The Importance of Good Fortune and Virtues

My surprise when I saw this at the basement carpark of Ngee Ann City.

This shopping mall is at the prime area of Singapore’s shopping belt. It opened in 1993 and bore the footprints of youths from many generations.

While I am aware and have witnessed many big corporations in Singapore, including major buildings, worshipped The God of Fortune and Virtues Tua Pek Gong, I have never imagined that the Big Brother of Orchard Road is also one of them.

I was delighted and once I got off the car, I went forward to the shrine and paid my respects to Tua Pek Gong and The Earth Gods of Five Directions.

It was obvious that the shrine was very well-maintained, despite its age. It was orderly and I could tell that a lot of care and thought went into the offerings and display. Even the glass doors are spotless. I reckon they are glass, as out of respect, I did not go forward to touch them.

I can spot a lot of Feng Shui elements that were scattered throughout the building, be it the exterior of the building, the interior design or the decor. The management had put in a lot of effort to create a Feng Shui that generated authority for itself and affection in the shoppers and tenants.

When I saw a little altar opposite Tua Pek Gong, I was reminded of what Shifu said about pillar Feng Shui, and of Ngee Ann City’s former identity as a cemetery for the Teochew people, named Tai Shan Ting.

The way I see it, I am very sure that this place has also been receiving blessings from the Teochew ancestors.

The bosses behind this building must be people of enormous good fortune. From what I know, a portion of Ngee Ann Kongsi’s earnings goes towards the benefit for the society such as scholarships and bursaries for Ngee Ann school and polytechnic, welfare benefits for Teochew elderly, medical services and promotion of Teochew culture etc.

Coupled with ancestral blessings, the good energies from the land and luck bestowed by the deities, it was no wonder that Ngee Ann City had been prosperous for almost 30 years, and I can tell its streak of good luck will continue to run for a very long time.

Ngee Ann Kongsi does not only make money from Ngee Ann City. Its earnings are also derived from land rental for Wisma Atrium, Mandarin Hotel and Orchard Cineleisure.

The company is also managing our national monument of 200-year history, the Yueh Hai Ching Temple. This temple of the Teochew, one of the earliest in Singapore, is dedicated to the deity Mazu or the Goddess of the Sea, and Xuan Tian Shang Di, the ancestral deity of the Teochews.

Not everybody has ancestral luck, that is, merits and good fortune left behind by our ancestors. Preaching hedonism, most people are only capable of exhausting their own good fortune, and cannot be bothered about accumulating merits and good fortune for their descendants. In fact, there are people who cannot even manage their own fortunes well this lifetime. How would they have capacity to think of leaving good fortune and merits for their children?

In the clients I have met, very few of them have excellent personal luck, and definitely do not fall into the wealthy and noble life map. If they are unable to accept suggestions from virtuous knowledgeable people, and are incredibly arrogant, then they have to make do with a life of mediocrity and troubles.

As I was having my dinner, I suddenly remembered that amidst my excitement, I forgot to recite the Earth God mantra as my offering to the deities. After my meal, I hurriedly ran to the carpark to do so.

While I may be a Buddhist, I have utmost respect for all detiies. For a deity to be able to sit on the altar and worthy of being prayed to, He must encompass virtues, refinement, self-cultivation of merits, hence He gets conferred with the title of a deity upon His death.

Just this aspect alone is very difficult for many mortals to accomplish. So how are the deities not worthy of my respect? Moreover, Buddhism is a religion that has the most forbearance, for Buddha once said, “Every sentient being has a Buddha nature.”

Therefore, I do not belittle deities, but am in fact grateful for the blessings and protection They bestowed on sentient beings.

Before snapping this faraway shot, I told the God of Fortune and Virtues Tua Pek Gong, that with this photo, I hoped for more people to understand the luck from the deities. Recently, I have burnt few hundred stacks of Four Direction Mantra Paper, and coincidentally, I get this affinity to witness the dignified appearance of Tua Pek Gong of Ngee Ann City.

This company is a very good example for us to learn.

If you do not have ancestral luck, or personal luck, let me tell you this, the God of Fortune & Virtues Tua Pek Gong and Earth God are the closest Fortune Gods to mankind. While the Earth God may be lowly in rank, He is the Dharma protector in Buddhism, and possess huge powers to pull in customers and benefactors for you.

As long as you follow the steps correctly to worship and pray to the Earth God, possess sincerity and the right thought, perform virtuous deeds and abide by the precepts, and when you are able to recite the Buddha’s name and mantras, you will definitely turn your life around, with divine blessings in abundance.

A word of reminder, don’t exhaust all your good fortune and merits in one lifetime. Your children may not be destinied for a good life. They may still need you to will yours to them.