ANCESTOR WORSHIP
康 回 冯 怒
鲧 何 所 营
河 海 应 龙
九 州 安 错
地 方 九 则
洪 泉 极 深
纂 就 前 绪
伯 禹 愎 鲧
焉 有 虬 龙
鸱 龟 曳 衔
佥 曰 何 忧
不 任 汩 鸿 乌 焉 解 羽
其 衍 几 何
其 修 孰 多
孰 知 其 故
坠 何 故 以 东 南 倾
禹 何 所 成
何 尽 何 历
川 谷 何 洿
何 以 坟 之
遂 夫 何 以 而 成 何 窴 厥 考 以 之 谋 功 变 不 化 同
永 遏 在 羽 山
顺 欲 成 功 夫 焉 丧 厥 体
何 续 初 继 业
负 帝 鲧 熊 夫 何 何 以 何 刑 听 游 三 焉 焉 年 不 施
何 不 课 而 行 之
师 何 以 尚 之
Why did the great birds cry? How did their huge body disintegrated when they died?
How did Yi shot down nine suns? Where are the feathers of the crows scattered?
South to North extends long and narrow. How much longer and thinner will it stretch?
From East to West, South to North, which length is greater and has the greatest amount of soil?
Who knows why the eastward flow never exhausts and fills the seas?
Why, when the Lord of the Water was enraged, did he sink the earth down towards the south-east?
What distracted Gun’s plan? What lead to Yu’s accomplishment in his plan?
How did the winged dragon draw with its tail? How did the rivers and seas begin to flow with ease?
How did the waters drained from the Nine Lands and meander through the valleys?
How did he distinguish the barren and fertile fields and grade them into Nine Lands.
How did he dam the rivers up where they were an unfathomable abyss?
If Yu carried on the prior plans of the unfinished works, how did he apply his own strategies to it?
If Yu carried on the unfinished works of his father, in what ways will he succeed his father’s plan?
When Gun turned into a bear, where did the bear swam to?
Gun was cast off eternally on Mount Yu, why for three whole years did his dead body not rot?
And if he accomplished the work according to his will, why did Emperor Yao sentenced his death?
Why did the people have confidence in him and allowed him to try out?
If Gun was forbidden to quell the floods, why was he assigned to take charge?
Yu laboured and succeeded in his divine duty, hence was called upon to rule the country.
皆 归 射 鞠
何 启 惟 忧
九 而 而 辨 而 无 能 九 禹 害 拘 歌 播 厥 是 降 躬 达
启 代 益 作 后
胡 为 嗜 不 同 味
闵 妃 匹 合 封 革 豨 而 孽 而 是 妻 夏 死 射 彼 民 分 雒 竟 嫔 地
何 后 益 作 革
Zhuo took the Black fox to wife, and plotted the murder of Yi with Yi’s wife.
With his trusty bow and good thumb-ring he shot the Great Swine.
Qi ascended to Heaven and brought back the tunes of the Nine Changes and the Nine Songs.
How did they bare to part after only spending a night together.
How did he won the heart of the maiden of Mount Tu, and later settle her down at Mount Tai? The lady became his mate and she bore him a descent son.
启 棘 宾 商
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念 天 地 之 悠 悠
科 技 愈 发 达
后 续 无 人
前 不 见 古 人
男 女 不 成 双
女 娲 有 体
安 得 夫 良 药
白 蜺 婴 茀
何 羿 之 射 革
浞 娶 纯 狐
Where can we find the land where people do not die? What magical powers do they possess? Where can we find the elixir of immortality, why ironically are we not able to preserve it? Who was the one who molded and fashioned Nü Wa in her unique form? If men and women are not matched in pairs, how will the ten thousand beings multiply?
NAVIGATE
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Where, before me, are the ages that have gone? Where, behind me, are the coming generations?
ARTIST & FATHER
Mr Leow Bock Kiong, father of the artist, works as a Daoist priest and an ancestor tablets carver. He took up the trade more than twenty-five years ago. The skills that he learnt as a carver was from his father-inlaw at the family business 西天国 (Xi Tian Guo) while he preceived his certification from China, Jiang Xi Province, Mount Long Hu(龙虎山, Long Hu Shan) to practice as a priest in Singapore.
