The Dewdrop Digest

The Dewdrop Digest
Connecting Children, Youth and Sangha
Clouds in Water Zen Center
Sunday, October 5, 2003

2003-2004 theme: Peace-making and the Four Noble Truths
This year, our aim is that each student will:
· Be empowered to be peace-makers in everyday life
· Gain, or deepen, understanding of the Four Noble Truths, as age appropriate
· Make friends and enjoy a sense of belongness in this sangha
· Look forward to being here, for learning, fun and more

This quarter, our teaching message will be "Peace-making begins with me," with Arwareness (mindfulness and meditation practice, as age appropriate) at center stage. Awareness (or Mind Training) is one aspect of the Eightfold Path of peace and freedom, the Fourth Noble Truth.


Introduction to the Four Noble Truths for Children
Many Children's Practice parents are new to Buddhism or many of us are new to teaching Buddhist practice and philosophy to children. In the Dewdrop, we attempt to lay out the basic elements that we teach, and to share age-appropriate teaching messages for each point.

1. There is dukha - physical and mental suffering, discontentment, dissatisfaction, dis-ease. Every living being experiences this daily.
2. There is a reason for dukha: The Three Poisons are greed, anger and ignorance (attachment, aversion, and not-realizing the true nature of reality)
3. There is an end to dukha. Each of us has the capacity to be free and peaceful, awake to the beauty of NOW.
4. The path of peace and freedom is the Eightfold Path. Following this path brings increasingly more peace and harmony into our lives and the lives of those around us. Ultimately, this paths leads to perfect peace.

For young children, we emphasize the 3rd and 4th truths in our teaching. For Preschool-K-1st, perhaps our most important message is one we hope to convey without words but by modeling or exuding our own belief: "You can trust that the world is a good place." So when do touch lightly on the 1st and 2nd truths, we imbue our discussion with that trust. For example, to preschool children, one might say, "We all have good days and bad days (1st Truth), or (following a loss or separation),"Yes, things come and go. It can hurt when that happens" (impermanence/1st Truth). Then follow it up with some version of the 3rd Truth: "I will be here to help you through it", or "If you are ever hurt or worried or needing help in any way, someone will be there to care for you, to help and protect you."

Starting in about 2nd or 3rd grade, and our teaching message for the 3rd and 4th truths expands: "True peace resides within me. I have the capacity to realize it completely by following the Eightfold Path." We will emphasize ways to bring peace and harmony into our lives, and we will explore dukha and the roots of dukha.

For Upper Elementary and Middle School students, we hope to achieve a fairly comprehensive understanding of the Four Noble Truths. Overall, we aim to stretch the student's capacity with increasing challenges for understanding and practice.

Today's Lesson: Today the younger students are being introduced to Four Noble Truths, with an emphasis on the 3rd and 4th Truths. We will begin by talking about peace. What is peace? A feeling of goodness and trust inside? A feeling of harmony and trust between people? We expect to find that there is a whole range of experience that can be described as peaceful. We want the students to know that being peace is what Buddhism is all about. We will also touch on the 1st and 2nd Truths by considering, "What interrupts our peace?" The older students will have a more sophisticated overview of the Four Truths.

Most classes will do an activity related to mindfulness of the season as a way of exploring the Mind Training aspect of the Eightfold Path. We will talk about what's going on in the natural world and examine with all of our senses the autumn show-and-tell items brought in. The two preschool classes and the K-1 class will make applesauce and eat it mindfully. The 2nd and 3rd graders will be seeing and touching maize, then shelling it and grinding it?and mindfully eating some organic blue corn chips made from maize. 4th and 5th graders will talk about the bounty of harvesttime, and cooking and eating as a mindfulness practice. The Middle School Group is on a whole new adventure this year, being empowered to co-create their class much more than in the past; the Dewdrop will report more fully on this next week.


October 19: All-Ages Workshop: Families Creating A Legacy Of Peace
One great opportunity to empower ourselves as everyday peacemakers will be on Sunday, October 19, when peacemaker Rebecca Janke will lead an all-ages workshop in everyday peacemaking here from 11am - 12:30pm. See flyer for details. Sign up soon to ensure your spot in the workshop.

Question, suggestion, problem? Contact Children's and Youth Practice Coordinator Katharine Krueger at 651.222.6968 x10 or cp@cloudsinwater.org.


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