of just over 200 meters, we reached the temple that had strings of fluttering prayer flags that attracted us with their bright colors. Unlike temples on mainland Singapore, the design here was nondescript and appeared more like it was converted from a typical kampong house.

Colors captivated me and it's no doubt that this striking yellow pavilion, with its carefully arranged prayer flags hanging down from the ceiling, would be our first destination to check out. 

Beautiful colors right?

The prayer flags and rotating prayer wheels were signs of what appeared to be Tibetan Buddhism. I may be Buddhist but I am honestly quite ignorant of the different branches. To me, Buddhism is always about doing good, and reduce whatever harm to people, society and environment., if possible. 

No idea about the language for the words on the tiles. I was more amused by the placement of the icon of South Korea's Jeju Island; dol hareubang (grandfather stone statue)! Seemed like an international community here. 

There's also a large pond with a rickety wooden bridge. It just feel very un-Singapore as things were not as proper, although there's a great deal of charm to being unkempt, unplanned.

Main support for the prayer flags adorning the temple! In the eyes of many from the younger generation; it's very instagrammable! Just that weather can be a major dampener for any selfie.

A lot of fishes in the pond with signs of overcrowding. Given that it's a religious area, I doubt anglers would be welcome to catch the fish. Amitabh. 

The main temple would have to wait as there were more things further down the path. As someone who has had the opportunity to live in the village when he was young; the structures were remnants of childhood memory. 

Another photo angle for the main prayer flag support. The sight was spectacular in the daytime; can't say it would be the same at night. Kind of reminded me of a scene in the Thai supernatural movie; Phobia 2. 

Building seemed rundown although there were statues of Laughing Buddha appearing to 'guard' the place. Again, unlike most properly planned temples, the statues, of which had peeling paint, were likely unwanted and donated.

Known also as Maitreya, the laughing buddha is also said to be the future buddha "who will descend to earth to preach anew the dharma". God knows if I will still be around but judging from the human technological advances and increasing mistrust in the past few decades, I can only say "good luck" to the future buddha.

I always wonder; what's within the stupa? 

In typical explanation, the stupas contain relics. 

Finally, the main temple! Greeting us is a statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva who is most renowned for his vow to "attain the final enlightenment only after the hell realm is emptied". That's an impossible feat given human nature. 

This should be Gautama Buddha; founder of Buddhism. It's common to have his statue at Buddhist temples; in Singapore's context, however, Chinese temples can be a mix of both Taoism and Buddhism.

It's the same case here; above was a typical Taoist altar for the Master Tiger, which is more a guardian spirit even though it is revered as a deity for its ability to curse your enemies! Compared to other gods, its "altar" is always more the ground and shaped like a cave, since tigers live in caves. The offerings are also different as you can sometimes find raw meat.

Octagon-shaped pond.

Another version of the laughing buddha which goes by many names; less flattering ones include fat buddha and the one above is the buddha with a cloth sack.

More statues. From what I read online, the temple has been around since the 1950s even though it evolved from a private altar in a residential house. 

Pretty spacious temple and it helped that not many people are aware about it; I did see a van unloading some devotees but it's nowhere near the popularity of Wat Siam before it moved over to mainland Singapore from Ubin. 

As there are many deities in Taoism, some of whom could be country specific, I am only aware of the selected few who were more prominent in Singapore; like tua pek kong, city god, jade emperor etc. For the one above, I am drawing a question mark. 

This should be the hall for the main deity since it bears the name of the temple. From the name, I can't infer which deities / gods were being honored. Hence, let's step in for a closer look.

From the statues on display, my guess is that they were from the underworld, also known as hell. I can recognize Heibai Wuchang (黑白无常), the hell deities dressed in black and white, respectively, whose main role is to escort the deceased to hell. 

Earlier, I mentioned about deities that could be found in some countries. One deity found only in Malaysia and Singapore is Dato God, also known as Na Du Gong.

The creepy thing about this specific shrine is the life-sized statue which looked like an embalmed person! Can't imagine bumping into it at night.

Coming to the end of my short tour. To be frank, it's quite an interesting temple and I would definitely add it as a point of attraction the next time I organized a Pulau Ubin tour. 

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Location Map

As above.