My eye fought against the drooping eyelashes even when it failed to
wake open wide. Finally it lashed out of the sleeping dark to flap
against the crack of the dawn. It was past 6:30am when I took a good
glance at the buzzing alarm, still half awake. Draping the curtains to
the side, I touched the first light of the day and tossed away my head
from the kissing sun. I needed to rush myself to get early for the Wesak
celebration. The previous night Wesak eve had gone smoothly with the
Dhamma songs and Dhamma sharing program. But today, I was looking for
extra Dhamma culmination and a wonderful lunch if fated. For the morning
session, I had planned to go to BGF and lend some helping hand and of
course enjoy realizing my being as a Buddhist. It was my first time to
celebrate wesak in BGF, so I had little extra anticipation. Last year, I
had joined BUBS for the wesak and I even had managed to do some
Dhammadutta by helping out at the stall selling Tsai bakuteh. (A Chinese
pork food, but altered to veg. for wesak sake) it was real hot although
I had fun with it coz I didn’t know what I was selling at the time of
selling. I came to know about it after I had closed down the stall. That
was really ignorant of me. But this year was not going to stall again,
that was for sure. So as the day passed, I have captured a beautiful
moment of life where I was full in with the people here- Listening to
the Dhamma talk, singing some melodious songs along with Igemz and
saving the good part for the last of the program, a nice simple lunch.
Every grain that we eat must be repaid. So I did repay by contributing
my energy in cleaning up the mess and packaging the excess food. It was
time to head in another direction coz BGF is a smaller Buddhist society
and they don’t drag the program whole day long so that the people can go
to other bigger temple to give support.
For the evening celebration, I rushed to brickfields temple, which is one of the biggest temple in the country. I reached there just in time for the program to start. The veneration to the Buddha began with some kind of traditional Sri-Lankan dance followed by the usual political speeches. I gazed around to find myself at the front side of the stage. So I quickly dragged myself to the arena where people light oil lamps in their name. I had a smirk on my face when I saw the oil lamps literally. In my home, oil lamps are pure oil lamps with the purpose of ‘pure illumination’. Even here, it does signify ‘illuminating the dark world’ or “making aspiration” but they use half water and half oil. Oil and water don’t mix so it saves the cost. But the thousands lamps glowing in the dark was a salvation to the burdened heart. It was captivating and spiritual at the same time.
I followed back to the program. The grand long awaited time had finally arrived when the body of followers will flow in unison with the Buddha’s float all the way long in the heart of Kl city blocking all the traffics and holding the stares all around. After dragging on for few minutes, I found myself walking behind the float of a Mahayana Buddhist society. I was sure I was praying with the group but I was not sure what I was murmuring. I just followed the Chinese chanting and I was pretty quick to catch up the words. How far it was correct, the baby Buddha smiling in front of me could have known. I had persuaded my friend to join me till the bend in the road. I looked sideways to see if she was still there but expectantly she had walked back leaving an odd blue colored girl walking among the yellow colored shirts. I continued with my marching only to hear a tap on my shoulder, few bends down the road to know that she was still around and she dared not to leave me alone. It felt nice and strong. We entered the city traffic with hundreds faces positioned like an avenue to have a glimpse of the huge long procession. Flashes on and off all the time and all I could hear was not my own chanting but the one which I was following. My eyes were fixed upon the baby Buddha spinning around in its first declaration pose “I am the king of this world; no-one is supreme to me. This is my last birth; there is no rebirth for me”. I was realizing, I needed to moisten my drying throat, so I took a mouthful of the small bottled water that I was carrying with me, saving the rest if needed. After walking long with the Mahayana group, I left that group to join another group coz my friend saw other good floats ahead of us. So we started with our hopping on. I joined another Mahayana group where a monk was seated on the lotus seat of the float. It was nice to see him participating but he was kind of meditating with his eyes closed. I felt bad at being so