Abstract
Worshiping trees in Malaysia is not a wonder at strange sights in Malaysia. Malaysians believe in animism. The objective of this research project is to present some preliminary thoughts of tree animism and analyze the animism practices and beliefs in Malaysia so that a better understanding of animism can be established as the vast research by Animists little is known about the perspective of Animists in Malaysia.
The field investigation was conducted to explore three popular trees. This study discovers some of the Malaysian Animists’ perspective. In this animism belief, they see them as powerful symbols of growth, decay, and resurrection. The first field observation conducted on a Chinese temple, the tree has been worship by the society since 1977 as a spiritual belief that the tree inherent the spirit of a local god. It has a major influence on the society especially surroundings area of based on its supremacy and mythology incident. Believer worships the tree for prosperous in wealth as proven from the donation made by the believer in enhancing the temple. The second was conducted on a Thai temple, the tree named Bodhi tree. By practicing meditation near the Bodhi tree, believer able to calm down their mind and obtained an answer to solve their life’s problem. The third was the “Vilva” tree located at a Hindus temple, it is believed connected to the god of “Sri Nagaraja” in Hinduism and solves their relationship problems. For future study, researcher may works on the belief of rock animism.
Author Information
Foong Hock Kuen, Sunway University, Malaysia
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