Through an apprenticeship with his father, the artist, Hou Teng, translated the craft into an installation work, hoping to provide a fresh perspective to the old tradition.
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孰 胡 制 不 为 而 匠 能 此 交 之 固 堂 吞 臧 揆 之
子 取 之 后 万 独 代 过 怎 物 怆 传 错 得 何 然 统 来 繁 而 者 衍 涕 下
How was it possible to have Yi murdered when he was so well skilled in archery?
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卒 然 而 离 快 蠥 朝 饱
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Why, when he offered the meat as a sacrifice, was Emperor Yao displeased?
Why then did he shoot the Lord of the River and take to wife that Lady of the Luo?
Emperor Yao sent Lord Yi to overcome the calamities of the people below.
Why, if he was a filial son did he harm his mother, and shattering her bones all over?
Why did Bo-Yi lost his throne and Yu’s heir prospered?
All the people worked hard to perform their duties and did no harm to them.
Why did Qi suffered hardship and how did he succeed in warding it off?
Qi took the throne on behalf of Bo-Yi, and eventually met with mishap.
何 勤 子 屠 母
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With no successor picking up this unique technique, is the son at fault?
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帝 降 夷 羿
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Will technology replace culture?
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Since Yu was born from the belly of Gun, how different will he be in dealing with the flood issues?
What sacred virtues did Gun learn from the Great Horn Turtles that followed beak to tail?
东 流 不 溢
Men
东 西 南 北 胡 射 夫 河 伯
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The universe is vast without limit, why then am I alone to weep?
74 73 72 71 70 69
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南 北 顺 堕
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75 32 31 30 68
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49 48 47
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羿 焉 彃 日 禹 之 力 献 功 冯 珧 利 决
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76 33 16 15 46
14 28 67
大 鸟 何 鸣 焉 得 彼 嵞 山 厥 女 身 是 而 继 通 之 於 台 桑 何 献 蒸 肉 之 眩 膏 妻 爰 而 谋 后 帝 不 若
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6 45
41 59
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4 27 66
42 60
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45 63
60
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25
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47
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3 12 44
48 64
40
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49 65
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2 26 65
50 66
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51 67
41
19
52 68
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1
53
64
11 43
54 69
降 省 下 土 四 方
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人
56 58 70 80
Ancestor worshiping is a common religious Daoism practice that is based on the belief that deceased family members have a continued existence in an afterlife and watches over the affairs of the family. The ancestor tablet serves as a record of the ancestor’s name, birth and death date and also represents the spiritual presence of the deceased,or an idol of worship for their descendants. These are placed in ancestral halls, bearing only the family surname, thus performing a non-religious function, i.e., to cultivate kinship values like filial piety, family loyalty and continuity of the family lineage. The form of the tablet with its phallic symbolism is a strong reinforcement of the idea of generations of offspring. From a philosophical point of view, it acts as an axis mundi, the central line of communication from Earth to Heaven, a conversation between men and god, the descendant and the ancestor with words carved or non-carved on the tablet.