pessimist but I couldn’t let myself from thinking: how can he meditate in such a crowd? Maybe he was contemplating but contemplation is meditation. Isn’t it? Or maybe he was rejoicing within. Anyways leave that. So we took good many pictures of the float which was themed on going green and becoming a vegetarian. It was nice that at least it was conveying a message through Dhamma. We progressed to walk ahead of that group to join the Ti-ratana Buddhist society. I didn’t walk with them for long and quickly joined a vajrayana Buddhist society- karma kargyud society. Three monks were seated on the float and chanting Muni Muni. (A Buddhist prayer). By now I had walked almost one hour and half. The lingering crowd was still intact and faces along the way beaming yet astonished. I saw the twin tower, so I knew I was in the heart of Kl now. Wow! Such a long march! I chanted along with the group while my friend was busy taking pictures. I walked ahead of the float and so I came to meet up with Bro Kevin from Indonesia. He was walking alone and I caught up with him. By the time, we reached another roundabout, I lost the sight of him and that time I was catching up with the beats of Chinese songs sung by another youth group. I kept myself to their company only to get amused by the never heard Chinese songs. So I returned back to the vajrayana group. I noticed that they had erected two Mani on either side of the float and it looked great with the small Buddha statue placed in the mid at the far end with the three monks seated with reverence. The group was real active with the members stopping the entire float in the middle of the procession for a group photo. Though I was not associated with the society in any way, I still stood front for my face to appear. My friend was ridiculing me but it mattered less. By the time, we reached hotel Istana; my bottle had gone empty, so I quickly rushed in one of the 7-11 shop to buy a bottle of ice lemon tea. Few steps down the road, they were giving away free mineral water. But I already had brought my juice. We kept on marching, talking to ourselves while chanting. Slowly I hopped on to witness other groups. I saw a Nepali group behind and so I went there to be blessed by drops of the water that the monks were sprinkling at the crowd to soothe the heat though it was meant to be a blessing. Receiving few drops of water on me and more drops on my glasses, I moved ahead to join my last left group. By that time, Dee’s camera battery was down and so she was no longing acting as Japanese. So we walked on and on till we knew we have reached near. It looked up at the buildings to notice that we have been walking almost 2 hours and I was still feeling great. A pang of hunger once hit me when I smelled food from a restaurant coz I hadn’t taken my dinner and I had my lunch at 12pm. But I was still fine after gulping down the entire juice. I was messaging a friend of mine when the float hit the wirings at the highway. In fact it was the high flagpole erected at the sides of the float that touched the wires. So we had to stop a while to fix it. But thankfully it didn’t take long and made no damage or whatsoever. The float took a U-turn rather than following the procession. And so I left that group and walked back to the temple without any group.
It was almost 11pm when we reached. We had started at 8pm. That sums up that we have walked for almost 3 hours. It was definitely a rejoicing moment. I rested for a while and then helped with the clearance. It was 12pm when we headed back. We had a few good snacks not to let ourselves sleep with an empty stomach. I browsed for a while and then cuddled into the sweet paradise awaited.
Long before my head touched the pillow, I had drawn myself away from the pulsating moment of the night with my lips curled to the extent!
For the evening celebration, I rushed to brickfields temple, which is one of the biggest temple in the country. I reached there just in time for the program to start. The veneration to the Buddha began with some kind of traditional Sri-Lankan dance followed by the usual political speeches. I gazed around to find myself at the front side of the stage. So I quickly dragged myself to the arena where people light oil lamps in their name. I had a smirk on my face when I saw the oil lamps literally. In my home, oil lamps are pure oil lamps with the purpose of ‘pure illumination’. Even here, it does signify ‘illuminating the dark world’ or “making aspiration” but they use half water and half oil. Oil and water don’t mix so it saves the cost. But the thousands lamps glowing in the dark was a salvation to the burdened heart. It was captivating and spiritual at the same time.
