TOW BOO KONG TEMPLE BUTTERWORTH

HISTORY – INTRODUCTION OF TOW BOO KONG TEMPLE BUTTERWORTH

TOW BOO KONG TEMPLE BUTTERWORTH, or TOW BOO KONG for short, is one of the most distinctive Nine Emperor Gods Temple in Malaysia. Myth has it that one of the senior Master was entrusted to diligently spread and expand the Nine Emperor Gods beliefs and preaching. To begin this task, he was asked to set out to the beach with an Urn to welcome back the Gods to the temple located at Jalan Raja Uda during the Nine Emperor Gods Celebration. After receiving this message, the senior Master embarked on his mission.

 

 

Back then, the followers of the Nine Emperor Gods were not many and there were also no proper praying procedures. During the Nine Emperor Gods Celebration, it was mainly the Urn Trustees, the Managers and other volunteers who would handle and manage the festival affairs. 

 

Established in 1970, the original attap shed temple, which was housed near to the present temple’s location.    Although sparsely furnished, Tow Boo Kong Temple received a lot of support from the devotees. In 1971, the 1^st Temple Committee together with the newly elected Building Committee was formed and the fund raising project for the new temple began.

 

This project continued till 1974 where a newly plot of land, Lot 896, was acquired and the ground breaking ceremony was held to start on the new temple.  An elaborate celebration was subsequently conducted upon the completion of the temple and since then, commemorative celebrations were held annually on the 18^th day of the 8^th lunar month.

With generous support from the devotees, 2^nd building committee was formed in 1978 to work on the 2^nd phase expansion of the temple by adding the Shen Te Dian Hall.

In the following year, 1979, the temple established a medical centre to provide free medical services to the    residents in the area, regardless of race, color or religion.  From then on, the temple began to expand and  engaged actively in community services.

 

Until 1986, most of the EXCO members felt the need to purchase the adjacent plot of land, Lot 894, in order to further expand the temple.

 

Into the 90s, the existing prayer halls began to show signs of deterioration. As the temple was exceptionally packed during celebrations, the EXCO members decided that it was time to rebuild the temple. The intention was firstly, to provide more space for the devotees, secondly, to preserve the temple building and thirdly, to spread the teachings of the Nine Emperor Gods, the roots of the Chinese religion and its rich culture.

 

The 3^rd building committee was finally formed in 1994 and plans to rebuild the temple with the 3 halls began.  The ground breaking ceremony was conducted on 14 Dec 1994 by 178 devotees and a total of RM2 million was collected .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plans to rebuild the 3 temple halls began in 1996. With the Building Committee’s endeavor, a series of charity   activities like the “Each Person a Tile, Together We Rebuild The New Temple”, “Introduction to Stone Carving”, “Sale of Souvenirs” were launched. It received wide support from the devotees and with the funds from the government and various fund raising activities from other temples, the rebuilding project took off smoothly.

 

 

On 26 Apr 2000, the temple held an elaborate religious celebration to commemorate the official moving. The temple was finally completed at the cost of RM7,000,000 and this newly completed temple boasts intricate carvings, with dragon and phoenix motives, depicting scenes from famous Chinese literature and legends. This traditionally Chinese temple now stands mesmerizing, dazzling and majestically on the ground square.

 

 

 

As to perfectly assimilate the interior and exterior of Tow Boo Kong Temple, the 3^rd building committee decided to erect an archway and perimeter walls which amounted to RM1.5 million.

 

Today, the project has nearly completed and thus completing a milestone in the temple’s history.

In the coming days, the temple committee has vouched to actively promote the beliefs and teachings of the Nine Emperor God and to dedicatedly spread and continue its motto and spirit.