Article by Bro Sunanda Ooi

We are in a lockdown during this Covid-19 pandemic; we are encouraged to stay indoors and avoid physical contact. However, we are social beings, and after very limited social interaction for more than a year (from Mar 2020) most of our psychological and mental health are teetering to paper-thin levels. So what is the antidote?

There is no short of propositions if one care to look, with the experts ranging from mental health practitioners to wannabe cooks or DIY enthusiasts. Social media was a boon to all and sundry: some YouTubers learn to cook that very enticing food, Netflix saw a big jump in the subscription. All within the confines of the 4 walls of their homes.

In this respect, Shah Alam Buddhist Society has jumped on the bandwagon – we started a Zoom conducted Pali chanting class.

How the seed was planted

The year was most probably in 2004. Kota Kemuning Buddhist Society (KKBC) has invited the late Chief Ven. K. Dhammananda to give a dhamma talk and later to offer food dana. As the stairs to the 1st floor of our center was quite steep, it was quite challenging for Chief Venerable’s weak knees. Thus, we booked a nearby restaurant to receive him. Due to this arrangement, I needed to sort out some logistics. So, it was only later after the Puja when I arrived at the restaurant. I popped into the room where the congregation was, and there I heard the sweetest chanting I have ever come across. At times sonorous and always in unison, musically sounding yet without musical instruments and a rhythm and melody to match that eventually stuck in my mind until today. As I stood to immerse myself in that space, my tear duct broke.

Since that day, after Seck Kia Eenh (SKE) chanted for Chief Ven Dhammananda and the KKBC devotees, I have been keeping a lookout for them. It was clear that the normal chanting that we had every Sunday at KKBC was not the ‘norm’ and it can be beautiful and inspiring at the same time.

Not too long after that, I received an email from Subang Jaya Buddhist Society that SKE will conduct a Pali chanting workshop. I did not manage to attend. Another workshop again and this time at Bandar Utama Buddhist Society (it could have been BUBS first and then SJBS) and again I did not manage to attend.

Then one day in September 2018, I heard that SKE chanting leader, Bro Kenny Chan has passed on. My heart missed a beat. (Kenny was someone I have not met formally but he was known to me. He was a TV personality with a show called Baba Nyonya on TV1 where he was featured as Bibik Kim Neo. This show ran from the 1980s to 2000 with a total of 509 episodes, a Malaysian record, I believe).

My next encounter with SKE was a year later in September 2019 when I attended a groundbreaking ceremony at Elmina, Shah Alam for the Maha Karuna Buddhist Society. It was there that I met Bro Tan Kim See and Ven A. Ratanasiri, SKE President and Chief Monk respectively. When I asked whether there is a possibility that they can offer assistance to us at SABS to learn Pali chanting, their reply in the affirmative, although not surprising but was very encouraging and supportive.

The seed started to germinate

“Online, can, meh?” asked one of the prospective students approached.

“Wah, so long time the course (It was to take 7 ½ months eventually)” another chipped in. “Don’t know whether can manage to finish the course or not lah”, she added.

A couple accepted to join keenly and happily. One said, “Sure Sunanda, count me in. I am retired now, furthermore it kind of sounds interesting to me”.

“It is quite difficult, Pali chanting with the pronunciation, isn’t it? Normally, I try to follow also cannot. Aiyah, it is for the monks only”, one countered negatively. Trying to sound positive and convincingly, I said, “Not true lah. One day, when we finished the classes you will chant better than the monks or nuns”.

There was also stark silence from a group of Gen Y that I have been associated with when I invited them too. Maybe they think chanting is for those who have reached an age where they need such staid activities.

I must add that part of the success of recruiting the students is through emotional pressure. “Look, nothing to lose, really. Don’t like it, drop it, lah”, I said.

It was against that background, coupled with the Covid-19 infections rates and mortality numbers swirling higher and higher that we started the Pali chanting class.

