This article features Klenteng Caow Eng Bio, Tanjung Benoa Bali. For related media articles visit ATnews.id.
The Boat and the Temple
The ship. The vessel that moves through tumultuous waters and storms across a vast, immeasurable ocean.
And yet the sea itself gives life to the earth. Without it, life does not exist. Some theories suggest that all life first emerged from the primordial waters, from oceans that carried the earliest beginnings of existence itself.
Outside Caow Eng Bio stands the perahu… the boat… with a golden naga concealed within. Majestic, arresting, and artistically powerful, it immediately stops you in your tracks.
Humans live through symbols. We rely on them to orient ourselves, whether toward safe waters or unwittingly into danger. Perhaps even that journey itself remains a throw of fate’s dice.
When Chinese seafarers first arrived on the islands of Indonesia centuries ago, one can only imagine the crossing. Vast oceans, unpredictable weather, wooden vessels crafted from mountain trees, carrying people across waters capable of swallowing them whole. It highlights the diabolical odds. A comparative portrait almost beyond comprehension. It paints a picture of the ocean and especially the nature of the seafarers willing to face those odds.
Eventually, those boats reached shelter in the cove of Indonesia’s many shores. Eventually leading to where Caow Eng Bio now stands. That journey symbolises more than physical survival. It reflects the spiritual journey itself. The challenges of a single human life can feel like a drop in an immeasurable ocean, and yet we wrestle with those waters all the same.
Later, through conversations with temple caretakers, I learned that the perahu symbolises the arrival of the Ancestors to these shores and the safe passage of spirits onto solid ground. A mark of utmost honour and respect.
It feels fitting, because this is a temple deeply tied to the sea. On the holy day celebrating the birthday of Goddess Mazu, I once again came to anchor my own boat from the storm. Feeling deeply honored to sit with those who continue caring for this place and preserving its stories.
A Temple Born of the Sea
According to temple custodians, Caow Eng Bio traces its origins to a modest place of worship established by Hainan seafarers centuries ago.
Today, many regard it as one of Bali’s oldest Chinese temples, standing in Tanjung Benoa. Yet its earliest form did not stand exactly where the current structure rises today. Elders recount that the original site stood elsewhere before eventually moving into a more protected cove that offered shelter to worshippers and seafarers alike.
Movement, migration, and refuge shape the history of this temple and the deities here maintain a profound relationship with the ocean. A phrase that whisper through me… part memory, part something else… ‘ all things return in the end.. to the Great Lake’.
Many visitors associate Caow Eng Bio with the Goddess Mazu, often adressed as Grandmother Mazu from the people’s affection. Known in Taoist tradition as Tianhou Shengmu, Empress of Heaven and Goddess of the Sea. Her birthday falls on the 23rd day of the third lunar month.
Yet temple elders explain that the principal deity, you can say the spiritual host of Caow Eng Bio Temple, is Shui Wei Shen Niang. A sea goddess originating from Hainan traditions. Grandmother Mazu’s altar arrived later and gradually intertwined itself with the temple’s evolving history, particularly through generations of seafarers arriving from Taiwan and beyond.
Today, multiple altars fill the temple. Dewi Shui Wei Shen Niang and Dewi Mazu stand alongside other deities. While in another room the Buddha and Bodhisattva Quan Yin reside. Where caretakers maintain vegetarian offerings separately from altars receiving meat offerings.
The architecture quietly reveals something important… co-existence. Not hierarchy but peaceful, joyful accommodation.
Holding Tradition
I sat with Ketua Pembina Nyoman Suasana Hardika, whose reflections carried both tenderness and conviction. He spoke about his long service to the temple, a lineage extending back through his great-grandfather. Though invited many years ago to volunteer, he only fully committed after retirement gave him more time and fewer worldly responsibilities.
“It is important to honour our ancestral legacy,” he shared. “To carry out these rituals and responsibilities.” He spoke not simply about maintaining buildings or ceremonies. It is about maintaining roots. “It is important to remember our traditions.”
Caow Eng Bio remains one of the few temples that still retains its status as a Kongco rather than becoming a vihara. Temple elders consciously chose to preserve its original identity despite periods of social and political pressure. There is something deeply moving in that resilience. Not rigidity. it is simply steadfastness. I curiously looked up the meaning of ‘Kongco’ and it originally translates to ‘Great Grandfather’. With the deep love and respect for the Ancestors, it makes sense why temple elders struggled to part with the title.
The younger generation continues carrying this inheritance forward. Service here often spans generations. Grandfathers, fathers, and now younger custodians continue stepping forward to protect something that could easily have disappeared.
Harmony as Daily Practice
Later I spoke with Ketua Pengurus Djuanda Aditya. He reflected on the remarkable reality of Tanjung Benoa itself. “We are many ethnicities here,” he explained. Within close proximity stand a mosque, a Hindu temple, and a Chinese shrine. Harmony, he elaborates, does not live as theory.
People practice it daily. When Caow Eng Bio holds celebrations, invitations extend far beyond the Chinese community. Muslim, Hindu, and Christian neighbors join and participate. “We remember we are a minority,” he shared. “To safeguard harmony, we show respect and inclusivity.” Sometimes Muslim friends attend celebrations. Community life naturally crosses boundaries of faith.
His hope is simple. Not only for Tanjung Benoa, but for Bali as a whole, to continue building togetherness and participation across communities. In this small corner of Bali, coexistence already lives and breathes. This is not a political theory. But a living practice.
The Discipline of a Spiritual House
Another reflection stayed with me. Within spirituality, everyone carries their own role. The Biokong guides spiritual matters. Others oversee administration and manage finances. Others carry ritual responsibilities. Not from ego. It sculptured through innate or perhaps necessary discipline. Like a machine composed of many parts. No one part replaces another.
The temple maintains systems of transparency and accountability. Responsibilities remain clearly defined and clearly separated. The intention remains simple: preserve integrity. Because spiritual homes carry profound responsibility.
People arrive seeking guidance. Seeking healing. Seeking a way back to themselves. Just as parents guide us within our family homes, spiritual houses must also become examples that support the wellbeing of their communities.
Still Carrying Us Through the Storm
With all the differences in this world, perhaps diversity itself reflects the Creator’s creativity. Intolerance may simply reveal the limitations of our own minds. Acceptance does not always require agreement. Sometimes it simply asks us to allow different perspectives to exist peacefully beside our own
When we visit a friend’s home, we understand that house carries its own customs and ways. We enter respectfully. Living together is not so different.
In this moment I feel the joy revive. Understanding why I love history. Shared memories. Wise, spirit teachers disguised through our memories. They whisper their wisdom, knowledge, compassion and boundless potential into these fragments we catch, as memories.
So of of course, indelibly, I treasure opportunities that bring us closer to our Ancestors. Because many today already feel estranged. Some no longer know where to utter their questions. Tremulously, seeking guidance.
Places like Caow Eng Bio become more than buildings. They become anchors.
Places where memory, tradition, and spirit continue finding safe harbour.
And perhaps that is why the boat waits outside.
Still arriving.
Still carrying us through the storm.
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