“What is your purpose?”. Searching for the answer to this question, many people are leaving behind jobs, careers and a life that was considered normal for years. Chasing for something that goes beyond material success becomes kind of an obsession in the western world. And now, it’s not hard to find coaches, self-help books, stories of people who left everything and episodes of TEDx which proves you that finding your purpose is possible, but there’s a long journey that must be faced.
Far away from this road of anguish, a 90-year-old man seems to have good answers for those who are seeking for purpose, especially, using your work to find it. Mr. Lee Ben Chuang lives in the heart of heritage Georgetown on Penang Island and faces his everyday work routine with uncommon enthusiasm. Daily, the old man wakes up early in the morning to make a dough which combines powder of sandal, Teja tree and water. The mixture, which Mr. Lee kneads carefully, is the basis of his hand made joss sticks, that will bless and perfume Chinese temples all over this world. Mr.
Lee is the last hand-made joss sticker maker on this planet and becomes a legend in Penang in the last years.
More than his story itself, his joss sticks are a result of a careful and unique handmade manufacturing process. The sandalwood used, for example, is imported from Australia and it guarantees to the joss sticks a very fragrant smell compared to the regular joss sticks that are selling in common shops.
Mr. Lee learned the art of making joss sticks by himself, observing Chinese masters in factories. From the beginning to now, its more than 70 years of making his crafts.
Without speaking many words in English and with few teeth in his mouth, Mr. Lee smiles a lot and shows me with his hands that he is very proud of what he makes. "I'll do it until I die", he says in mandarin and the translator replies to me. "Making joss sticks is my passion".
To watch the old man working with so much focus and disposition, without asking himself common questions like the “when do I get retired?” is a unique experience and can be a real mystery, especially for those who come from the other part of this world.
I talk with Mr. Lee with the help of a translator and the first question I want to ask is if he never gets tired or faces those days that you just don’t want to go to work! Mr. Lee listens carefully to the translator and then smiles. "Yes, I have. But when it happens, I come here and make the joss sticks anyway. And then I forget that I didn’t want to come". At the same time Mr. Lee answers my questions to the translator, he molds each joss stick, one by one, and those will be dried in the sun afterward. Mr. Lee's energy is impressive, and he doesn’t seem to get bored.
I interrupt his concentrated activity to ask him if he never thinks about stopping. But Mr. Lee reaffirms “I’ll make joss sticks until I die". So, what's the secret of never getting tired, I reply, "It’s all about making." He tells me. "I just make it and think positive", he concludes.
We ended up entertained by the explanations of Mr. Lee's son, who turned his father's talent into a tourist attraction. While explaining the father's trajectory, a loyal clientele arrives in the small house to take a bundle of joss sticks made from the legendary Mr. Lee. The routine of the small house in the center of Georgetown also includes groups of tourists that came from cruisers that stop on Penang Island.
According to his son, the joss sticks are also powerful. He swears that one family of Singapore once came to buy the joss sticks in order to make their son study and graduate at school. After some months they write Mr. Lee telling him that the son got the best marks in the class. To prove the power of Mr. Lee’s joss sticks, he opens a small drawer in the principal room of the house and shows us some letters and postcards from all over the world thanking him for the blessings achieved with the delicate smell of the joss sticks.
Mr. Lee has become used to tons of visitors, tourists, curious people, journalists and filmmakers from around the world, and he doesn’t seem to care. In the walls of the small house, there are some pages of magazines and newspapers telling the story of this unique handmade joss stick maker. Suddenly, he gets up and says, "I want you to take a picture with me and my wife" and goes straightly inside the house. When he comes back, Mr. Lee has an old portrait of him and his wife when they were in their twenties. She died three years ago, but for him, she's still part of his routine. And his simple gesture fills my eyes completely.
Mr. Lee is curious about me and wants to know if I am married. This is a common question in Malaysia, especially if you are a woman over 30 years-old. I tell him no and he wants to know why. So, I ask him if he has any power joss stick to attract good husbands. Again, he opens his wide, almost toothless smile and laughs. “If I made such joss stick, I would be a millionaire”. And everybody laughed loudly after the translation.
Mr. Lee goes back to his stool and reshapes his joss sticks. For him, the photos with tourists, the questions and common anguish of life, no longer seem to matter. He squats on his small stool daily and let himself to be absorbed by the practice. And working with his hands he seems to be happy, without pursuing it. There are no questions there. By all indications, Mr. Lee seems to be one of those privileged who found his purpose through his work. Observing him, I ask myself if, in the end, the purpose isn’t such a simple attitude of just make it and think positive…
Pratical info: The art of making incense by hand can be followed daily in the morning. Around 7 o'clock Mr. Lee literally puts his hand to the wheel on Lorong Muda Street, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.