星洲道院 • 世界紅卍字會新嘉坡總主會
The Origins and Founding of the Singapore Dao Yuan
and The World Red Swastika Society (Singapore Administration Centre)
Part Two: The Southward Journey - Singapore, 1928
The Mining Venture and the True Purpose
The Singapore story begins with a commercial proposal and ends as a spiritual mission – a sequence the institutional history presents not as irony but as divine orchestration.
Within the Guangzhou Tian Qing Cao Tang community, a proposal emerged: to sustain the Dao Yuan’s work over the long term, the community needed a source of income. The decision was made to invest in tin mining in Malaya. The Deity Fu Sheng approved the plan. Yu Zizhong and Yu Yunheng (余運亨, Dao name Zhiyuan 智緣) – Yu Zizhong’s young cousin from Taishan, who had joined the community as a teenager and served as the altar’s principal planchette writer – were dispatched to Singapore to establish both the mining company and a new Tian Qing Cao Tang. Thed men from the advance party – Zhou Wutong (周悟通) and Li Zhishan (李智善) – had already rented premises at 57 Kampong Bahru Road: the ground floor for the mining company (金義行鑛務公司), the upper floor for the planchette
The mining ventures – first tin, then a failed jade mining expedition to the Burma-Yunnan border – all came to nothing. But the planchette altar had been established. And through the altar, the community in Singapore grew. When the mining had clearly failed, a planchette instruction came: return to Hong Kong and Guangzhou to report; and then go north to inquire of the Dao. The commercial purpose dissolved; the spiritual mission remained. And in remaining, it was revealed as the true purpose all along.
The Divine Commission and the Southward Journey
Key Details
Singapore Tian Qing Cao Tang — Founding
Divine commission
16th day, 5th lunar month, 1928 – Deity Fu Sheng instructed Yu Zizhong and Zhiyuan to go south
First action on arrival
Proceeded to Johor Bahru to meet Zhu Xiangqu (朱香渠, Dao name Zhiduan 智端)
Key helpers
Zhou Wutong (周悟通) and Li Zhishan (李智善) – men in the advance party; already in Singapore
First premises
57 Kampong Bahru Road (金榜峇魯路57號) – ground floor: Gold Justice Mining Co (金義行鑛務公司); upper floor: Tian Qing Cao Tang
Chain of introductions
Chen Luchi (陳麓墀) at Buddhist Association → Chen Jinglian (陳敬連) → Lo Chengde (羅承德) → Li Xueqi (李學啓) → Zhu Xiangqu (朱香渠)
Four founding members (Chen Zhimian)
Zhu Xiangqu / Zhiduan (朱香渠 / 智端); Li Xueqi / Zhirou (李學啓 / 智柔); Lo Chengde / Zhiyuan (羅承德 / 智元); Chen Hepeng / Zhimian (陳鶴朋 / 智勉)
Encouragement verses
Deity Fu Sheng and Buddha Ji transmitted verses encouraging the southward journey
Membership growth
From ~10 founding members to more than 1,000 by 1936
On the 16th day of the 5th lunar month in 1928, the Deity Fu Sheng transmitted the instruction: go south. Yu Zizhong and Zhiyuan arrived in Singapore and went immediately to Johor Bahru to meet Zhu Xiangqu (Zhiduan) – who responded with complete commitment. The chain of introductions that followed brought in Lo Chengde, Li Xueqi, and Chen Hepeng (Zhimian) – the four founding members who would carry the community through its entire early history.
Before departure, Deity Fu Sheng transmitted a verse of encouragement: “Pack your bags, take the road southward – spur the horse, do not delay. Today your virtuous deeds go overseas; when you return home in years to come, blessings will flow without end.” And from the Buddha Ji: “Do not say that crossing the Seven Seas is arduous – when you reach Malaya, you may rest your whip.”
Chen Zhimian, who joined in 1928 and served for forty-nine years, records that Yu Zizhong in those early years moved between Singapore, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou without rest – like a horse that never stops – wholly given to the work without complaint.