1st Sem online Children Dharma Class 4 - Good Habits Matters

On the 6th March 2022, FGS NZ YAD resumed the Fourth online Children Dharma Class for the first semester with nine students aged between 5 to 11 in attendance. The class was led by four teachers, including Venerable Nengchang, Lisa, Yvonne, and Allen. The class began with the chant of Giving Rise to the Bodhi Mind led by Lisa, in which students were actively and happily singing along.

During the class, Venerable Neng Chang shared some Buddhist terms used in the Temple. This gave the kids a better understanding of how to correctly name the places with which they are familiar. Then, she shared the Bodhi Light Tales 37 of The Poisonous Scorpion by Venerable Miao Guang with the students. The story highlights that it is important to get rid of our bad habits while keeping and creating more good habits in our life. While also being grateful for what we have. Just as Venerable Master Hsing Yun said, “Repeated action becomes a habit. Habit becomes a character. A character becomes fate. Fate rules your life.”  By learning to practice loving-kindness and doing kind deeds from a young age, children can be the master of their own lives.

Following that, teacher Yvonne conducted an exciting game of "Kahoot", which the children enjoyed, and reinforced Buddhism values through the engaging activity. Teacher Allen conducted the break-out session using some temple photos and throwing some questions into the mix, which most students answered correctly.

Furthermore, the story and meaning behind the Water Drop Tea House and Mondo Grass, planted in front of the Main Shrines, were shared with the students. In conjunction with World Compliment Day on the 1st of March every year, teacher Allen encouraged the children to take this time to put the good habits of saying good words into practice by giving compliments. In addition, a quiz taken from the previous Buddhism Exams were used to let the students identify good and bad habits.

Today's lesson encouraged the children to develop and maintain good habits, know more about the temple, and always to be grateful for all casual encounters.