A CAMP JUST FOR THE KIDDIES.

The Than Hsiang Mitra Welfare Centre organized a group of Chinese physicians to give free consultations and held a medical exhibition at SRJK Li Ze Chinese School II, situated at Mc. Callum Street, ("Goh Teow Loh” in Chinese, literally translated as “Fifth Street") on April 17th from 9.30 in the morning to 12.30 noon.

This location was chosen because it is at the centre of a large Chinese community. Members of this community consisting of hawkers and wage earners live around the Komtar area.

Ingredients

180 gm butter/margarine
160 gm sugar
1 can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon essence vanilla
340 gm plain flour

The entire plant is used medically by the Chinese. The plant is prescribed as an antidote for mushroom poisoning. The leaves are used in combination with other herbs to treat sunstroke, diarrhoea, dysentry, fever, dizziness and vomiting blood. Seeds are used as a tonic, for insomia and weakness in the kidney. The raw juice of the tubers are used to stop nose bleed, heat in the lungs and dry cough. The tubers when boiled is good for weakness in the digestive system. The fruit receptacle (recepticalum) is useful for blood in the urine.

The Wan Ching Yuan Centre in Penang celebrated its 11th Anniversary at Than Hsiang Temple. Ven. Wei Wu, the abbot of Than Hsiang Temple, in his speech commented on the theme of the celebration –"Filial Piety and Respect for the Senior Citizens".

Bright sunlight bathed the fine morning that dawned on Than Hsiang Kindergarten. The weather was just right for the outing that was planned for the daycare children. They had been given the opportunity to pay a visit to the "VICO" factory in Mak Mandin.

Our country Malaysia lies in the tropical zone that is rich in plants and vegetations. Here, we can obtain various kinds of leaves, flowers, seeds, roots, stems, barks and wood to be used as medicine. It is estimated that there are approximately 2,000 types of very useful medicinal plants in this region. On the request from several readers, we will be writing a series of short informative articles on these medicinal plants for the Than Hsiang e-Zine.

Here is a short story about plants and their medicinal uses.

The writer begins introducing himself as an elderly Buddhist monk who joined the monastic order in 1990 at the age of sixty-nine years. Until then, he was a Professor of Buddhist Studies at different universities both in Sri Lanka and abroad, having started his academic career as a young lecturer in Pali and Buddhism at the age of twenty-five.

The rosary or prayer beads is a string of beads for keeping count of prayers. It can also be a set of prayers said with the help of beads. The Buddhist rosaries are common, but few know the significant of them. Abbots of Mahayana Temples wear them around their neck as part of their regular official costume. Elderly nuns or monks can be seen holding one in their hands or coiled around their wrist. The use of the rosary is regarded as a religious exercise. Thus the rosary is also regarded as a religious item and should be treated with care and reverence, just as we respect the holy books.

I was in the temple talking to a friend when someone came up to us to let us know that the mother of Venerable Zhen Xin had just passed away this morning. It interrupted our conversation, and in an instant, many-many thoughts went through my mind. Venerable Zhen Xin is a devoted Buddhist Nun of this temple. She had organized many religious and welfare activities for this temple. I know, she is very close to her mother, as she used to mention her mother in our more casual conversations, I remembered asking her about how she became a nun.