2,562 years later, Confucius is remembered as a god

Over 7,000 individuals – the majority of them children – participated in the 2,562nd birthday celebrations of Confucius at the Joo Chiat Kwan Im Temple today. For those who are not acquainted at all with the man (and, as far as I know, he was certainly as human as the rest of us), Confucius was to the Chinese what Socrates was to the Greeks: a man who left no autobiographical record, his philosophical lessons and teachings are recorded only by his faithful students, the most famous of which was a compilation called the Analects. His lessons have survived over two millennia and countless bloody wars in the history of China, and is still the foundation in which many Eastern cultures build on. But today, he was not just treated as a great man – but a god.

There is no record of the man’s divinity; to consider that Confucius, after his death, took his place amongst the pantheon of Taoist gods is spurious at best and erroneous otherwise. But over 2,000 years after Confucius took his final breath, an increasing number of religious Taoists – at least in Singapore – have gathered to not just pay respects to the founder of classical Chinese philosophy, but to seek divine favors from him as though he has the posthumous divine power to dole them.

To me, at least, all this demonstrates the incredible malleability of religion to suit the prevailing values and norms of the existing society. Buddhism and Taoism is fighting a losing battle against evangelical Christianity. Buddhism and especially animist Taoism command a level of devotion that requires extremely intricate and regularly-held rituals that the modern Singaporean will find extremely difficult in today’s stressful working world. There are fewer and fewer young Taoists taking over the priesthood from the older generation, leading to an increase in Taiwanese priests being hired by these temples.

Yet Christianity, especially new-age evangelism, is thriving. City Harvest Church, the biggest megachurch here, completed the purchase of a $300m investment stake in Suntec Convention Centre just last year; New Creation Church, another local megachurch, has a 22,000-strong membership today.

It seems that in the quest to win back the fair-weathered Taoist faithful, the temples have initiated a simplifying of rituals: my parents had to pay a grand total of $10 per person for the temple to settle all the required ritual steps for you. No more tricky burning of incense paper, or even placing different food offerings on a plate. All you have to do is turn up and burn and stick the requisite three joss sticks, and you’re done.

It also seems that borrowing the name of Confucius can be extremely useful: while the Goddess of Mercy, possibly the most popular divine being that is worshipped by religious Taoists here, may seem a little difficult to identify with in contemporary society (especially youngsters), Confucius’ identity needs no bolstering. Like the emcee of the birthday commemoration said today to a group of young students presumably in primary school, “Confucius was a very smart man… what do you pray to him for? You pray to him so that you can do well in school! You won’t get scolded or nagged by your parents!”

To sit through an hour of sutra-chanting is not the easiest thing to do for a group of hyperactive children, but perhaps for their results (and the expectations of the people around them), they might just give Confucius a chance. And, for the religious Taoist community who want to stem the decline of their faith, this might just be a useful solution.

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