I followed back to the program. The grand long awaited time had finally arrived when the body of followers will flow in unison with the Buddha’s float all the way long in the heart of Kl city blocking all the traffics and holding the stares all around. After dragging on for few minutes, I found myself walking behind the float of a Mahayana Buddhist society. I was sure I was praying with the group but I was not sure what I was murmuring. I just followed the Chinese chanting and I was pretty quick to catch up the words. How far it was correct, the baby Buddha smiling in front of me could have known. I had persuaded my friend to join me till the bend in the road. I looked sideways to see if she was still there but expectantly she had walked back leaving an odd blue colored girl walking among the yellow colored shirts. I continued with my marching only to hear a tap on my shoulder, few bends down the road to know that she was still around and she dared not to leave me alone. It felt nice and strong. We entered the city traffic with hundreds faces positioned like an avenue to have a glimpse of the huge long procession. Flashes on and off all the time and all I could hear was not my own chanting but the one which I was following. My eyes were fixed upon the baby Buddha spinning around in its first declaration pose “I am the king of this world; no-one is supreme to me. This is my last birth; there is no rebirth for me”. I was realizing, I needed to moisten my drying throat, so I took a mouthful of the small bottled water that I was carrying with me, saving the rest if needed. After walking long with the Mahayana group, I left that group to join another group coz my friend saw other good floats ahead of us. So we started with our hopping on. I joined another Mahayana group where a monk was seated on the lotus seat of the float. It was nice to see him participating but he was kind of meditating with his eyes closed. I felt bad at being so pessimist but I couldn’t let myself from thinking: how can he meditate in such a crowd? Maybe he was contemplating but contemplation is meditation. Isn’t it? Or maybe he was rejoicing within. Anyways leave that. So we took good many pictures of the float which was themed on going green and becoming a vegetarian. It was nice that at least it was conveying a message through Dhamma. We progressed to walk ahead of that group to join the Ti-ratana Buddhist society. I didn’t walk with them for long and quickly joined a vajrayana Buddhist society- karma kargyud society. Three monks were seated on the float and chanting Muni Muni. (A Buddhist prayer). By now I had walked almost one hour and half. The lingering crowd was still intact and faces along the way beaming yet astonished. I saw the twin tower, so I knew I was in the heart of Kl now. Wow! Such a long march! I chanted along with the group while my friend was busy taking pictures. I walked ahead of the float and so I came to meet up with Bro Kevin from Indonesia. He was walking alone and I caught up with him. By the time, we reached another roundabout, I lost the sight of him and that time I was catching up with the beats of Chinese songs sung by another youth group. I kept myself to their company only to get amused by the never heard Chinese songs. So I returned back to the vajrayana group. I noticed that they had erected two Mani on either side of the float and it looked great with the small Buddha statue placed in the mid at the far end with the three monks seated with reverence. The group was real active with the members stopping the entire float in the middle of the procession for a group photo. Though I was not associated with the society in any way, I still stood front for my face to appear. My friend was ridiculing me but it mattered less. By the time, we reached hotel Istana; my bottle had gone empty, so I quickly rushed in one of the 7-11 shop to buy a bottle of ice lemon tea. Few steps down the road, they were giving away free mineral water. But I already had brought my juice. We kept on marching, talking to ourselves while chanting. Slowly I hopped on to witness other groups. I saw a Nepali group behind and so I went there to be blessed by drops of the water that the monks were sprinkling at the crowd to soothe the heat though it was meant to be a blessing. Receiving few drops of water on me and more drops on my glasses, I moved ahead to join my last left group. By that time, Dee’s camera battery was down and so she was no longing acting as Japanese. So we walked on and on till we knew we have reached near. It looked up at the buildings to notice that we have been walking almost 2 hours and I was still feeling great. A pang of hunger once hit me when I smelled food from a restaurant coz I hadn’t taken my dinner and I had my lunch at 12pm. But I was still fine after gulping down the entire juice. I was messaging a friend of mine when the float hit the wirings at the highway. In fact it was the high flagpole erected at the sides of the float that touched the wires. So we had to stop a while to fix it. But thankfully it didn’t take long and made no damage or whatsoever. The float took a U-turn rather than following the procession. And so I left that group and walked back to the temple without any group.
It was almost 11pm when we reached. We had started at 8pm. That sums up that we have walked for almost 3 hours. It was definitely a rejoicing moment. I rested for a while and then helped with the clearance. It was 12pm when we headed back. We had a few good snacks not to let ourselves sleep with an empty stomach. I browsed for a while and then cuddled into the sweet paradise awaited.
Long before my head touched the pillow, I had drawn myself away from the pulsating moment of the night with my lips curled to the extent!
