SGDY Inaugural Messages Complete Charter
Singapore Dao Yuan Founding Charter
Part III - Secondary Planchette Transmissions: The Officers' Instructions
The founding publication contains two further planchette sessions addressed to the specific officers of the Singapore Dao Yuan, providing personalised instruction that contextualises the general teachings within the particular responsibilities of each individual. These secondary transmissions are among the most practically significant documents in the founding record, revealing the relationship between cosmological principle and institutional responsibility.
3.1. 智真鸞訓 - Planchette Instruction to Officer Zhizhen
子前途速其進展是最切實有用神益於身心性命之訓文。老人不二之法門務須視各訓為最親切有味否或束之高閣而了不在心目則非是老人之法門務須。
The Disciple’s (Zhi Zhen) swift progress of your future path - this is the most concrete, useful, spiritually beneficial instruction text for body, heart, nature, and life-destiny. I do not have two methods - [my] method must regard each instruction as most intimate and meaningful; do not bundle them onto the high shelf and lose them from heart and eye - that is not my method, which must be [followed].
This instruction is addressed to 智真 (Zhizhen), one of the founding nine officers bearing the Wisdom-lineage (智) Dao-names. The phrase 老人不二之法門 – ‘The Most Holy One does not have two different methods’ – is a pointed directive: there is only one approach, one discipline, one set of instructions. The warning against 束之高閣 – ‘bundling onto the high shelf’ (i.e., storing away reverentially but not reading) – is remarkable in its cultural precision. In Chinese culture, placing a valued text on a high shelf is a mark of reverence; but reverence without engagement is precisely the institutional calcification warned against in the primary address’s three analogies. The founding text must be read, internalised, and lived; not displayed.
基上六項係老人一片苦心以圖南疆道化且將與北地息息流通共進於大同之字是當敬謹奉行勿有稍忽。
The six movements described above are the key concerns of The Most Holy One in planning the Dao-transformation of the South, and to connect by-breath with the northern hemisphere, co-advancing toward the goal of Great Harmony. These are to be reverently and carefully put into action without the slightest neglect.
汝須牢記將諸事分別次序相機舉辦，則道慈之進展實靡有涯。老人實是快心案前即頓一拈以誌欣喜。
You must firmly remember: distinguish all affairs by their proper sequence, act according to circumstances - then the progress of the Dao and Compassion will truly have no limit. The Most Holy One is truly gladdened at heart; and before the planchette, I snap my fingers at once to mark my joy.
The closing finger-snap (頓一拈) echoes the founding poem’s 不勞彈指 (‘without labour, in a finger-snap’) – creating a textual ring-structure that connects the cosmic arrival with the personalised institutional instruction. The Most Holy One snaps fingers at Singapore’s founding moment, and snaps fingers again at the closing of Zhizhen’s personal instruction, marking both as moments of genuine joy. The institutional and the cosmic are held in the same gesture.
3.2. 智生·智元·智發·智情- Instruction to the Four Senior Officers
智生智元智發智情鸞訓。智生智元智發智情鸞訓。汝四子締造星院足見堅誠修道，發慈濟世可為欣慰。
Planchette Instruction to Zhisheng, Zhiyuan, Zhifa, Zhiqing. [The four are named again in formal address.] You four disciples' founding of the Singapore Dao Yuan fully demonstrates firm and sincere cultivation of the Dao and the practice of compassion to rescue the world - this is truly gratifying.
This joint instruction to the four most senior officers reveals the operational structure of the Singapore Dao Yuan in its founding configuration. The four officers – 智生 (Zhisheng), 智元 (Zhiyuan), 智發 (Zhifa), 智情 (Zhiqing) – are described collectively as 締造星院 (‘founders of the Singapore Dao Yuan’): they are not merely officeholders but the founding community whose collective effort has made the institution possible. The Most Holy One’s use of the warmly informal 汝四子 (‘you four disciples’) alongside the formal double-naming of all four establishes the relationship: formality of role, intimacy of relationship.
汝四子締造星院足見堅誠修道，兩務實現其繁榮，即派智生為星院首席統掌，智元為星院维护統掌，智發為星院责任統掌，智情為星院院監四子對於各訓文內凡所囑咐一切之事端慈宜遵照次第切實施行勿稍遺忽。
You four disciples' founding of the Singapore Dao Yuan demonstrates firm and sincere cultivation; the two functions [Dao and Ci] being fulfilled - Zhisheng is appointed as the Singapore Dao Yuan's Chief Overseer, Zhiyuan as the Singapore Dao Yuan's Overseer (Guardian), Zhifa as the Singapore Dao Yuan's Overseer (Specific), Zhiqing as Singapore Dao Yuan's Dean- the four disciples, for everything entrusted in all the instruction texts, must reverently follow in sequence and carry out concretely without the slightest neglect.
The formal appointment of officers through the planchette transmission itself is a significant institutional act. The Most Holy One does not merely congratulate; The Most Holy One appoints. 智生 (Zhisheng – real name 余澤生) is named 首席統掌 (Chief Overseer); 智元 (Zhiyuan – real name 羅承德) as 维护統掌 Overseer (Protector); 智發 (Zhifa – real name 李奕海) as Overseer (Specific Duties); 智情 (Zhiqing) as院監 (Supervising Dean). The appointments derive their authority directly from celestial transmission – the founding officers receive their roles not from election or human appointment but from The Most Holy One’s direct instruction through the planchette. This is characteristic integration of celestial authority with institutional structure.
The instruction closes with a phrase that directly echoes the First Instruction’s prefatory statement: 則異日南天啟化光耀石門 – ‘then on another day, the southern heaven will begin its transformation, and the Stone Gate will blaze with light.’ The 石門 (Stone Gate) is a celestial metaphor for the gateway of the Dao’s full manifestation – the moment when the transformation initiated by Singapore’s founding becomes fully visible across the Nanyang. The four officers’ faithful implementation of the instructions is the condition for this southern illumination. Their diligence is cosmologically consequential.
3.3. The Publication Mandate - 余曹鴻書也奉
A third brief transmission closes the main session record: 余曹鴻書也奉 – ‘We, the Cao-Hong scribes, also respectfully transmit.’ This colophon identifies the secondary scribes who assisted 海一侍 in recording the session. The date given for this transmission is 丙子九月廿七日未刻統科 – ‘Bingzi, 9th month, 27th day, Wèi-hour (1–3 pm)’ – confirming that the publication mandate (to compile, print, and distribute the planchette instructions) was given in a separate session five days after the inaugural opening.