Wesak Day 2557 (2013)

Wesak Day-- the day the Buddha passed away forever. Why do we celebrate-- wait, "celebrate" isn't the right word to use. Why do we observe this day? It is to commemorate the Buddha's passing, yes, but more importantly the Buddha's attainment of Nirvana/Nibanna-- the greatest achievement. The belief that he did not die, but relinquished his life. That he had defeated death because death did not take him but rather he accepted it and he was finally able to escape the wheel of samsara-- of death and rebirth. We observe Wesak to remind ourselves to be more mindful of our actions by undertaking the precepts and to share meritorious deeds to all beings.

 That didn't sound like me, did it? Haha!

Well, on such an auspicious day, I travelled to two different places to spend my time meaningfully rather than sleep and be generally unproductive. In the morning, I went to Maha Vihara temple at Brickfields because Sis. Pai Ling invited the NBS to be volunteers at their booth for Wesak. I was the only person free to go so I asked (forced) Bob to come along and accompany me there. Two of my friends tagged along, namely Wah Sheng and K Huey to go to the temple too. We left Semenyih at around 8am and reached our destination at around 10:30am, thanks to Sis. Pai Ling for picking us up. I overestimated Malaysia's public transport system a little bit.

Once there, we toured the area a little and partook in a bit of (overpriced) food before getting to work. I was stationed at the booth distributing joss sticks and candles and accepting donations while Bob was working at the Book store. The other two were pretty much free to roam around and helped here and there. After we were done, Sis. Pai Ling fetched us back to the Kajang KTM station where I parked my car and we parted ways there. Bob went straight to Serdang, to go to Nalanda and help out there again (wow, salute to you brother) while Nut stayed back at the temple for his parents. Kae Huey and I went back to our house and I went to bathe and sleep for around 10 minutes before getting ready to leave for Nalanda myself.

 I picked Lee up and the two of us went to Nalanda with the help of my GPS. On the way there it started to rain so heavily to the point where I couldn't see the road in front of my and had to drive very slowly. I was concerned for Nalanda's agenda for the night because it would be quite impossible for the procession to go on under such a storm.

When we reached there, the rain had somewhat subsided and the place was generally in a bit of a mess since their schedule couldn't be kept. The Nalandians were hurrying in and out carrying tables and chairs and organising the visitors because the rain had flooded the field. Celestine told us to chill and look around the Nalanda Centre while waiting but Lee and I decided to offer our help where possible and carried tables and boards here and there for some time. Thankfully, the rain stopped altogether slightly shy of 6pm and things were under control again.

We had our dinners, consisting of a multi-course meal ( I can't even begin to count the variety of food available) as well as a dazzling number of desserts consisting of local cakes and sweets. We also had tau fu fah, provided free by the vendors. While eating, Celestine introduced us to an interesting guy called Benjamin Khoo. He was in the finance line and was fun to talk to. As night drew on, the procession started to move. We were each given a candle to light and hold as we walked. I was explaining to Lee throughout the walk about the Buddhist culture to the best of my ability but I probably couldn't do it justice as there is a lot that I still don't know.

After that we were ushered into seats to observe the speeches and performances prepared by the Nalandians. The highlight was definitely the Reader's Theater and the Wayang Kulit. I was looking forward for Bro. Tan's speech, but he didn't give one. After that Lee and I helped the Nalandians pack up stuff like tables, chairs, speakers et cetera while engaging in some conversation with them.

Oh yeah, peanut, a girl named Hui Sin (forgive me for I am terribleh with Chinese names) from Wesley Methodist School says hi to you.

Anyway, after we were done packing, Bob, Lee and I went to Mungga Nasi Lemak and had supper before going back home to sleep.

 And there you have it, my Wesak day.