BY: LIUYING
Two years back, a suicide pact among six secondary school boys shocked the entire nation.
Led by a Taoist teenage medium, the six boys vowed to jump from the medium’s bedroom in a mission to rid the world of evil, with the belief that they would be resurrected after their deaths to rise up and slay demons.
16 year old Taoist medium, Ku Witaya, jumped first, along with his classmate. The two did not survive the fall and the other four backed out of the suicide plan, after seeing the death state of the two.
This incident casted a spotlight on the shadowy art of Taoist mediums, controversy and criticism arose, many doubted the Taoist medium culture.
“You can believe it, but you must be careful not to be too obsessed with it.” This is what Benson Phua has to say.
“Those young boys were too consumed in their beliefs, that things spiraled out to be so extreme and out of control.”
The 31-year-old full-time Chinese medium, or known as ‘tang kee’ in the Hokkien language, carries out monthly rituals in various temples in Singapore and other countries such as Malaysia and Taiwan.
As a tang kee, he is a divine messenger of the gods and relays advice and guidance to devotees who seek them for help. During major festivals and at specific times in the Lunar Calendar, he performs rituals with various weapons like swords, needles and porcelain chips, taking on physical suffering on his body as a symbolism of clearing mishaps for devotees.
During the rituals, Mr Phua goes into a trance and an assistant facilitates the process, aiding in the communication with a devotee who seeks help from the deity processing Mr Phua.
“It’s like being drunk. When you’re drunk, you don’t know what happens,” says Mr Phua, adding on that he feels no pain when the needles are pierced into his body.
In a ritual: Mr Benson Phua as Zhong Tan Yuan Shuai (中壇元帥) aka Third Prince of the Li (李府三太子) or the Central Marshal of the Spiritual Armies. The Chinese name known as Li Na Zha (李哪吒), 3rd son of Heavenly Pagoda King Li Jing (托塔天王李靖).
Mr Benson Phua as 5th Dian Tua Li Ya Pek (五殿大二爺伯).
In his apartment, a special chair which is used for rituals is placed beside an altar. He sits on the chair and waits for the deities to alight on him. A room is set apart, designated as a bigger altar to place a plethora of Taoist idols. Heavy incense and joss sticks drift from the altar, while the cupboards store tools required in the rituals.
Mr Benson Phua praying at the altar of Taoist Gods.
Devotees who come to him are usually businessmen who ask for luck in their trade and more wealth, housewives who pray for their children’s studies, people who want a quick recovery for their sickness, as well those seeking winning lottery numbers.
On days when he is not required to be a medium, he goes to people’s houses to aid them in spiritual matters, ‘inviting’ the gods to ‘settle’ in their idols.
He gets income from these jobs, in the form of red packets: “But these are voluntary though, there is no fixed amount on what devotees should give us.”
Aplenty joss sticks are used in the rituals. The red box which the joss sticks are placed upon is the "donations box", devotees drop in any amount of money as a form of "payment" for seeking help from the deities.
The notification of ritual dates plastered on the door of the apartment Mr Phua uses to conduct the rituals. Contact details are available for any emergency cases (such as devotees seeking the deities' help for sudden major illness or serious accidents that happened to kin of them). "We do perform rituals anytime when life-threatening situations occurs," says Mr Phua.
Since a kid, Mr Phua was interested in the Taoist religion and his grandmother would bring him to temples. Many years later, a nearly fatal accident happened to him after National Service, which altered the route of his life.
“It was an inevitable fate that I was chosen by the gods to be a medium,” says Mr Phua. Claiming to be receiving the gods’ protection when the accident happened thus surviving it in the end, it sealed Mr Phua’s destiny as a tang kee, which was met with objections from his parents.
“Of course any parent would not want their child to be a medium and see them suffering bodily pains,” he said. “Out of 10 mediums, 9 would have encountered objections from his or her family.”
Mr Phua explains that people are chosen to be a medium due to the spiritual debts owed to the gods, accumulated from previous lives. “There are those who take years to compensate, while others might take an entire lifetime. It’s also up to the gods to decide who can be a medium. You cannot force a god to alight on you,” he adds on.
With a back adorned with intimidating tattoos and scars from his rituals over the years, one might stereotype from the impression of Mr Phua that these Taoist mediums are hooligans.
“It’s just a matter of personal choice to have tattoos or not!” Mr Phua laughs it off. Despite the aggressive dragons that swirl on his back, the amicable man asserts that mediums aren’t necessarily hooligans. “There are women and office workers who are mediums too!”
Even though a medium’s job is no easy feat, Mr Phua’s determination to fulfil his role as god’s messenger to relief the sufferings of devotees stays strong.
“Being a medium is really tough. There are unspeakable hardships to endure and many people believe the negative reports from the media. But in the end, it all boils down to one’s own personal belief.”
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