An exciting journey through learning the Dharma

On 12th of March, students of Children Dharma Class attended the usual chanting in the Main Shrine. Activity one for Beginner class began with The Triple Gem; meaning Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Students learnt that Buddha is everyone's teacher, Dharma is Buddha’s teachings, while people who follow the teachings of Buddha are referred to as the Sangha. In addition, worksheets on The Triple Gem were also handed out. A variety of True/False, multiple choice, and open-ended questions were answered and solved under the guidance of Teacher Chau and Carter.  

Teachers Nadine and Gwen led the Intermediate class with a lesson on The Four Postures. Students were shown examples of Master Hsing Yun with The Four Postures as Teacher Nadine introduced a game where students can practice The Four Postures themselves. Teacher Gwen explained that the worksheets were used to summarize what they have learnt as they focused on their writing. Emmeline expressed: "when I sat like a bell, I felt very calm and relaxed," while Henil added: "when I sat like a bell, I felt comfortable and happy." Students learnt to hold their body in the four postures so that it is dignified and graceful while sitting, standing, walking and lying down. 

Meanwhile in the Advanced class, students learnt about the importance of Faith with an article reading session. Teacher Elaine started by introducing the various levels of faith, and how it could be categorized. Students were then encouraged to summarize the paragraphs while a class discussion took place. Skylar expressed great interest in Buddha-Dharma: Pure and Simple and was keen on her learning. Sharing of ideas filled the classroom as Zoey shared the importance of faith and that if one does not have faith, it would be hard to distinguish the good from bad. Skylar further consolidated her understanding with a quote by Master Hsing Yun, “No faith is better than wrong faith, blind faith is better than no faith, and right faith is better than blind faith.” The class concluded that the right faith should be established, but most importantly, they learnt to also have faith and confidence in oneself.