Gunung Kanthan monastery petition video

 Gunung Kanthan's Last Defence : Save the Monastery, Save Gunung Kanthan (For Petition).

The video has been reloaded on youtube and can be seen here.

Kanthan Sakyamuni Caves Monastery & other cave temples protection

Some months after the change.org petition to save the Sakyamuni Caves Monastery at Gunung Kanthan, there is finally some good news. This applies not only to the Kanthan monastery, but also to other cave temples and religious sites in general.

On 27 January 2024, change.org issued an update "A Commitment to Protecting Sacred Sites: Prime Minister's Pledge to Safeguard Religious Monasteries".

There is a link to this Facebook page -

And this leads to the next link -

It is encouraging news. Let's see what happens as a result.

There was a further update on 21 Feb in FMT "Century-old monastery seeks to nullify company’s land lease extension". This was also shown on change.org on 22 Feb "LATEST FMT NEWS : Century-old monastery seeks to nullify company’s land lease extension". 

The Edge 28 Feb "Old Perak monastery fails to set aside APMC's eviction notice".

Change.org update 28 Feb "Sakyamuni Caves Monastery Gunung Kanthan" . Latest news : The Edge.

Meanwhile The Star 28 Feb had this article about cave temples in Perak - "Limestone cave temples to stay, says Perak exco".

Chinaraj Cave monastery aka Thai Monk Cave, Gng Lanno

Thai Monk Cave at Gunung Lanno is now known as Chinaraj Cave monastery. It is located at ground level on the southwest side of Gunung Lanno in Perak, not far from Kong Fook Ngam temple. 

I first visited in May 1996. At that time it had a concrete path leading up to it and inside the cave. But about 10 m in there was a locked gate and we could see the cave continuing. There was a store room. To the right was a series of cement tanks/gours and a passage to another entrance. The cave is by a bend in the Sungai Raia. 

My next visit was May 1999. The cave had been developed since my first visit. Half a dozen cars were parked inside the first chamber of the cave. A concrete walkway with electric lights goes through to a wang, with a pond. A new "temple" has been established - more of a meditation place for the monk.

Next visit was July 2001, on a recce for the 2001 Gunung Lanno expedition. The gate was locked but a man was inside and let us in when we spoke to him. The place is only open on Sundays when people come to the monk, although people look after him during the week. He lives alone, from Thailand. We went through to the house and pond. Lots of catfish and they aerate the pond. It is a long distance to the opposite side of the wang. There is a pond and swamp outside the front of the cave. After this visit I named the cave as Thai Monk and gave it the register number of Prk 18/07.

The Gunung Lanno expedition took place in November 2001. We were unable to survey the cave as we couldn't get access. However a nearby cave was surveyed, Gua Kera Mati aka Dead Monkey Cave, Prk 18/32, and this was found to connect into Thai Monk Cave.

During the expedition, we were able to hire a 4-seater plane and fly around Gunung Lanno. From the plane we could clearly see the flooded wang of Thai Monk Cave. 

2001 views -

Sg Raia outside the cave

My next visit was in May 2014. A building had been constructed inside the cliff and the swamp is part of the garden. There is an ornate metal fence outside. 

The Sungai Raia

The track that leads further around the hill was closed off by a large gate by the temple -

Now (2024) the cave is known as Chinaraj Cave monastery - a Buddhist temple, Tokong Siam. I don't know when this was established. In Feb 2022 The Star referred to it as Persatuan Penganut Agama Buddha Chinaraj. It was one of 19 caves in the Kinta Valley to receive an eviction notice, to vacate in 30 days. However a few days later the notices were revoked. 

According to Google Maps, the temple is open mornings and evenings. There are hundreds of photos on the page. 

Cave location 4°31'8.12" N 101° 8'18.01"E.

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See my Cave Register .

Da Seng Ngan cave temple with blue haired Buddha

In 2014 I posted about the blue haired Buddha in cave temples around Ipoh, Perak. The main temple to have these Buddhas is Da Seng Ngan at Gunung Rapat. In Nov 2016 I went back to have another look.

Tokong Da Seng Ngan is next to Kwan Yin temple. There used to be access between the two but now it seems they have been separated off.

