The Burmese Buddhist Temple ( 缅甸玉佛寺 )

The Burmese Buddhist Temple ( 缅甸玉佛寺) located on Tai Gin Road in Balestier located just beside another historical site, the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall. The Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall has been listed as one of the National Monuments of Singapore.

The founding missionary of the Burmese Buddhist Temple in Singapore, U Kyaw Gaung, supervised the project of commissioning the creation of a gigantic white marble Buddha statue in Myanmar. The result is a superb artistic treasure housed in the current Burmese temple.

U Kyaw Gaung went to Sagyin Hill, 30 miles north of Mandalay, which was famous for its superior quality marble used in making Buddha image.There he bought a large marble weighing more than ten tons at the price of Rs. 1,200. Buddha image was sculptured out of that block of marble in Mandalay and it was completed in 1918.This huge and magnificent marble Buddha image which stands eleven feet high and weighs ten tons was carried over to Singapore in1921. This Buddha image was enshrined at the third Milestone, Serangoon Road before it was moved to the Burmese Temple at Kinta Road in 1925.where it was housed in a private chamber. This chamber became a shrine hall where devotees paid homage to the Buddha. In 1935, U Kyaw Gaung died at the age of 69 and the temple was partially converted into a private residence.

In 1981, the family of the late U Kyaw Gaung was served notice by the Urban Redevelopment Authority to vacate their house. Following the government's resettlement programme, the temple was relocated on Tai Gin Road in 1988 where it stands today.

The temple was officially opened in 1991. The temple has intricate Burmese architectural style with teak wood carvings that were donated by the Tripitaka Nikaya Main Ministrative Body (Ti Ni) of Myanmar. The new temple houses a spacious shrine hall, a meditation hall, a multi-purpose hall, a library and living quarters for the monks.

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