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History of Development of Genting Highlands Chin Swee Caves Temple

Founder: Tan Sri (Dr) Lim Goh Tong Ancestral place: Penglai Village, Anxi County, Fujian Province, China

In 1975, for the construction of Chin Swee Caves Temple, Tan Sri (Dr) Lim Goh Tong, founder of the Genting Group, donated a plot of land and set up a temple building society. Other sponsors included Tan Sri Lim Seng Kee, Dato’ Low Kiat, Lim Keng Koon, Lim Pak Tow, Lum Siew, Kuah Kim Cheong, Lim Seng Kee, Lim Hoo Seng, Lim Tong Leong, Lim Jing Chong, Lim Chun Yu, Lim Keng Khoon, Lim Tian Si, Lim Thiam Kwee, Lim Hwa Ngok, Lim Zhi Wu, Lim Yan Ching, Low Zu Tie, Low Jin Yu, Kuah Huo Lian, Au Kien Seng, Kuah Kui Seng, Kuah Shu Sing, Kwa Ting Guo, Teo Boon Seng, Chan Chu Ho and Sun Teck Ann. Together, they worked tirelessly planning and organising the temple building project.

Chin Swee Zushi (or Qingshui Zushi in standard Mandarin pinyin phonics), as the Chin Swee Deity is known among its Chinese worshippers, has a history dating back to the Song Dynasty in China.

Chen Puzu, the man who was to be deified eventually, was born in Mount Qi, Fujian Province, on the 6th day of the First Lunar Month in 1037 AD, during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty. A child prodigy, he showed exceptional qualities as a Buddha-hearted being with a powerful memory. He went on to become a consummate physician who travelled around to help the sick and the poor.

Once, the Penglai village in Anxi County, Fujian, suffered a severe drought. As a holy man, he set up an altar to pray for rain. The parched land was blessed with showers. At the same time, he went around collecting alms to bring relief to the stricken. In the course of helping the people, he educated, enlightened and inspired them by preaching moral and Buddhist principles.

News of his good deeds and benevolence spread far and wide and the people believed that he was a reincarnated divine being sent to bring blessings to Penglai. They collected money to erect a building on a mountainside so that he could stay and continue with his Buddhist teachings. The site, endowed with natural caves and sparkling streams, was subsequently named Chin Swee Caves (Clear Water Caves) by him.

After his death in Penglai on the 3rd day of the Fifth Lunar Month in 1101 AD, the place continued to enjoy divine blessings. The people built a temple in his honour and worshipped him as the Chin Swee Zushi deity. Successive emperors of the Song Dynasty honoured him posthumously four times with various titles. For almost a thousand years, the Chin Swee Caves Temple in Penglai has been seeing an endless stream of worshippers flocking there.

Tan Sri (Dr) Lim Goh Tong, who grew up in Penglai, used to join village elders in worshipping Chin Swee Zushi and in time became a zealous follower. During the construction of the access road to the Genting Highlands Resort, he spotted a site which resembles the Chin Swee Caves back in his native place. Once, while spending the night in a cave there, he dreamt of the Chin Swee deity giving blessings for him to press on with the development of the resort. He went on to initiate a temple building society and build the Chin Swee Caves Temple in stages.

Constructed in traditional Chinese architectural style, the Chin Swee Caves Temple stands majestically on a Genting Highlands mountainside, a 28-acre site 4,600 feet above sea level. Its main prayer hall is devoted to the worship of Chin Swee Zushi. To formalise the Genting Highlands Chin Swee Caves Temple as a branch of the original temple in Penglai, Tan Sri (Dr) Lim made a personal trip there to bring back a joss-stick urn. Sharing the main prayer hall are images of Buddha and the South Seas Bodhisattva. The front part of the hall is flanked by statues of Buddha’s four warriors.

A 9-storey pagoda with 10,000 blessing lamps was added in 1988. The structure houses an image of Buddha, stone sculptures of the 18 Arhats, the 24 Filial Sons and vivid figures in folklores and legends such as Journey to the West.

The construction of the Chin Swee Caves Temple commenced in 1976 and was completed in 1993 at a cost in excess of RM10 million. It was officially opened on 29 March 1994 by the then Malaysian Chinese Association President Dato’ Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik. The temple is not only a popular place of worship, but also a tourist attraction in the Genting Highlands Resort.

Dated: 29 March 1995