"Fake Remedy"

I've been thinking about whether to post this or not... a news clip I came across way back in June, on a flight from Chengdu to Bangkok. I guess I've decided. So here it is. It was reported by the Bangkok Post.

Don't try this at home. Don't try this ANYWHERE!

Witch doctors, space aliens and banana trunks

This is the first of a couple of newspaper clippings from the June 27th, "Bangkok Post." I was coming back from Chengdu, China to Penang, Malaysia on board of a Thai Airways flight. It's a belated posting, but still good.

Welcome to Alternate Reality

I figured while I'm at it, I might as well post this before I forget...

Looking for a different reality, a different country to be a citizen of?
Well, consider "Global Country of World Peace" where Tony Nader reigns as "the First Sovereign Ruler of the Global Country of World Peace." Nader, a.k.a "His Majesty Vishwa Prashasak Raja Nader Ram" rules "according to the Vedic Principles which have been given to us by the Holy Tradition of Vedic Masters." And in particular, the principles taught by "His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who introduced Veda — the Constitution of the Universe — the total knowledge of Natural Law, which governs the infinite diversity of the universe with perfect order." So Ralphie might have lost the elections, but Tony is certainly making the Nader ancestors proud.

Here, visit them at their website: Global Country of World Peace.

If you have some spare change (in the vicinity of half a million US$), I'm sure there will be some important work for you to do in this country - perhaps a kingship to assume, or a government ministerial position (they have over 40 departments) or even building and reigning over your own "Peace Palace."

Know why the Dow-Jones index reached a record-high of 14,022 last week?

According to John Hagelin, Ph.D., "a world-renowned quantum physicist, educator, public policy expert, and leading proponent of peace" and "Director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, a leading science and technology think tank, and International Director of the Global Union of Scientists for Peace" (at Maharishi University of Management) and "Minister of Science and Technology of the Global Country of World Peace" and "President of the United States Peace Government, a knowledge-based, complementary government composed of hundreds of America’s top scientists, which advocates proven, prevention-oriented solutions to critical social problems" (You can check out his full profile at his website: Hagelin.org), the Dow-Jones index will reach a record high of 17,000 due to the release of "harmonious waves" by a group of 1800 Transcendental Meditation practitioners in Iowa.

This according to an article on MSNBC. Here, read it yourself: "Meditators predict Dow to reach 17,000 in year"

Hmm...maybe I should send them the email I got earlier inviting groups to participate in the Multifaith Holy Spirit Presentation where, "For the (sic) safety reasons, no inter-challenge of holy spirit is allowed where special permission is required when the application of unknown spirit, ghost, zombie, Dracula, vampire etc required in real site. Normally true film recording by participants with demonstration is sufficient in such cases."

Back!

So... I'm back in the US now. Well... as with any flying across time zones, not all has arrived yet - I think parts are still in-transit somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. I left my parents' home in Penang, Malaysia around 6:15 AM on July 26 and got back to Cabin Hill around 1:15 AM on July 27 (which was 1:15 PM on July 27 in Malaysia). Went to bed not long after arriving and woke up about 10 hours later.

Here I am now, about 1:30 AM. I reckon I should go to bed. Hopefully all those parts will be back in a day or two. I still have a few bloggings from Asia that I will try to finish posting in the next couple of days. Until then, here are a few sunset shots taken in Penang, Malaysia.

Jesus Hill - Vung Tau

Catholics form a strong minority in Vietnam and one of the most visible manifestations of that is the Jesus statue that is perched above a hill by the shore of Vung Tau. This statue which is clearly based on the one at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil but smaller was completed in the 1970s.

Saigon Thien Hau Temple

Cantonese Vietnamese residents of Saigon built a temple dedicated to the protector-goddess of seafarers - Mazu (in Mandarin Chinese or Ma-tsu) - or known in Cantonese as Thien Hau (Tianhou in Mandarin Chinese, literally "Queen of Heaven) in the early 19th century. This temple is in the Cholon area of Saigon, Saigon's Chinatown.

(Inner courtyard of Thien Hau Temple)

Images found on the roof of the Saigon Thien Hau Temple:


Thien Hau/Mazu is a popular goddess among the Chinese living on the southeastern shore of China. She is worshiped along the Fujian and Guangdong coastline and the island of Hainan in China and also in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Temples dedicated to Mazu are also found among ethnic Chinese communities in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Japan. One of the oldest Chinese temples in thee US is in fact a Mazu temple built in 1852 in San Francisco by Cantonese Chinese living in that area. Los Angeles now has a very active Mazu temple built by Teochew-Vietnamese Americans a few years back.

