Children Dharma Class — Striving with Compassion, Courage and Unwavering Faith
On 4th of September 2023, students of Children Dharma Class gathered at the Temple enthusiastically to celebrate Father's Day. Teacher Nadine guided the students to make Father's Day cards to show appreciation towards their fathers. It was heartwarming to see Braxton and Tanush helping the younger students like Aiden in harder tasks like cutting and folding the card. John thanked his father for always being caring and kind while Randy shared that he is grateful for having a hardworking father. It was a harmonious yet meaningful activity and a warm day filled with love.
The following week builds on the strengthening of Buddhism etiquettes such as joined palms, half bow and three prostrations that was led by Teacher Jane. Cody, Megan, and Bosco volunteered themselves to demonstrate in front of the class. Children were reminded that prostrations are important to express their reverence and gratitude toward the Buddha, Bodhisattva or Venerable. The day concluded after a game of kindness ball game as students were encouraged to continually uphold and implement ‘Three Goodness and Four Givings’ spirit into daily lives.
Class in Week 9 raised the importance and awareness of tree planting, relating back to the VegRun event that was held a few weeks ago. VegRun is a charity run where participants raise funds for tree planting by counting the distance completed. Teacher Elaine also explained the significance of reducing waste, linking back to Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s philosophy of Environmental and Spiritual Preservation. Teacher SinJun led the beanbag game to further develop and nurture students’ Earth-loving spirit. Before concluding, they were also reminded to reduce their waste and practice giving back by helping with gardening and tree planting in the Temple.
24th of September marked the Term 3 Awards Ceremony to witness the growth and outstanding performance of the students. Venerable Miaoyu was invited to present the awards while encouraging students to not be contented with current achievements but to continue to strive for greater accomplishments. Wish, Tanush, Lucas, Cody, Megan and Bosco volunteered themselves to show what they had learned by demonstrating half bows and three prostrations. Tanush also shared his understanding on the 3 Goodness and Wish added that he had applied his learnings into his daily life. Venerable Miaoyu shared a story of a child with an unharmonious family by Venerable Master to remind parents to take precautions in their speech and actions, as children learn from their surroundings. Henceforth, parents’ actions may have huge influences upon a growing child and it is important to provide children the right environment to grow. Term 3 concluded with fruitful attainments as students vowed to display intrinsic value in kindness and compassion and strive for further accomplishments with courage and unwavering faith.