The Dewdrop Digest

Clouds in Water Zen Center
The Dewdrop Digest
Connecting Children, Youth and Sangha
Sunday, April 4, 2004

WELCOME TO THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING QUARTER !
The volunteer teachers of children's and youth and I are all 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 18, May 2, May 16, May 30, and June 13.

BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY
In Soto Zen, we mark the birthday of the historical Buddha on April 8th each year. Today, all classes are hearing (or re-telling, since many students know this story well) the story of Buddha's birth and an overview of his life. The main points about his life that we want to children and youth to understand are:
? He was a human being. Like all human beings he grew old and died.
? 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 difficulties in life.
? He succeeded. He saw that there could be an end to suffering, that peace was a natural state and available to all beings, and that the path to peace includes awareness, wholesome behavior and realization of the true, interdependent nature of reality.
? He was a great teacher spent the rest of his life sharing his discovery of peace and a path to peace.

THE LIFE OF THE SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA: RECOMMENDED READING
? For all ages, but especially 5-12: Jonathan Landaw'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"

IN CLASS TODAY:
Besides studying the stories of Buddha's birth and his life, we will review our main teaching message of the year: The Four Noble Truths and how Buddhist practice is all about peacemaking. And we will introduce this quarter's focus, interbeing. Each class will contribute in some way to today's ceremony honoring the birth of the Buddha: Middle Schoolers will drum, 4th/5th graders will decorate the baby Buddha's pavilion, and the youngest three classes will make offerings of beeswax baby Buddhas and handmade spring flowers. Please collect the beeswax creations and flowers after the ceremony, to bring home for your altar.

"PEACEMAKING, THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS AND INTER-BEING"
?.is our focus for Spring Quarter. In the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha teaches us about making peace and being peace:
1. Peace and joy is our natural state (3rd Truth).
2. Since everything changes, we experience dis-equilibrium: peace is interrupted (1st Truth).
3. Mindful of our feelings and needs, we begin letting go and our sense of peace increases. Understanding the causes of our dis-ease, we create less pain for ourselves. (2nd Truth).
4. The Eightfold Path describes the way of peace - for me, us and the whole world. (4th Truth).

This quarter we'll study the Wisdom aspect of the Eightfold Path. Wisdom is realizing that we do not exist separately, but rather inter-be with all things, lovingly connected and wholly interdependent.

There are many ways to approach inter-being - learning, for example, that we do not exist as separate selves or exploring impermanence. This quarter, we will focus on the connectedness aspect of inter-being. We will see how experiencing our intimate connections with all beings changes us:
? Realizing inter-being, we find peace.
? Realizing inter-being, we wholeheartedly aspire to make peace for all beings.

We'll express inter-being by:
? Doing Right Actions including a peacemaking project for Mother Earth
? Speaking and Listening from the heart (Nonviolent Communication)

HOME PRACTICE:
1) Celebrate the ties that bind you.
a) When spending time together as a family, choose some examples of plants, animals, minerals and people to whom you do not SEEM to be immediately connected. List ways that you ARE connected. For starters: We breath the same air and are warmed by the same sun!
b) Call or write friends and relatives from whom you are separated.
2) Mark Buddha's birthday on April 8th.
3) Continue or begin a Right Action journal, your personal journal and/or a family journal. Daily or weekly, note actions that are true, kind and helpful. Discuss: How did this action affect your sense of connectedness?
4) Continue to practice Heart-to-Heart Listening and Speaking.
a) Invite the free expression of feelings and needs. Say your feelings and needs out loud and guess each other's feelings and needs.
b) How does speaking and listening from the heart affect your sense of connectedness to those around you?

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


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