The thousand-armed and thousand-eyed Guan Yin statue.

THE Guan Yin Temple, located on a hilly slope along Jalan Maharajalela (across the road from the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall), is one of the few temples in Kuala Lumpur that are more than a century old.

Entering the worship hall, one finds the central feature – a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha in a sitting posture.

Alongside this is a statue of a thousand-armed and thousand-eyed Guan Yin and statues of the three Fa Zhu Gung brothers.

According to a visiting devotee who wished to be known only as Allen, the Sakyamuni Buddha represents the highest level of enlightenment and is thus the main worshipping altar.

“Guan Yin is the goddess of mercy who will help those who are suffering while the Fa Zhu Gung brothers are guardian deities who guard the peace,” he said.

Pedestrians on the sidewalk along Jalan Maharajalela might also have noticed a pair of ominous-looking black stone lions guarding the small entrance at the bottom of the stairs.

The temple has an interesting history, dating back to the time of early Chinese immigrants in Malaysia and has survived turbulent periods such as the Japanese Occupation, the Communist insurgency, as well as two fires.

According to records, the Guan Yin Temple started out as a small and simple structure in 1898 as a place of worship for the Hokkien Chinese.

At that time, there was a Chinese cemetery on the site that Stadium Merdeka stands today.

The archway to the Guan Yin Temple is fronted by a garden.

It was surmised that the temple was originally built to serve as a spiritual comfort zone for visitors to the cemetery then.

It was not until 1911 that a monk, known only as Kwang Tung, arrived from the city of Fuzhou in China to bless the temple and designate it a holy place.

On March 28, 1919, the ruling British government officially confirmed the temple as a place of worship to be cared for by the Selangor Hokkien Association.

The primary statues inside the temple today were apparently the result of the arrival in 1938 of a monk called Tak Chen from China’s Fujian province.

With money collected from a fundraiser, the temple carried out extensive renovations with the primary statues installed inside.

On Dec 24, 1963, it suffered minor damage when fire from a nearby building spread to it but was repaired later by the Selangor Hokkien Association.

An ancient bell hanging in the worship hall.

However, worse was to come when on Feb 13, 1989, a conflagration broke out in two neighbouring buildings and spread to the temple.

This time, it suffered extensive damages with sections of the building caving in and, subsequently, the authorities declared it off-limits to the public.

Again, the temple was repaired and reopened nine months later. In April the following year, renovation work began and was completed a year later at an estimated cost of RM300,000.

Current temple caretaker Hooi Ming Hung, 55, told Star Metro that not one primary statue was damaged during the two fires.

“It is strange but that is what happened,” he chuckled before saying that the temple nowadays was usually a quiet place unless there were celebrations such as the New Moon Day and Full Moon Day when free vegetarian lunch was served to the public.

Admission is free and starting next month, the temple will be accessible via the KL Monorail with an elevated transit station right next door.

Post your feedback >>