The Dewdrop Digest

Clouds in Water Zen Center
The Dewdrop Digest
Connecting Children, Youth and Sangha
Sunday, April 18, 2004


INTERBEING FOR CHILDREN
In our continued study of Peacemaking and the Four Noble Truths, our focus this quarter is on the Wisdom aspect of The Eightfold Path to Peace. Wisdom means realization of interbeing, or non-separation. The impermanent and inter-dependent nature of all life is the essence of Buddhist teaching, and this truth is something that children can experience and find joy in.

Here are some of the ideas about the connected aspect of interbeing that we will be exploring this quarter:
--   Each part of the world, including sun, moon, wind, rain, plants, animals, people and me are not separate, but one interdependent whole.
--   Each part of the world contains all the other parts of the world. For example, if you look closely at a piece of paper, you can easily find trees, lumberjacks and soil.
--   Each part of the world is boundlessly open to each of the other parts.
--   When we fully understand and experience interbeing, we are filled with peace and joy.
--   Aware of interbeing with the whole world, we want to care for and protect all beings. We help all beings find peace.

THE INTERDEPENDENT WEB OF LIFE AND INDRA'S NET
It is wonderful that the image of the interdependent web of life is slowly making its way into Western consciousness. This is due in part to the growing affinity between Buddhism and new thinking in physics, biology and psychology. 2500 years ago, Buddha looked at a leaf and found sun, rain and wind. And today, the image of Indra's net is instructive to scientists and seekers alike, a captivating visual metaphor for the interdependence and interpenetration of all phenomena:

Indra is the god of the natural forces that protect and nurture life. Suspended above his palace, is an immeasurable net. At each node of the net where threads cross, there is a crystal-clear jewel. Each jewel contains and reflects the image of all the other jewels. Each shimmers in the brilliance of its boundless openness. As each gem reflects every other one; so are we giving to and receiving from by every other being in the universe.

Today we are studying the interdependent web of life from the viewpoint of biodiversity, how plants and animals depend on each other. At 10:20 today, the sangha will create our own version of the web of life.

IN CLASS TODAY
We can see the natural world as an interdependent web of life. Preschoolers will hear "The Children of the Forest" and act out how animals and plants give and receive from each other. The K-1 and 2nd/3rd classes will read "Dancing Deer and the Foolish Hunter": a foolish hunter takes a singing deer out of a forest, but learns that no part of the forest can be separated from the forest and still be whole. 4th and 5th graders will learn about the patterns of interdependence on an African savanna.

The three youngest classes will pick a favorite plant or animal and brainstorm how that animal is connected to other parts of the world. They will make an image of their favorite animal, plant or element and wear it while we weave our web of life at 10:20 today. As we physically weave our web, we will call out our connections to the beings represented by the children in their headbands.

With help from Dayna Wolf, the Middle School class and the 4th and 5th graders will make 108-bead malas. They will chant the mantra from the Heart Sutra and begin a 4-week study of the Heart Sutra. Students will be invited to do daily chanting practice at home (reciting the mantra three, nine or twenty-seven times, perhaps at bedtime). Please bring the malas to all spring quarter classes.

The Heart Sutra and this mantra is all about interbeing:

Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha

Gone, gone, gone all the way over, everyone gone to the other shore, enlightenment, hooray

HOME PRACTICE:
1) Look for connections in the natural world - spider webs, intertwining branches of trees that squirrels can travel across without ever touching the ground, migrating birds that travel from the tropics (perhaps northward from here), bulbs and seeds from last year that come to life now?
2) Look for connections in the human-made world - roads, phones?what else?
3) 4th - 9th grade: Chanting practice, 3x, 9x, or 27x daily..
4) 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. Note how each action affects your sense of connectedness with all beings.
5) 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 at 651.222.6968 x10 or at cp@cloudsinwater.org.


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