Information

Tai Pei Yuen Temple’s vision is “May loving kindness and compassion pervades the world, alleviating fear and giving solace to all beings.”

Such are the praises of the aspirations and practices of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. They aspire to free beings from suffering and allow them to be liberated. Tai Pei Yuen Temple worships Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, and they believe is "listening to the Dharma, contemplating and practicing the Dharma" in order to gain enlightenment.

The Bodhisattva is believed to aspire to help free all sentient beings, even at the expense of her own happiness. Her altruism encompasses the Buddha worlds in the ten directions, thus benefiting countless sentient beings.

One would try to help others from their difficulties because of their compassion and great loving kindness. Ways of spreading kindness include consoling, encouraging and advising others with wisdom and eloquence.

The devotees of Tai Pei Yuen temple believe in learning form the loving kindness of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva and make compassion their habit. They aspire to help as many sentient beings as possible with their compassion.

In addition, Tai Pei Yuen Temple has monthly blessing sessions as well as blessing sessions on Sunday.

History

The temple is founded by Venerable See Fatt Kuan.

Venerable See Fatt Kuan was born in 1927 in the Chinese village of Pang Yu in Kwangtung. When she was born, she was given the name Poon Sin Kiew. When she was only a mere nine years of age, she fled to Singapore with her mother, Madam Chow Siew Keng as there was political unrest in Kwangtung Province.

When the mother and daughter just arrived in Singapore, Madam Chow provided free Chinese medical care in Kreta Ayear District. Two years after Madam Chow arrived in Singapore, Madam Chow purchased a land, which measured 24000 square feet, at Jalan Kemaman and founded Kuan Yin Lodge, which was to become Tai Pei Yuen Temple. It was founded with the hope to spread the Buddhist Dharma in Singapore.

After World War II ended in 1945, the 18-year-old Venerable Fatt Kuan was put in charge of operating a shop providing supplies to post war renowned eateries near High Street. After 12 years of hardship, she has established a viable business. However, her mother’s health was getting from bad to worse, and Venerable Fatt Kuan stopped operating her business in 1957 in order to take care of her mother and the fruits of her labour, Kuan Yin Lodge.

During the time she took time off to care for her mother, Venerable Fatt Kuan felt her calling to devote her life to Buddhism and spreading it. After the demise of her mother, Venerable Fatt Kuan devoted herself to Kuan Yin Lodge. In 1965, there was an increasing number of Buddhist devotees, and Kuan Yin Lodge was too dilapidated and old to support so many people. Therefore, Venerable Fatt Kuan saw a need in rebuilding it and thus, worked very hard to raise funds. The rebuilt temple was renamed Tai Pei Yuen Temple, or Great Philanthropist Temple, honouring Bodhisattva, the quintessential philanthropist. Venerable Fatt Kuan was inspired into becoming a Buddhist nun under the guidance and encouragement of Venerable Yan Pei and Venerable Xu Ming.

Venerable Fatt Kuan had the aspiration to propagate Buddha’s teachings. Moreover, the temple had the objectives of providing shelter and nursing care to female aged destitute regardless of race and religion, and to provide welfare programmes for the benefit of the elderly in Singapore, in their own words.

Venerable Fatt Kuan had the aspiration to receive ordination under Venerable Chang Xi. In 1966, Venerable Fatt Kuan received precepts from Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery.

After the temple rebuilding was completed in 1967, Tai Pei Yuen Temple conducted 3 days of intense prayer sessions. These prayer sessions attracted participation from many Buddhists.

From 1957, Venerable Fatt Kuan raised funds in order to build the first Buddhist Women Nursing Home, the Tai Pei Old People’s Home in 1980. It catered to the needy in Singapore. When it was first established, it had 3 recreational rooms, 2 physiotherapy rooms, an obversation room, a clinic, prayer rooms, a hall, a courtyard, 56 dormitories and more than 200 beds.

Later in 1985, Tai Pei Foundation was established. It is a charitable organization set up to spread Buddhism. Kwang Fu was bought over by the Foundation and it was renamed Tai Pei Buddhist Centre. The place housed a child-care centre, conducting Dharma classes for the community in order to interest the young with Buddha’s teachings.

After some time, the building became old, and thus needed rebuilding. There were various fund raising events, like charity fairs, auctioning of donated calligraphies, art pieces and antique furniture and a Thousand People Charity Dinner event. This raised enough funds for the rebuilding of Tai Pei Buddhist Centre in 1998.

In 2002, the new building was completed. Tai Pei Buddhist Centre provided Chinese and English Dharma classes, has Internet access for devotees to have access to rich Buddhist Literature and invites international and local venerables to conduct Dharma Talks. Such acts are aimed to provide the public with channels to learn more about Buddha’s teachings. These are especially targeted at the young ones as their modernized place of learning provides a perfect ambience for them to learn more about Buddhism.