Da Seng Ngan is thought to have been established over 100 years ago but in 1974, the bund of a retention pond for tin mine tailings broke its banks. The resulting mud slide buried all the cave temples in this area at the foot of Gunung Rapat. Other temples were soon dug out, but Da Seng Ngan remained buried for 32 years. When the Ipoh Benevolent Society were building a second pond they came across the buried temple. The walls and facade of the temple were all intact. Artefacts found included copper statues of the Buddha, porcelain statues of Kuan Kong (God of War), urns, candleholders and chinaware.  The Star newspaper had several articles in March 2006.

Over the years the temple has developed with buildings and lots of new statues. There are now lots of these mass produced Buddhas by the car park.

I don't think much has changed inside the cave area. Although some of the Buddhas now have more decorative robes, such as this black haired Buddha -

Black haired Kwan Yin made of fake (?) wood -

And a group of different hair colours, white, blue and black -

Here the blue haired Buddha is holding a golden ball

and this one a blue ball

Note there is also a bald patch on top of the head!

The newer statues seem to look more feminine. I don't know if this is intentional or just the production.

Whilst in Ipoh we had a look at a couple of shops that sell temple paraphernalia and saw just a few blue hair statues -

Again I have tried to find the significance of the blue hair but there is very little info. Some sites suggest the blue is favoured by people in Tibet and Nepal, as those people favour the blue mineral  lapis lazuli. It reminds them of the azure sky in those high altitude regions, and it is said that the hair of their goddess had this colour. Both men and women wore it on their heads. And statues prepared in Tibet and the Himalayn kingdom of Nepal have their hair painted blue.

Other say lapis is the color of the principal Medicine Buddha, making this stone an important one in Buddhist mysticism. The Lapis Healing Master is one of the most honored figures in the Buddhist pantheon.

It is surprising why so few other temples feature this blue hair.

My 2014 blog on the blue hair Buddha

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Tung Wah cave temple, Perak

Tung Wah goes digital!

Many cave temples are going digital! First it was flashing LED halos for Buddha. Now it's advertising signage. I saw this display on Tung Wah temple at Gunung Layang Layang near Ipoh, in Perak, Malaysia. The temple is up on the hill but the display is big enough to be seen from ground level.

Blue hair Buddha in cave temples

In recent years, I've seen statues of Buddha with blue hair in cave temples around Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.

I've searched the internet to try and learn about the blue haired Buddha, but have found nothing factual.

Some reports say it represents the medicine Buddha. Another report says Tibetan Buddha statues have blue hair as the color of the vairocana jewel is blue.

Da Seng Ngan at Gunung Lanno has an upstairs room dedicated to the blue hair Buddha.

 

 

There is also a single statue with blue hair in the group of Buddhas in the main entrance area -

 More photos of the upstairs Buddhas in 2014 -

Nam Loong Ngam at Gunung Layang Layang also has the blue haired Buddha :

Can anyone tell me the real meaning of the blue haired Buddha?

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UPDATE -
See my 2016 blog on Da Seng Ngan and the blue hair


© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Wooden structures of Nam Loong Ngam cave temple

The cave temples around Ipoh are quite well known, as religious sites and also tourist attractions.
The most 'advertised' in tourist literature are the ones at Gunung Rapat, e.g. Sam Poh Tong complex and Kek Look Tong, as well as Perak Tong north of Ipoh.

One of my favourites is/was Nam Loong Ngam [Nan Yang Koo Miau] at Gunung Layang Layang. I say 'was' because the old wooden temple structure has now completely gone, and the place has been completely modernised. It is a piece of history that has been wiped out.

The history of the Taoist temple dates back to the 'mid nineteenth' centry according to a document in the temple and in 1895 was exempted from registration by order of the British Resident. It was used for meditation by a single monk.

In 2005 it was decided to turn it into a Buddhist centre and to donate it to  Very Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche. A lama was resident since 2006 and a house was built for him as well as a 14 ft stupa.
This is how the wooden structure looked -

2001

2008 views -

In 2008 the cave name was officially changed to Thrangu Dharma Retreat Centre.

 And this was the new temple under construction -

 And this is the new temple

 

Inside it looks so different. Most of the old wooden stairs and platforms have gone, replaced with new stairs, metal handrails and tiled floors. Old stairs -

and new

The "Guinness god" (Prosperity) is still there although without the Guinness.

2008

I have lots of photos of inside the temple from 2001 to date. There are a lot of differences, the main one being the new 'upgrading' has opened up a new section of passage that was previously closed.
However the purpose of this blog is just to show the changes of the outside.


© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission