Once in a Wesak

I used to be very occcupied with organising events in the month of May. The most important event of all was Wesak Day which usually falls on the first week of May. The other event falls on May 15 of each year which is the National Youth Day.

Wesak Day has been a busy day for me for many years since I graduated from university. The first few years was busy promoting and selling children story books based on the past life of the Buddha which is the Jataka Tales.

These books were produced by a group of Buddhist friends who graduated from UKM. I was handling the printing and marketing aspects while the others were involved in art work, story line and translation ( English to Chinese). We even recorded the stories on tape in a innovated "home" studio of an old friend.

Being in marketing, I know Wesak Day will be "The Day" to sell our books at the temples as that will be the day which attracts the most devotees to the temple. We know we have a good product but we need to have the right place, right timing and right crowd and all a troop of volunteer promoters to introduce and sell our books!

Using whatever contacts I have developed within the Buddhist community since my university days, stalls or counters selling our Jataka Tales books were set up in major Buddhist centres in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Penang. All the arrangement paid off as we managed to sell about 3,000 copies of the books within one day!

That was the good old days. Our sale counters are no more in existence at the temples during Wesak nowadays. The books are no more in print and the company publishing it already shut down. All of us had moved on with our own life. A dream to flood the market with the locally published Jataka Tales for the benefit of the local Buddhist children in mind remains buried in the heart. Maybe some day some one will seek this dream and realise it?

Whatever the end results of our past efforts, it is already in the past but one thing I am very sure. Those books that we published more than 15 years ago are still read by some Buddhist kids at the Sunday Dhamma schools or in the comfort of their homes. My kids read all those books and I am proud to tell them that their parents were part of the team that produced those books.

Some years later when I was leading the UKM Buddhist Alumni, I initiated the "mobile temple" concept where our group will pick a place or town which do not have a Buddhist temple and consecrate an "instant temple". While the intention was for our members and friends to celebrate the Triple Holy Day in communion and fellowship, the purpose was also to provide the opportunity for local residents to celebrate Wesak at our mobile temple.

The first place where a mobile temple was set up was at Frasers Hill which do not have a Buddhist temple or centre. We rented a colonial bungalow with a large hall and with the ingenuity of our members, we managed to transform the place into a temple overnite! The main altar was set up using customed-made tables which can be dismantled and transported even in a Kancil.

We raised and tied the Buddhist flags all around the "temple". Some of the local residents and tourists that managed to find our new temple was very happy indeed. The moment they steps into the shrine hall, they will find the Buddha welcoming them. Their happiness are reflected on their face when they kneel and bathe the Baby Buddha.

There were Wesak Dhamma talks by members of the Sangha, meditation in the cool atmosphere and the candle procession in the carpark. It was such a wonderful Wesak. At least tourists with Buddhist background will not miss their Wesak prayers. The idea was, if you do not go to the temple, the temple comes to you! - Loka