The Dewdrop Digest
Connecting Children, Youth and Sangha
Clouds in Water Zen Center
Sunday, April 7, 2002
WELCOME TO THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING QUARTER !
The teachers of the Children's and Youth Practice program are very excited about this quarter. We hope you will be too: There will be plenty of opportunities for sangha members and families to join in! The dates for the balance of the quarter are April 21, May 5, May 19, June 2 and June 16.
SPRING QUARTER TEACHING FOCUS: AWAKENING SUPPORTS SERVICE
Our yearlong theme is an exploration of boundless openness (a.k.a., emptiness, or how all things are connected and interdependent). The teaching message for Spring, in brief, will be: "Awakening to boundless openness fosters Compassion and Right Action (and vice versa!)." We will describe Right Action as including:
- Precept practice
- Service. For example, caring for Mother Earth; service to family, school, community; helping this sangha.
Our projects this quarter emphasize earth-protecting service projects. Class discussions will include many ways of expressing our caring and connection, through service as well as precept practice. Two projects are introduced below.
STORM DRAIN STENCILING ON SUNDAY, MAY 19th
Following a 20-30 minute training and educational presentation by a staff member of Friends of the Mississippi River (a non-profit that works to enhance the Mississippi and its metro watershed), students will be driven to a nearby neighborhood. They will paint the message "Please Don't Pollute! Drains to River!" next to storm drains and distribute educational doorhangers to neighborhood homes and businesses. All-sangha picnic to follow at nearby park.
CHAIN OF VOWS
One of our projects for Spring Quarter originated as an action idea during the Fall 100 Days class. The K-1 class will sponsor a "Chain of Vows" whose links are strips of recycled boxboard, with a personal vow to protect Mother Earth printed on each link. The K-1 class will start their work on the chain today. They will bring it to the other classes on 4/21 so that each student will have an opportunity to make an earth-protecting vow and add it to the chain. Also on 4/21, at 10:20, the sangha will have a chance to add links to the chain. Volunteers will finish putting the chain together and hang it in the zendo where it can continue grow.
TODAY'S LESSON: BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY AND THE LIFE OF BUDDHA
In many of the classes today, we will tell the story of Shakyamani Buddha's birth and review the highlights of his life.
The Buddha was born as Siddhartha to Shuddhodana, the ruler a small Nepalese kingdom in 563 B.C. His birth was said to be miraculous in many aspects; a tree bent its limb to support his mother, Mayadevi, during labor. She died soon after, so Siddhartha was raised by his stepmother, Gautami. Astrologers predicted that he would become either a great ruler or a great holy man. The King, hoping that Siddhartha would one day become king, confined him to the palace grounds, to shelter him from knowledge of suffering. As a young man, Siddhartha finally encountered old age, sickness and death. He then left the palace, his parents, and his wife and son, in search of a path to end all suffering. Eventually, sitting under a Bodhi tree, he discovered the truth that is within us all. He spent the rest of his life sharing what he discovered.
The main points points about the life of the historica Buddha that we convey in Children's Practice are:
1. He was a human being. Like all human beings he was born, grew old and died.
2. He saw the difficulty, as well as the joy, in his life and in the lives of those around him. He resolved to look deeply to see what could be done, in the most positive way, about the suffering and difficulties in life.
3. He succeeded. He saw that there could be an end to suffering, and that the end was dependent upon our view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration (the Eightfold Path).
4. He was a great teacher who shared his discovery of an end to suffering and the path to the end of suffering.
THE LIFE OF THE SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA: RECOMMENDED READING
For all ages, but especially 5-12: Jonathan Laidlaw's illustrated chapter book, "Prince Siddhartha: The Story of Buddha," probably the most complete story of the Buddha's life written for children
For teens and adults (or great for adults to retell to younger children): Thich Nhat Hanh's "Old Path, White Clouds"
ABOUT THE DEWDROP
The Dewdrop is published on most Children's and Youth Practice Sundays. It is edited by Katharine Krueger and posted to our website. Submissions welcome!
QUESTION, SUGGESTION, PROBLEM? Contact Children's and Youth Practice Coordinator Katharine Krueger at (651) 222-6968 x10 or
katharine@cloudsinwater.org.
posted by Michael Howard on 5/07/2002 12:00:00 AM | link
icon, are made available in PDF format, which requires special software for viewing and printing. Likely such software is already installed on your computer. If not, at least the following can be freely obtained for many platforms.
