The Dewdrop Digest

The Dewdrop Digest
Connecting Children, Youth and Sangha
Clouds in Water Zen Center
Sunday, May 4, 2003

Peace Dolls
Today we make peace dolls as an expression of the connection between mindfulness practice and living in peace and harmony. Students will offer their dolls at the altar today. We will then offer them to the 10,000 Peace Doll Give-away (at the Textile Center Of Minnesota, 3000 University Avenue, Minneapolis, July 11 - August 15). The Give-away is inspired by the story of Sadako who made 10,000 cranes for healing, a gesture which has become associated with peace. We will do a loving-kindness meditation before our doll-making, then send love and peace as we make them; each doll is a prayer for peace. At the Give-away, someone who leaves a wish for peace can take a doll. As each doll is made and passed along mindfully, peace is proliferated.


Mindfulness Practice and Peace-Making
Today and for the rest of the quarter, we will continue to study the Four Foundations of Mindfulness AND we make a bridge between our personal mindfulness practice (awareness of body, breath, sensations, emotions and so on) and living in peace and harmony with our community(s). Of late, I have used the term "peace-making" to mean "living in peace and harmony". There are so many ways to be a peace-maker - sharing, caring, protecting - and Buddhist practice embodies all of them.

Four ways of expressing the connection between mindfulness and peace-making:
1. Mindfulness of Emotions, as taught here to children in its broadest sense, includes tools for managing our emotions so that we do not harm ourselves or others. This is one aspect of living in peace and harmony.

2. Precept Practice is an extension of the Four Foundations, from self to community. Thich Nhat Hanh refers to each precept as a Mindfulness Training. The first Mindfulness Training, "Protect life," is a clear connection between mindfulness and promoting peace for all beings.

3. The aim of establishing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness is: "?to see the reality of things as they are, that all things carry the three marks of existence: impermanence, suffering and no-self. When we see things as they truly are - a caring, connected whole - when we are boundlessly open, that is liberation!" When we experience this connectedness, we are motivated to promote peace for all beings (to practice the first precept, to do Right Action such as peace-making and community service, to develop compassion, etc).

4. Mindfulness practice helps us fulfill the Two Vows (developing compassion and wisdom, i.e., love and understanding). Compassionate practices include helping others to live in peace, sharing, and empathizing with a friend.


Recommended Reading
Mindfulness of Emotions
Pre-1st :"Glad monster, sad monster: a book about feelings" (Emberly). Colorful monsters tell what makes them feel glad, sad, loving, worried, silly, and angry. Fold-out masks encourage readers to talk about their feelings.
Pre - 2nd: "Sometimes I feel like a mouse: a book about feelings " (Modesitt). A child imagines becoming a variety of animals while experiencing different feelings. Highly recommended.
K - 2nd: "The feelings book" (Parr). Children express different moods, including "I feel very mad," and "I feel like reading books all day."
K-2nd: "I can't wait " (one book in a great series by Elizabeth Crary). A little boy considers eight things to do while he waits to take his turn. Models compassionate and helpful adult responses.
K- 2nd: "Inside of me I have feelings " (Walter). Mimes demonstrate feelings.
2nd - 4th:"Feel good: understand your emotions" (Feeney). Helpful ideas.
3rd - 8th:"Abuelita's Heart". A girl learns about the special feelings, places, and plants that are part of her heritage in the Southwestern desert.
4th - 8th: "Emotional ups and downs" (Fisher). Emotions such as shyness, embarrassment, anger. Situations such as death of a loved one.
9th +: You and your feelings (LeShan) A guide for young adults to understanding their feelings and their relationships with others.

Four Foundations of Mindfulness
For adults and older students: "Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness" and "Breathe! You are Alive: Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing," both by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Peace
Pre - 1st: "Peace is a circle of love" (Anglund). People throughout the world forgiving, trusting, loving one another, and working together for a better world.
K - 4th:"Peace begins with you" (Scholes). The concept of peace, why conflicts occur, how they can be resolved, how to protect peace.
3rd +: "Peace tales: world folktales to talk about." Aspects of war and peace.
3rd +: "The Big Book for Peace." The wisdom of peace; the absurdity of fighting.
6th +: "On the wings of peace." Famous authors and illustrators present a collection of prose and poetry explore aspects of peace and war.


Question, suggestion, problem? Contact Children's and Youth Practice Coordinator Katharine Krueger here at x10 or katharine@cloudsinwater.org

posted by Michael Howard on 5/04/2003 02:30:00 PM | link