Penang 2024 - Wesak Week at Penang Malaysian Buddhist Association

The final stop of our Wesak Week Walk, was at the Penang Malaysian Buddhist Association at Burmah Road. This was also the location where the Wesak Day Float Processing would start and end. Hence this was the place the last float, which was of Buddha is housed. Above it what it looked like, just as I've remembered it since I was a young child. Certain things in Penang never changes.  

Devotees and volunteers where busy decorating the float with fresh flowers. The weather was super hot when we visited. I was amazed at how they are going to keep the flower fresh until Wesak Day itself, which was probably a few days from our visit.

Which visiting, we also saw there was a Buddhist exhibition at the hall above, so we made our way there. This was the first time I went to the hall. I used to attend Malay lessons here for free during my SPM years as I was afraid I might not pass my Malay exam paper, and my parents were too poor to afford proper tuition for me. The tuition classes provided here were free of charge. 

The Buddhist exhibition was of Buddhist art, paintings, wood carving, and some recycling repurpose products. I was told they have classes teaching students how to make these, and you were free to join their activities.  While admiring some of the paintings here, some of the nuns came to talk to us, at first in Mandarin. When I told them my aunt can't understand Mandarin, they spoke to her in Hokkien instead. And that's when I realise, my aunt can't understand much of their Hokkien too, cause our Penang Nyonya Hokkien was slightly different from theirs :P 

I had quite an interesting time chatting with the nun at some of the exhibition area. Nuns and monks can't lie, and they are often direct and honest, so I felt free to ask them anything I am curious about. And I learned so many fascinating thing from my conversation with a young nun there, from her Buddhist education, to her life at the temple etc. But as she spoke only in Mandarin, my aunt decided to wander off, and eventually came back to pull me away, lol.

My aunt pulled me away to a Tibet Buddhist area, cause she found someone who could speak to her in English and was excited for him to explain everything to me too. Again, I was fascinated by talking to the people attending the exhibition there. A young man walked me thru the exhibit, but since he knew I also speak Mandarin, he also tend to switch between English and Mandarin :(  I learned so much mystical information about the Tibet Buddhism. 

For example, the above are Tibet Buddhist charms, that a senior monk might make and pass to a junior monk. And each charm has a unique pattern, and maybe a different meaning or spells? Everything was so fascinating, yet complicated for me. I left the exhibition feeling that it was a day well spent!

Side note, the MBA building is actually just next to this Lee Kong building. This place holds much nostalgic memories for me, cause I used to follow my dad here every Sunday to play badminton. Often I was also rewarded with a Fanta orange drink here. There were also one or two arcade game here. And it was just fun coming here cause the hall it self was a fun place for me. To play, to watch people play badminton, to run around and filled my mind with imagination of the halls, the backstage, the halls etc. Good memories :)