a talk by Shifu Wei Wu in connection with the review held on the last day of the 9-day vegetarian food festival with Than Hsiang staff and volunteers.

Shifu began by thanking all those who had been working hard for the ten days. As many were still busy during the closing hours of the final day and thus unable to attend the review and talk, Shifu instructed Ah Jin to record the proceeding in VCD for distribution later. He further added that we should be grateful for the opportunity to serve the public on these ten days as they are ones who provided the opportunity for us to serve.

Redressing misconception

A week ago, an IBC student from Korea was in Penang to renew her Student visa and was given a tour of Than Hsiang's various departments by Ven Zhen Xin. She was curious as to how Than Hsiang finance its various activities and so she enquired as to how we raise our funds - through public donation or Business ventures? This query was raised because she observed that Than Hsiang is also operating a Kindergarten and canteen which generate income.

The “business venture” operated by Than Hsiang should not be construed on the same perspective as any ordinary business venture with profit as its ultimate objective.

Many Buddhist organizations do have laities assisting in the operation of business- like ventures to supplement the expenses incurred in their organisations' activities.

We should always bear in mind that Buddhism should never be the motive for profit orientated activities

The purpose of our involvement Business-like activities is to serve. We can help the laities, who are more suitable, to organize activities to achieve the objective of serving the public through business-like ventures. While the Sangha members being clerics and therefore forbidden by precepts will concentrate on cultivation and education.

Our vegetarian canteen and eatery, for instance, is service orientated rather than profit orientated.

The ten day vegetarian festival is held annually in conjunction with local customs. If we can provide a good environment and conditions to serve the public in fulfilling their customary practice, we will be helping to build good affinity between the customers and Than Hsiang temple.

We as a service organization should be guided by our service conviction. We should also take a cue from Konosuke Matsushita ,the founder and patriarch of the Japanese consumer electronic industry , who stresses that their corporate objective is to serve the society with the company's products , which coincidentally concurs with the Buddhist concept of service .

Shifu reiterated the importance of putting into practice the three fold interconnecting procedure of planning, execution and review in all ventures. Shifu cited the ten-day vegetarian festival to illustrate the principle and practice of the 3-fold activity .

The initial stage of planning or preparatory stage will take stock of previous experiences to chart new course of actions. We adopt and improve the plus points and at the same time correct the errors and oversight. An important determinant in the planning stage is the adoption of the right motive which invariably will influence the successful implementation of the execution stage and assessment or final post mortem. In Buddhism we call the right motive as Bodhicitta, the aspiration to help and benefit all beings. Once bodhicitta is established as the motivating force, we will not deviate from our plan and the excepted result can be assured. Therefore, in this case under study, it would certainly not suffice to participate as a volunteer because one is free and available during the prescribed period.

After the initial stage of planning, come the middle stage of actual execution and the final stage of review which will have important bearing on future planning.

During the actual executing stage, no matter what role we played in the 10-day festival , our altitude towards customers will directly determine the impression customers have towards us. We should reflect on whether we have been courteous, friendly and helpful while attending to the customers. Putting ourselves in the position of others is one way of finding out how others would like to be treated. Therefore we must always be mindful of our attitudes when we are in contact with our clients or customers.

The feedback from the post mortem by various departments at different location is important as they reflect our shortcoming in areas that needed improvement and also as hind sights for future planning purposes. Shifu reminded us of another important practice that is the transference of merits upon the successful completion of an event .

Transference of merits should form an indispensable feature of the closing stage, be it a dharma talk, a dharma assembly or a charitable event.