The Dewdrop Digest

Clouds in Water Zen Center
The Dewdrop Digest
Connecting Children, Youth and Sangha
Sunday, May 2, 2004

Sunday, May 16, 8:45am: OUTDOOR SERVICE PROJECT

    Service connects us to one another and life itself. When we experience our connectedness, serving others becomes the natural and joyful thing to do.

All classes except Preschool and Nursery will be participating in an outdoor service project on Sunday May 16. We will be raking and "de-littering." We are waiting for our site assignment from the Wilder Foundation; it will be in or near Lowertown and will be communicated to all parents.
- At 8:45 am: Parents will DROP OFF STUDENTS at the site. The exact address will be on our website next week and will also be communicated to parents via email or phone. Teachers will meet you there.
- At 10:45 or 11:00: Parents will MEET their children at the SAME PLACE.
- At 11:00: We will have an ALL-AGES POTLUCK (details below)
- RAINING: If it is raining, meet at Clouds in Water as usual at 9am.
- PARENTS: SIGN PERMISSION SLIPS TODAY
- FORGET? A teacher will ferry children who arrive at the Center by 9:15.


Sunday, May 16, 11am: ALL-AGES POTLUCK at project site
- Celebrating the completion of the children's big service project
- Bearing witness to the students' effort, energy, enthusiasm and intention
- Recognizing the great value of the student's contributions to this sangha
- Showing with our presence that we see them as an integral to the sangha
- Celebrating May and to having fun and inter-being!

Nuts and bolts:
- CiWZC will provide plates, utensils, napkins and beverages and a main dish.
- Please bring a main dish or side dish (no need to make a big batch).
- If you can't bring food, COME BY ANYWAY to show your support.
- The site will be nearby - exact location to be announced.


MIDDLE SCHOOL CAMP OUT FRIDAY MAY 28th to Sunday, May 30th
- Parents drop off students at approximately 5pm in the trailhead parking lot of Afton State Park, about 20 minutes east of here.
- In addition to all the traditional camp activities - tenting, hiking, cooking on a fire, and so on - students will do a service project for the park.
- Teachers will bring children to CiWZC by 11am on Sunday, May 30th.
- The exact meet up time will be provided to each family, along with directions, and a list of what to bring will also be posted to the CiWZC website, emailed to parents, and published in the May 16 Sunday Bulletin.
- PLEASE SIGN PERMISSION SLIPS TODAY.

THICH NHAT HANH ON INTERBEING
In our continued study of Peacemaking and the Four Noble Truths, our focus this quarter is on interdependent nature of all life: interbeing.

One of the loveliest and most accessible and inspiring introductions to the Heart Sutra and Inter-being is "The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra" by Thich Nhat Hanh. It is worth owning. All of the classes are exploring ideas from this book this quarter. Here is an excerpt:

INTERBEING
If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating on this sheet of paper. Without clouds, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without the trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are. "Interbeing" is a word that is not in the dictionary yet, but I we combine the prefix "inter-" with the verb "to be," we have a new verb, inter-be. Without a cloud, we cannot have paper, so we can say that the cloud and the sheet of paper "inter-are."

If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. If the sunshine is not there, the forest cannot grow. In fact, nothing can grow. Even we cannot grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper. The paper and the sunshine inter-are. And if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper. And we see the wheat. We know that the logger cannot exist without [her] daily bread, and therefore the wheat that became [her] bread is also in this sheet of paper. And the logger's father and mother are in it too. When we look in this way, we see that without all of these things, this sheet of paper cannot exist.

In class today: 4th - 9th grades will continue with mala-making, chanting and studying the Heart Sutra.
Younger classes will learn more about interdependence in the natural world and make posters to encourage protecting our waters from mercury poisoning. Kids Saving the Earth will send them governmental leaders like President Bush and the Environmental Protection Agency. The posters will be sent to President Bush and legislators.


Peacemaking: Support Bike-a-thon for U.S. Department of Peace
Katharine Krueger will bike 100 miles in one day in early May. This is about five times farther than she usually bikes. Will you stretch too? Please sponsor her ride in order to support the creation of a Cabinet-level Department of Peace. To do so, make your check - for $10, $25 or more - to "Katharine For Peace". Leave in dana bowl or hand to her.

The U.S. Department of Peace will advance peace and nonviolence as the organizing principle in all human relations from families and neighborhoods, to courts and congresses, both in the U.S. and internationally.


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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