Buddhist Group Volunteers Help As Road Marshals During Hari Raya Prayers & Shows Religious Harmony in S’pore

With the recent controversies around race, it seems like most people don’t realise that much of the negative name throwing around isn’t actually constructive in understanding other races and religions.

Maybe, just maybe, people need to chill and listen to each other instead of asking who is right and wrong.

To show you what I mean, let’s spread some positive news around here.

Like helping another religion that may not necessarily share the same beliefs, but shares the same values as decent human beings.

Partial road closure for more space to pray

More and more Muslims go to Abdul Razak Mosque in Eunos to pray each year for Hari Raya Haji.

But with 1,000 Muslims this year, this posed a problem of having not enough space in the Mosque.

Those who can’t usually pray on the pavement or road outside, which is obviously quite dangerous.

So the best solution would be to apply for permission for a partial road closure so that those who cannot fit into the Mosque can still pray.

But another problem then is that some Muslims who need to be road marshals cannot pray.

Enter Shinnyo-en.

When at a meeting of the Kembangan-Chai Chee Inter-Racial and Religious Circle (IRCC) and a partial road closure was brought up, Shinnyo-en offered volunteers to be road marshals.

It’s not really clear if Shinnyo-en offered without even being asked, but here‘s the original article for you to judge.

From the quotes, it sure sounds like it.

The mosque secretary Mr Syed Salleh said, “We were so happy about that. It didn’t occur to us that people from other races would be willing to help. It gives our volunteers the peace of mind to do their prayers as well.”

So, on 11 Aug 2019, we now get this picture of an uncle doing qigong against cars:

Not a one-time event

This isn’t just some help one time then forget thing either. Shinnyo-en is “more than happy to continue helping out” in the future.

“Singapore is a religiously diverse country but there are many commonalities and one of them is prayer. We understand how this is important to our Muslim friends and wanted to volunteer so they do not have to forgo it.”, said Ms Tan Pia Tiang, manager of Shinnyo-en.

In case you think this might be some religious PR thing, here are some pictures of Shinnyo-en volunteers delivering porridge with others from Darul Aman Mosque, straight from their Facebook.

Inter-Faith

In fact, Inter-faith understanding is built into one of their teachings, here’s something straight up copied from their website:

“Her Holiness Shinso Ito has repeatedly reminded us that the goal of inter-faith dialogue must be for different faiths to learn from one another. Shinnyo-en believes that people of faith need to explore together how their practices empower, individually and together, to transform this world of suffering into a world of harmony and understanding.”

Considering that it’s built into their belief system, it’s probably more surprising that there’s so little coverage or PR done.

Doing good without asking for compensation? If there’s any time to use the phrase “Faith in Humanity Restored”, it’s now.