There were three teachers and one facilitator from Seck Kia Eenh (SKE), a temple with a century of history. It is located right in the heart of Melaka and has served the Buddhist community faithfully bringing across and organising activities of the Dhamma.

As with most classes, online or not, the first time meeting between teachers and students was tentative, to say the least. I can see from the Zoom screen that the students were generally nervous. Bro Danny Teoh, the lead teacher who surprisingly was not from the ‘uncle’ generation, introduced the other 2 teachers; Bro Gek Seng, a stern-looking person but Danny mentioned that his look belies the fact that he is a nice person; and Sis Suah, with a kind disposition, which somehow got me worried she may be bullied by the students. Bro Yu Cheong, with a pleasant outlook, completes the SKE team as the Zoom technical person.

Danny then spelled out the modus operandi of the classes. This is followed by the rules of pronunciation and then, the chanting. So far so good and it sounds simple enough.

We started learning what we called “Observance of Precepts” consisting of Homage to the Buddha, Three Refuges, and Five Precepts. Because these are our bread and butter of chanting for most of us, particularly yours truly, we treated it like a walk in the park. It was not to be! Even after the “rules” of chanting were clearly and repeatedly taught to us we kept making one kind of mistake after another. And this was on the first day! At the end of the class which was 2 hours (this Pali chanting class by SKE was very proper lah!) I had a premonition of seeing blank Zoom screens – absentees – for next week’s class. “Please don’t let that happen!”.

By June, 3 months into the classes, any budding psychologist will have collected enough data for his thesis on “human emotions” if he was there with us in the Zoom classes. Learning Pali pronunciation and chanting does give us (not all) some challenges.

It was grueling for some baby boomers with our ‘old’ conditioning way of chanting. The eyes can see the construct of the words but frustratingly the tongue has a mind on its own.

We also realised that we were pronouncing some words wrongly with socially embarrassing consequences. For instance, two Romanised Pali words with the same spelling, and with just a drag of the vowel have the meaning between “speech” and “toilet” respectively. Dhamma forbid!

In our Zoom breakout rooms – where the students individually repeated the night’s lesson to the three teachers respectively – our contorted and frustrated faces were plain to see. Being adults, even though we are learning a new ‘language’ we can’t help but feel the angst of the futility of not being able to follow the simple instructions given to us by the teachers.

With all said and done, like in any class, there will be those that can just smoothly glide along. Two of our Gen Y students are fine examples of that. They are the envy of the students and perceivably the pride of the teachers, when they could twist, turn and roll the tongue with so much ease as they chant along in every lesson, every week.

Also along the way, there were a couple of students that just could ‘dondang sayang’ along.

So it was every week we will inevitably hear the following from the teachers:

“There is a Maron (a dash above the letter) so why you did not drag the syllable?”.

“Repeat that word. Again. Again. Again. Now repeat this whole line.”

“Stop! Stop! Where did that word come from? There was no such word in the verse.”

“Why sometimes you chant very fast and the next line you chant slow?”

It was very soon that clearly, our Danny Teoh is the Pali chanting version of Simon Cowell of “Pop Idol” and “X-Factor” fame. Although we know from the shows that the contestants will squirm where they were standing facing the formidable Simon, the successful performers achieve fame beyond beliefs, and even those that did not reach the pinnacle, to say the least, are grateful for the opportunity and exposure.

So when Danny announced a semester break for September, I am sure I could hear a quiet but loud sigh of relief from the students. Moreover, the teachers need a break from us; it has after all been 5 1/2 months of weekly classes. They have been exemplary teachers exhibiting patience: like correcting us 10 times on our pronouncement of the Pali words ignoring the fact we repeatedly make the same mistake; dedicated: always there for us in every lesson, rain or shine; kind: motivating and nudging us forward all the time.

So will the students rise to the challenge and occasion more so now we have finished 22 lessons? Will we see them again in October? Admittedly, even though some students have progressed, maybe some students are losing confidence? So will the final 2 months of classes transform us to the satisfaction of our teachers?

To be continued. See next blog on “The Joy of Pali Chanting”.
🤔