Here's s short entry I prepared for a mini-exhibition of Chinese deity images I put together at Pew-Ellison Library at Warren Wilson College a few months back:

Matriarch Ma (媽祖 Mazu)

Legend has it that Matriarch Ma lived in south China sometime around the 10th century. She was born as Lin Moniang (林默娘), daughter of a fishing family. According to popular folklores concerning Matriarch Ma, she was deified after meeting a tragic death while rescuing her father and brothers from drowning in the sea during one of their fishing trips. Against societal and parental expectations, Lin Moniang refused marriage and instead focused on spiritual development. The power of her spiritual practice made it possible for Lin Moniang to magically project herself to the exact location in the sea to rescue her drowning father and brothers. Although she succeeded in rescuing them, unfortunately she was so exhausted from the effort that she drowned in the sea and died. Lin Moniang’s miraculous feat and her filial dedication as a daughter (thus vindicating her earlier act of parental defiance) transformed her into a goddess. Her popularity eventually led her to being admitted into the official Daoist pantheon in the 15th century where she is formally honored as “Heavenly Empress Sagely Mother” (天后聖母 Tianhou Shengmu). In particular, her power to protect seafarers and travelers increased over the centuries and to this day she is an important deity on the southern coast of China, in Taiwan and Hong Kong and among overseas Chinese.

(The main Thien Hau/Mazu statue in the temple)

Matriarch Ma’s iconography presents her as a Chinese empress, dressed in the imperial dragon brocade robes, seated on a throne in a formal position and holding an official placard denoting her rank as empress. She in sometimes depicted with a darkened face – alluding to the legend of her drowning and how when her body was finally washed ashore, her face had turned blue-black. There are about 1500 temples in 26 countries dedicated to Matriarch Ma.

(A temple-attendant chanting evening prayers)

(Incense urns where devotees can offer sticks of incense)

(Elaborately carved wooden votive-offerings)

Whale Temple at Vung Tau

Vung Tau is about 120km away from Saigon and its one of the prime resort towns in south Vietnam. The French built many villas and bungalows in the area and many of the rich and famous of Saigon also built their holiday homes in Vung Tau (before the Vietnam War, that is). Aside from beautiful colonial period villas, Vung Tau also has its share of temples and pagodas that lean against the mountain and face the ocean. We did go to a temple in Vung Tau although it's nether built against a mountain nor facing the ocean. This is the Whale Temple (Lang Ca Ong Temple). This temple is dedicated to a sea-deity who apparently appeared in the form of a whale to save the people of Vung Tau. I found a travel website that has an interesting write-up about the "whale-cult" in Vietnam.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the Whale Temple:

Tiles from Vietnam

More tiles... this time from Vietnam.

Vietnamese Wealth and Earth Gods

The first thing that struck me with Vietnamese popular religion (many many moons ago when I befriended my first Vietnamese friend in college) is that it's very similar to Chinese. Of course, centuries of political and cultural domination by various Chinese dynasties must have its effects.

During this trip to Saigon (July 11-15) the most visible manifestation of popular religion is the shrine found in many homes and businesses - the shrine dedicated to the worship of gods of earth and wealth. The shrines are placed right on the ground - a significant location indicating their "earthly" connection since gods are generally enshrined on higher levels.


Several gods appear to be honored at these shrines. I'll start with the two gods represented in the form of two small statues. The god seen seated on the right is a grandfatherly figure. He is often called "earth god" but a more apt translation of is "god of the locale." He is the god that guards the locale, the area. He is thus the guardian of the wealth and resources rooted in the area, the specific earth in which a home or business stands. He is also a sentry of sorts - watching the comings and goings of the area, keeping negative and interfering forces from causing harm, and ensuring the general security and peacefulness of the area. In Vietnam, this deity is identified as Ong Than Tai. In China, he's Dudi Gong. The Chinese Malaysian equivalent is Tua Pek Kong (literally, "Elder Uncle Deity."). It should be pointed out that Vietnamese seem to consider Ong Than Tai as the "wealth god" and the other as the "earth god." Or perhaps he is both. After all, all wealth is generated from the earth, the soil.

Images of Ong Than Tai in Vietnam are always accompanied by another god known as Ong Dia. Some sources on the web say that he is the "earth god" of the Vietnamese. He is a portly looking guy with a distinctive mustache and holding a sack. Iconographically, he closely resembles an ancient Indian Buddhist deity that was once widely venerated in China but today is mostly known in Japan as Daitoku-ten - the chief god of a group of "Seven Gods of Wealth." In this context, he dispenses wealth from the sack in his hand.

(Note: In this picture, their sitting positions have been transposed. This is the only case I've seen on this trip.)


Aside from the statues of the 2 gods, behind them is a red wooden tablet engraved with Chinese words in gold. Identical tablets are enshrined in many Chinese homes in China and around the world. The tablet is dedicated to: "Dragon-deities of the Five Directions and Five Earths" (note the five cups of tea offered) and "Lords of the Earth, Wealth-deities of the Front and Back" (front and back of homes and businesses). In Malaysia, instead of reading "Lords of the Earth, Wealth-deities of the Front and Back," it says "Chinese and Malay Lords of the Earth, Wealth-deities." One can do some pretty interesting social-political readings of this change - issues of Chinese ethnic identity in a Malay-Muslim majority that is Malaysia. But that's another blog (or paper!). And for someone else to do. For sure.


Apparently, these wealth and earth lords are into garlic - bulbs of them. It'll probably make them very happy to take them to all those Garlic Fests found across the US. One way to get on their good side.

Side note: Some Buddhists believe that only ghosts and ghouls are particularly into garlic....