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女 歧 无 合
日 月 安 属
厥 利 维 何
夜 光 何 德
自 明 及 晦
出 自 汤 谷
明 明 闇 闇
何 阖 而 晦
天 何 所 沓
隅 隈 多 有
九 天 之 际
八 柱 何 当
斡 维 焉 系
惟 兹 何 功
圜 则 九 重
阴 阳 三 合
冯 翼 惟 像
冥 昭 瞢 闇
上 下 未 形 夫 焉 取 九 子
列 星 安 陈
而 顾 兔 在 腹
死 则 又 育
所 行 几 里
次 于 蒙 氾
惟 时 何 为
何 开 而 明
十 二 焉 分
谁 知 其 数
安 放 安 属
东 南 何 亏
天 极 焉 加
孰 初 作 之
孰 营 度 之
何 本 何 化
何 以 识 之
谁 能 极 之
曰 遂 古 之 初
何 由 谁 考 传 之 道 之
Heaven
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灵 蛇 吞 象
靡 蓱 九 衢
焉 有 石 林
黑 水 玄 趾
西 北 辟 启
四 方 之 门
增 城 九 重
昆 仑 县 圃
撰 体 胁 鹿
伯 强 何 处
蓱 号 起 雨
薄 暮 雷 电
天 式 从 横
日 安 不 到
角 宿 未 旦 厥 大 何 如
枲 华 安 居
何 兽 能 言
三 危 安 在
何 气 通 焉
其 谁 从 焉
其 高 几 里
其 尻 安 在
何 以 膺 之
惠 气 安 在
羲 和 之 未 扬
何 归 阳 烛 以 何 离 若 龙 兴 忧 爰 华 何 之 死 何 照 光
曜 灵 安 藏
Earth
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地
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天
道 生 万 物
天 问
‘Questions to Heaven’, is an installation that takes its name from the poem attributed to Qu Yuan who lived during the Warring States Period of ancient China. The poem revolves around mysteries and contradictory accounts in legends and mythologies and begins with questions concerning the parts and motions of the celestial Heaven, to questions about the Earth and the life it supports and finally to the realm of Men, his destinies and fate.
Separated into three sections, Heaven, Earth and Men from the inner to the outermost section, 76 of the original questions were included together with four questions asked by the artist. These were carved on ancestor tablets by the artist’s father, the artist and a machine, to mediate a conversation between the three generations and to highlight the lost of a traditional skill and the wisdom attached to it through the generations. With the traditional carving skill increasingly becoming obsolete in today’s society, will technology eventually replace the ancestor tablet carver with no one, not even the son, willing to succeed his skill? Will the artist be filled with guilt? Can the machine match the finesse and quality of a carver, and will the mass-produced work still be able to convey the same message that it used to uphold. What will become of our coming generations if the skill and its wisdom are lost?
How big is the snake that can swallow an entire elephant?
Where is the nine-branched weed? Where is the flower of the Great Hemp?
Where can we find a rock forest? What sort of beasts can talk?
Where is the Black Water that dyes the feet, and where is the Mountain of Three Perils?
What sort of wind passes through its North and Western gates when they are open?
Who can pass through the gates in its four sides?
How many miles high are the nine layers of terraced walls?
Where does the Hanging Garden of Kunlun rest upon?
How does the deer-bodied Lord of the Wind with its docile and supple physique respond to the rain?
Where does the Lord of the Wind live, and where does he blow the auspicious wind from?
The Lord of the Rain, Ping can summon the rain, how does he then make it more intense?
Towards evening there was thunder and lightning, who is in sorrow?
The heaven-made pattern embraces all, and when the yang-spirit leaves, death ensues.
Why are the Ruo flowers bright before Xi He has risen.
What land does the sun not shine its rays on? Where else can the Torch Dragon lights?
Before the Horn has proclaimed the dawning of the day, where does the Lord of Light conceal itself?
How did Mother Star the virgin bare her nine children without a union?
How do the sun and the moon hold to their courses and the stars in the sky keep their places?
What are those dark spots on the moon is there a rabbit hiding in its belly?
What virtue moves the moon, to flourish yet again after death?
How many miles had the sun travelled between dawn and darkness?
The sun rises from the Gulf of Brightness and sets in the Vale of Murk.
How has it become natural for daytime to be bright and night time to be dark?
Where is the Heavenly gate that closes to cause darkness and opens to cause brightness?
How does heaven coordinate its motions? How was the eclipse divided into Twelve Houses?
How many times did Heaven and Earth intersected?
Where do the horizon between the nine-tiered Heaven and Earth extend to and meet?
How did he aligned the Eight Pillars, how did the Southeast pillar became damaged?
Where were the circling cords fastened, and where were the celestial axes fixed?
Whose work was this, and how did he engineered and build it?
Who measured and surveyed the circular and nine-tiered Heaven?
How did Yin and Yang materialised, evolved and combined to form the universe?
How was it perceived when matter is inchoate?
What could have penetrated that murk when darkness and brightness were undivided in chaos?
How was it before the sky formed above and the earth took its place below?
Who guided the formation of matter since ancient beginnings?
The Tao gave birth to the ten thousand beings
Questions to Heaven