Dharma in drawings

How can you define dharma teachings like meditating, making merit and the Triple Gems to pre-school and kindergarten kids? Working mother Saraichatt Kunjara Jirapaet may have come up with the answer with a series of four picture books for children that have her four-year-old daughter, Kunjaree “Bella” as the main character.

 

The four books are titled “Bella Tak Bat” (“Bella makes merit by offering foods to monks”), “Bella Pai Wat” (“Bella goes to the temple”), “Bella Pai Wian-Tian” (“Bella goes to perform commemorative religious activities on Buddhist holidays”) and “Bella Tam Samati” (“Bella is meditating”). The books are available in both Thai and English and published by Nanmeebooks. 

A frequent moderator at various social events thanks to her fluency in Thai and English,

 

Saraichatt also works as a radio narrator and is brand ambassador for some mother and child products. She graduated from Chulalongkorn University with honours and earned a Master’s degree from Erasmus University in the Netherlands. She pressed her father in law, former commerce minister Krirkkrai Jirapaet, into service to proof the English version, asked Maha Bawornwit Ayuman Bhikku to examine the Buddhist teachings in the stories and invited Prachathip Makmul to handle the illustrations. 

 

At the recent launch event at Siam Paragon, she revealed her passion for reading, explaining that she’d gone through a lot of books during her pregnancy and after Bella was born. 

It was while reading to her young daughter that she realised there was nothing available on dharma teachings for young children.

 

“I think picture books have an incredible impact on children’s development. Even though Bella can’t actually read yet, she can remember the content of a story from the pictures and tell me the story from her imagination,” says Saraichatt. “When I decided to write these children books, I thought of how to simplify dharma teaching for young kids. I know the modern lifestyle is taking youngsters away from religious activities as well as Buddhist teachings but I still believe that Buddhist virtues will eventually offer some benefit. So why not start with simple storytelling?”

After finalising the ideas and content with the publishers, Saraichatt took about three months to finish the series. “At first it was hard, but when you’re writing for kids, you can’t make it too complicated. I started with a simple dialogue curiosity like ‘Mum! My friends said that they will go Wian-Tian tomorrow. What is Wian-Tian?’ Then we can explain about Buddhist holidays and how to do it, what we have to prepare,” she says. 

 

“For the story about meditation, I went with my friend, Chanokwanan Watcharakhun to Satien Dhammasatan and realised that meditation is simply about acquiring good concentration for what they are doing no matter whether that’s drawing or painting or dancing. It is about paying attention and being focused.”

 

Saraichatt says learning is important in the early years, when the brain is developing. “I think it’s better for Bella to learn about dharma at home. Hopefully, other parents will also feel this way and help them enjoy reading too.”

 

 

 DRAWING YOUNG MINDS

 

This afternoon at 2, Saraichatt will talk about the books at the Pubat BookExpo Thailand 2011 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.

 All four books in the series are available at leading bookstores and cost Bt115. Some of the books will be donated to schools in rural areas.