Ling Xian Yan, Ipoh is just conveniently located at the
Gurung Rapat area and it is just beside to the main road (Jalan Gopeng). The strategic
location as the first among the three Cave temple and colorful traditional Chinese
temple design makes it having the most crowd. Unlike the San Bao Dong Buddhist and
Nan Tian Dong Taoist cave Temples which each has their own long history; in comparison,
creation of this temple was rather "new" and more importantly, it was an
individual effort. According to an introductory marble stone which illustrated its
history; the project was started by an immigrant from Guangdong Province, China named
Loh Chee Meng 1913~1995. A more remarkable fact is, he only began construction (inspired
by a dream) when he was 57 years old which means officially, it was built in 1967.
Originally, the cave has only a Chinese folk religion image of Tua Pek Gong
(Tai Pak Gong in Cantonese) statue where its history cannot be traced. As a retiree
specialized in Chinese construction and design, it still took Mr. Loh entire life
of his retirement of 28 years to build this temple in phases.
 |
 |
For this fact only, you have to admire his determine
dedication and hardwork. As information relating to this cave temple is weak on th
web, I am trying to create an introduction which serves to show my respect, that
is all.
|
I guess the relative late development of the Ling
Xian Yan must have been well studied in how NOT to challenge the likes of Nan Tian
Dong and San Bao Dong and still established its own temple identity. Basically, the
creator has thoughtfully using all the well known Chinese legends and characters
and mix with traditional Chinese temple design. In here, you will find a mixture
of Mahayaha and Theravada Buddhism practices. I guess the idea is to provide one
single solution to all. The only thing that is missing is the temple's natural cave
structure which actually limits the progress internally. So, you can say most of
the temple's highlights are located its external compound The mix of the "everything"
is currently the temple's attraction and indeed this is one happy joyous playground
for a good family outings, esp. kids will love it. For the photographers, this Cave
temple may present an extremely colorful play to burn a few rolls, esp. during a
hot, sunny afternoon...
|