Lotus on Water: The Origins

It’s a double decker SBS bus. Gold-yellowish coat of paint, with luxurious splashes of red and purple. You can’t miss it: Master Yun’s sitting portrait occupies the entire two floors. Like a giant, he stares at you. Some say when Master Yun looks into their eyes, it is as if he is piercing into the deepest abyss of their souls, knowing everything of their past, and more importantly, their future.

Right beside Master Yun’s glow writes this: Huatastic to Prosperity 旺事如意. One of the most “in” prayers of Lotus blessed clients.

The service number of this bus is 165. My hokkien-speaking clients love this. Read “165” in hokkien, it means “always having for the whole journey” – always prospering. And for the fans, this Lotus on Water bus has a name. They call it the Huat Bus.

The Huat Bus runs from Hougang to Clementi, passing through Upper Thomson Road. If you have taken the Huat Bus before, you will see the Lotus on Water Street – 4 Lotus on Water galleries standing proud.

The façade is bright and magnificent. Precious and treasured collections of carved crystals and raw jadeite boulders worth tens and tens of thousands SGD are generously displayed, shining radiantly into the walkway.

For the majority, these 4 Lotus on Water galleries are here as it has always been. There are those who remember there was a time when there were only 2 galleries, side by side. And there are the blessed clients who have followed the Lotus since it’s early days, would occasionally remark in the main gallery: this is where it all started.

The first Lotus on Water gallery started in June 2006. It shocked the fengshui market with its majestic touch and the highly valuable fengshui items. Before Lotus on Water, majority of the fengshui world was deemed as superstitious, uncouth and a nest of random soothsayers. Master Yun believes our culture deserves better. It should be treated with respect. After all, it is one of the oldest traditions with a rich history of prosperous dynasties. And the first thing to do to earn respect from others, is to respect ourselves. Hence, only the real and most precious fengshui collections, only the best and first-hand fengshui items, only the categories and standard of earthly treasures that the emperors once used are accepted.

And way before the revolutionary arrival of the first Lotus on Water gallery, Master Yun Long Zi, who is now retired, founded Lotus on Water and started the cause at his own home.

Receiving the mantle from his grandfather, the 5^th generation fengshui master in the family, Master Yun could have performed like his predecessors: practice the ancient art in private.

But Master Yun didn’t.

There is always this obsessively extremist characteristic in Master Yun. It is either he doesn’t do it, or he does it to the best. Many people say this, but few have done it. From what I know of Master Yun all these years, he always stays truthful to what he does and has the habit of makings things great. Not just good, but GREAT. When he was in university, his thesis was literally extraordinary. He was awarded first class honors – a prestige that the universities in Singapore had not seen for at least a decade before him – for his logic, sensibility, and I believe as well, greatness in mind and heart. Master Yun majored in both Chinese and English language and literature.

I believe it was also Master Yun’s great sense of responsibility that prompted him to reflect and revolutionize the ways of his predecessors.

In the humble beginnings of his home, Master Yun already insisted on the pinnacle of standards that Lotus on Water continues to uphold today. Only the natural, first-hand, and the best quality fengshui items were sold; there was no tolerance for anything less. He did not know whether anyone would buy the Lotus jadeite, perhaps no one would, because the real stuff were much more expensive that the man-tampered or fake jadeite that flooded the market then. Master Yun only knew one thing: to do what is right.

Only the best, natural, first-hand jadeite.

And faster than what was expected at all, Master Yun and Lotus on Water gathered faithful followers. There are always like-minded people who are after the best things in life; people who appreciate the value of precious and rare earthly treasures; people who aspire for greatness and victories in their lives and take action to make it happen – these individuals resonated with the cause of Lotus on Water. The blessed clients who followed the Lotus since its dawn, bought jadeite directly from Master Yun’s place.

In the wondrous jadeite collection then, there was this jadeite Guanyin statue. The Guanyin sits on a lotus flower and holds a stalk of lotus, yet to bloom. It was one of the most expensive collections then and several offers were made to buy this jadeite Guanyin. Master Yun hesitated. He felt his affinity with this Guanyin. Yet, to not sell this jadeite Guanyin would mean to forsake a huge amount of money.

Master Yun offered incense to the Guanyin and prayed: if the affinity is for the Guanyin to stay in Master Yun’s place, let there be a huge income in 10 days’ time.

The other jadeite Guanyin. This jadeite Guanyin is standing. It is currently housed in the Exquisite Buddha and Deity Sculpture Gallery. The only jadeite Guanyin left since the dawn of Lotus on Water.

And Master Yun went on with his affairs, nearly forgetting about the prayer, till a client from Netherlands called.

He called and requested Master Yun to do fengshui all the way in Holland. Master Yun replied that he only goes overseas to do fengshui when there are at least 5 locations or houses.

The Dutch client said: it’s not 1, not 5, but 21. There were 21 houses waiting for Master Yun to fengshui in Holland.

When this Dutch client last met Master Yun, Master Yun told him that there is a large pool of windfall coming to him. The Dutch client went back to Holland, flipping through his bills, and remembered the prediction. He sneered: the “Chinese magician” said I would have a windfall, but look at me clearing huge bills here! Just as he was saying this, he remembered a lotto (equivalent to our Toto) ticket he bought before he left for Singapore. No surprise – he won. I don’t remember how much, but apparently it was such a windfall amount that he sprained his back in the excitement of jumping around. The Dutch client owns a restaurant. And he told every one he came across about the story of the fengshui master from the east.

He called Master Yun exactly on the 10^th day of the prayer.

So, to the disappointment of many, the sitting jadeite Guanyin stayed in Master Yun’s place, not for sale.

Master Yun’s faith and insistence on quality bought him something else even greater: the power of this jadeite Guanyin was so immense that the amount of money earned from this Holland trip was sufficient to start the first Lotus on Water gallery.

The first gallery was started in June 2006. Every June, we celebrate the anniversary with a big bang. We celebrate Lotus on Water’s great leap to greatness, and also to remind ourselves the importance of great faith and the unquestionable tolerance for only the highest order of fengshui collections. They are the foundations on which Lotus on Water bloom, from nothing to something.

From 1 gallery to 2, then to 4…the rest is just prosperous history.