The Gold Goodness Temple - Jindeyuan

Inside this Kim Tek Ie temple there were 2 rather odd-form God’s statues; 1 was tall statue and the other 1 was short statue. A God’s statue was seen pale & thin, protruding eyes and sticking out tongue, wearing long paper-made hat inscribing with一見大吉 Yi Jian Da Ji, meaning once meeting will obtain good fortune. The other God’s statue was rather small & short, flat-nosed with thick lips, right hand held a fan, left hand hold a flat piece inscribing with善惡分明 Shan E Fen Ming, meaning that Differentiating obviously the beauty and the beast.

These two Gods were 七爺八爺 Qi Ye Ba Ye (7^th Grandpa & 8^th Grandpa) who were known by many people. In the circle of thepeople was also known the title 高仔爺 Gao Zi Ye (Tall Prudent God) & 矮仔爺 Ai Zi Ye (Short Prudent God). In Jakarta they were popular with the titles大爺二爺 Da Ye Er Ye (the oldest Grandpa & the second Grandpa).

Da Ye Er Ye was a subordinate of judicial official of the next world namely閻羅王 Yan Luo Wang {Hok Kian = Giam Lo Ong = King Yama}. Da Ye Er Ye has a special duty to control good and bad deeds of human being in the world.

Da Ye was a general謝必安 Xie Bi An, while Er Ye was a General范無救 Fan Wu Jiu. Their origins were as follows:

General Xie Bi An & General Fan Wu Jiu lived during the era of Tang dynasty [A.D. 618 – 907]. At the time of rebellion by An Lu Shan, the enemies made sudden attack to Chang An city. Emperor Tang Ming escaped to West Xi Chuan Province. Enemy’s troops besieged up to Sui Yang city. The guards of Sui Yang city namely Xu Yuan & Zhang Xun tried to defense the city fortress with their every effort. Insurgence of An Lu Shan took pace for a long time. Zhang Xun delegated both General Xie Bi An & General Fan Wu Jiu came out from the city fortress to ask for helps.

General Xie Bi An with higher posture (approximately 3.33 meters) & long legs and with faster sound of tramping feet, net with the enemy first & then arrested. By the, General Xie Bi An was hung on the city wall. General Fan Wu Jiu saw from far away General Xie Bi An was dead after being hung on the city wall, then hid bin the brink of the river. Unpredictably, because of carelessness he fell into the river and & finally sank and died.

Both generals failed to broke through tight encirclement by the enemies. At last, Sui Yang city fell to the enemy since the soldiers were exhausted & out of food. Both General Xie & Fan were dead for the sake of defense the State, and then he was awarded the title as Protecting General.

It is said, if meeting with Da Ye who was going sightseeing, as far as that person is willing to kneel, say gratitude & kindly request for prosperity, he/she must get blessing & protection. Then he was also called as 一見大吉謝必安 Yi Jian Da Ji – Xie Bi An, meaning Once meeting will
obtain great luckiness & must be safe– Xie Bi An.

But, if meeting with Er Ye who is patrolling, well, what a bad luck! It means to encounter unfortunate/ unlucky, he will face his death, so that Er Ye is also called as 范無救 Fan Wu Jiu, meaning Mister Fan no hope to live longer.

The Se Jit day (birthday) of Da Ye Er Ye is commemorated every 13^th day of 2^nd month of Chinese calendar.

In addition to, at Kim Tek Ie Temple, Da Ye Er Ye was also available at Kong Hoa Si Temple, Taman Sari, West Jakarta.

—oooOOOooo—

Don’t miss the next article: Thursday, 20 March 2008;

Kwan Im Hut Co – Male or Female?

澤海真人Ze Hai Zhen Ren {Hok Kian: Tek Hai Cin Jin}, his original name was Guo Liu Guan {Hok Kian = Kwee Lak Kwa}, one of Typically Indonesian Local Gods. His authority covered sea-lane all along the North Coast of Java. According to existing records at Kong Kwan (Chinese Board of Officer) of Semarang, Guo Liu Guan originated from Semarang. He was a Kwee-clan Hok Kian, named Lak, while Kwa was his honorary call.

Guo Liu Guan {Kwee Lak Kwa} was born in 1695, when Emperor Khong Hie governed in the 34^th, engaged in inter-island trading from Palembang to Semarang by ship. At that time in Jakarta (then Batavia) on October 9 – 12, 1740 took place a very horrible tragedy, in which + 10,000 people were killed by the Dutch Colonialism (VOC). This tragedy was known as Angke Killing Tragedy.

The origin of the word Kali Angke also derived from this tragedy. 紅溪 Hong Xi in Chinese Language means red small river (kali). Where does red in this river come from? It originated from the blood of Chinese people who were killed at that time. Hong Xi in Hok Kian dialect is called Ang Ke. Thus was a brief description on the origin of the word Kali Angke.

This tragedy ignited anger of several Chinese leaders, they were: Kwee Lak Kwa, Kwee An Say, Oey Ing Kiat, Tan Pan Jiang, and so on. Kwee Lak Kwa waged guerrilla war in Jakarta. Since the Dutch was stronger finally Kwee Lak Kwa retreated to Cirebon, then Tegal.

In 1742 this resistance ended after all parties out of energy; Kwee Lak Kwa in Tegal disappeared, Kwee An Say was arrested, Tan Pan Jiang & Oey Ing Kiat died in Welahan. This tragedy is known as Chinatown’s
commotion in Babad Tanah Jawa (the killing in Java Land). Kwee Lak Kwa, having disappeared in Tegal often appeared himself in several distance places at the same time. He also often appeared in the front of the fishermen in Tegal to give various instructions. Due to such matters they believed that Kwe Lak Kwa actually was a sick person.

Emperor of Qing Dynasty awarded Kwee Lak Kwa a title of 澤海真人Ze Hai Zhen Ren
{Hok Kian: Tek Hay Cin Jin}. He was honored not only as a hero, but also as a Guardian Angle for Sea Trading.

Tek Hai Cin Jin was showed as a High-rank Official who was getting dressed ala Han Dynasty accompanied by 2 escorts. One of the said 2 escorts, seen from his dress design & headband, it was obviously he was a Javanese native.

Statue of Tek Hai Cin Jin were exist in 6 temples in Java Island, among others in: 金德院 Jin De Yuan {Kim Tek Ie} temple – Jakarta, 澤海廟 Ze Hai Miao {Tek Hay Bio = Temple of Ocean Silence }– Semarang, 澤海宮 Ze Hai Gong {Tek Hay Kong} Temple– Tegal, 寶安殿 Bao An Dian {Po An Tiam} Temple – Pekalongan.

****