Palelai Buddhist Temple is a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

located in

Bedok Bedok ( ) is a Planning areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, residential town located in the geographical region of Tanah Merah, Singapore, Tanah Merah along the south-eastern coast of the East Region, Singapore, East R ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. It was founded in 1962 by Phrakhru Prakassa Dhammakhun (known mostly as Luang Phor).

History

Palelai

was originally located at 9 Jalan Nipah and subsequently moved to 49 Bedok Walk to accommodate the growing number of members and devotees. When the temple building was first built at Jalan Nipah, it occupied a land area of only 6 metres by 12 metres. This was sufficient to house three Thai

bhikkhu A ''bhikkhu'' (, ) is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male, and female monastics (''bhikkhunī''), are members of the Sangha (Buddhist community). The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the pratimok� ...

s and

samanera A (Pali; ), is a novice male monk in a Buddhist context. A female novice nun is in , and in or . In Tibetan Buddhism, a female novice nun is known by the Tibetan language term , and a male novice monk is a .Dhamma Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold'' or ''to support' ...

in the Thai tradition.

Sunday school ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...

as well as Dhamma talks on the life of the Gautama Buddha, Buddha and on

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

were conducted regularly at the temple. These served to propagate the Buddhist teachings to the community. To cope with the need of the growing number of Buddhists, Luang Phor had contemplated buying the neighbouring land to increase the land area. However, because the seller asked a high price for the land and the government had zoned the area for road enlargement, the plan was put on hold. Moving Palelai Buddhist Temple to Bedok Walk was mooted in 1968. That year Luang Phor met a wealthy Singaporean, Wee Thiam Siew, who was a Buddhist and owned the plot of land at Bedok Walk that the temple currently occupies. Through his charitable generosity, he sold the plot of land at half the original price. The purchase of the land was funded by voluntary contributions from Thai,

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n, and Singaporean Buddhists. Construction of the temple was made possible through financial support from the Buddhist communities in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, with some assistance from the Department of Religious Affairs of Thailand. Construction took place in 1970 with the foundation stone laid by the Supreme Patriarch Punnasiri Mahathera of Wat Phra Jetuphon in Bangkok. The building was completed in phases and finally consecrated in May 1973. This new location allowed more devotees to participate in the regular Buddhist activities organized at the temple. In 2004, the Executive Committee decided to build an additional building to support the growing number of activities and interests of members and devotees in the areas of meditation and Buddhist education.

References

External references

* Buddhist temples in Singapore {{Singapore-struct-stub

History

See also

References

External references