Venerable Zhi Li and author Karen Hendriks with a copy of Seeking Treasure With Bodhi. Photo: Supplied.
Shellharbour author Karen Hendriks has teamed up with the Nan Tien Temple to create a unique children’s picture book designed to help young readers slow down, breathe and look within.
Set for release in May, Seeking Treasure with Bodhi blends storytelling with mindfulness and gentle Buddhist principles, offering children practical tools for calm and self-reflection.
Hendriks, who is also a former teacher, said the book was designed specifically for primary school-aged children and was a year in the making.
In a rare move, Nan Tien Temple approached Hendriks directly to create what will be the temple’s first book, after discovering her other works, including popular book Our Shellharbour.
“I was a bit shocked,” she said.
“The temple actually approached me and contracted me to write the book.
“I was invited to come in for a meeting about the book, and I was terrified, but excited at the same time, because it would mean writing to a brief and writing that would have to incorporate Buddhist teaching.”
She said the book was inspired by the legacy of the Venerable Master Hsing Yun, who established the Berkeley temple and was known for his deep commitment to community, writing and the arts.
“He was very much for the arts,” she said.
“He liked literature that would help people and children to find peace and bring Buddhism to the people.”
From the beginning, Hendriks wanted the project to be an adventure-style picture book.
She worked closely with the temple’s head of community endeavours Venerable Zhi Li over a one-year period to develop and refine the story to ensure it was something that could be used by the temple’s special religious education (SRE) teachers in schools.
She even visited Taiwan last month with temple members to further develop her understanding of Buddhism.
“We needed to get principles in it, but it had to feel natural and part of the story,” she said.
“To get that wording right, and simple, is actually very tricky.”
Describing the book as “special, unique and heart-centred”, Hendriks said it centred on Bodhi, a wise elephant who gently reminds the book’s characters to breathe, be still, stop rushing, focus, ground themselves, look within and trust themselves.
The character also leads readers through 12 meditations, designed to foster stillness, calmness and a sense of inner treasure.
“It’s also realisng that your treasure is you,” she said.
“We all need mindfullness, we all need peacefulness.
“We all need to look within, find our answers , do our meditation and our breathing, and find our peace.
“So I think the book can help an adult as much as a child.”
Hendriks connected the temple with various illustrators, but ultimately they chose Victorian children’s book illustrator Emma Stuart, who worked with Hendriks on Our Shellharbour.
“I’m so grateful Emma was chosen because she is a veteran. She’s been illustrating for over 25 years,” she said.
“She knows what she’s doing and what she’s created is mind-blowing.”
Across all of Hendrik’s picture books, she has aimed to give children practical emotional tools.
“Any book I write is to give children hope and empower them,” she said.
“What’s happening in the world can put people in a negative headspace, but you don’t need to be there.”
While final touches are being done on the book before it heads for print, it is expected to have its official launch in May at the Nan Tien Temple and will involve an immersive experience, including readings of the book, guided children’s meditations and activities.
Additional launches are planned for Shellharbour and Wollongong.
In the meantime, her community writing and public book launches have been recognised with nominations in two awards, including the Illawarra Women In Business Awards’ Community category to be held on 24 April, and the Women Changing the World Awards’ Women Changing the World and Migrant categories to be held in Paris from 21-24 April.
Hendriks is also working towards releasing Saving Pearl and Reef in October about the endangered Sydney seahorse.
Visit the Nan Tien Temple website to see when Seeking Treasure with Bodhi will be released and the official launch date.
