Main Activities

Vesak

Vesak is the main event on the Shrine’s calendar, and is celebrated on a grand scale. It is marked by 5 days of spiritual prayer encompassing daily dharma and meditation sessions, oil lamp processions, spiritual healing, musical performances and mass chanting, culminating in a vegetarian dinner for over 600 invited guests including the MPs for Bishan-Toa Payoh, GRC Mrs Josephine Teo and Mr Hri Kumar Nair.

With the help of volunteers, we convert a rented open field into an inspiring and spiritual space for the Shrine’s Members, their families and friends, and the local community. Other than the marquee, other structures and elements such as the nine pillars containing inscription of the dharma, a lotus pond and lotus lamps are painstakingly put together by our members and volunteers over a two week period. These items are immediately washed, dried and stored in our 40’ containers at the end of the five day celebration.

Before the event, we hand deliver 1500 bilingual postcards to surrounding residents, inviting them to visit at any time during our celebration to pray or participate in the activities. We also install a large roadside banner at the site, welcoming the community. We are pleased to have noted an increasing number of residents visiting our site each year.

Deepavali and Lunar New Year

Smaller events, such as Deepavali, typically involve a full day prayer at the registered residential address, ending with a vegetarian buffet lunch for our Members and their families. There is also a half evening of prayers on the eve of the Chinese New Year. As these activities are held in the registered residential address, special attention is given to minimise and mitigate any inconveniences to our neighbours. Activities are often shortened and reduced in scale as a result.

Yearlong Meditation and Dharma

The monthly meditation and dharma classes, held at the registered address, are part of the year-long programme to put into practice the spiritual message that our Master delivers at each Vesak celebration. For the same reason of space constraints and minimal disturbance to the neighbours, pre-registration is often required. In addition, the Shrine also organises an annual free dharma camp lasting between 2 to 3 days held in our shrine in Pontain, Malaysia. These camps involve various forms of meditation, dharma discussion and practice chants for the participants, and are open to the volunteers, friends and families.

Yearlong Fortnightly Healing

Once every two weeks, the Shrine is opened to registrants for worship and spiritual healing. Through her years of meditation, our Master is able to help those suffering from karmic illnesses, offering temporary relief and allowing them time to lighten their load through the accumulation of positive karma. Many of these people go on to volunteer their own time in helping others. Currently we have over 150 volunteers, who return at various times of the year to assist in our Master’s work.

In addition, our Master also travels to Pontain, Malaysia, on a monthly basis to offer free healing to registrants in our Malaysian premises. which was built in the late 1980s.

Year-long Fortnightly Chanting and Dharma Sessions for Youth

Coinciding with the Shrine’s fortnightly opening, are dharma session for young Members and chanting practice for the youth prayer group. Due to space limitations, these sessions are run sequentially. Led by an older member, the society imparts core Buddhist philosophy, as well as our Master’s values, to the younger generation through dharma discussion. Practice chants are led by one to two senior chanters, to guide the younger prayer group with the correct rituals and diction

Fund Raising Events

In 2010, volunteers of the Shrine banded together to establish the Moh Hong Buddhist Shrine Building Fund, to raise investment capital for a permanent home for our Master’s activities. Given her underlying guiding principle of only raising funds through exchange of goods or service, the Building Fund does not accept outright donations and the volunteers raise, on average, around sixty thousand dollars a year through organised tours, bake sales, social events etc, which are all opened to friends and families.

Social Events

The Shrine organises several social events annually, as a way to forge closer bond between the volunteers and their families. These free events include a post-Vesak get-together tea/dinner for the volunteers and their families, and an annual mid-Autumn festival tea and mooncake appreciation party.

Supporting the Community

The Shrine also engages with the community, and has been an avid supporter of grassroots and community activities since the 1980s. Each year we donate to four citizens’ consultative committees; Bishan East CCC, Bishan-Toa Payoh North CCC, Thomson CCC, and Toa Payoh East CCC, in support of their community engagement programmes, including education bursaries.