Learning the Goodness of The Dharma

The 12th of June marked the 6th children’s Dharma class for the term. As a part of our weekly routine, we met at the front shrine, practised our half bow to Bodhisattva and partook in the morning’s Dharma function at the main shrine. 

After this, we all congregated into class to chant the Heart Sutra in Sanskrit. This has been a consistent practice this term. It has proven very fruitful in supporting the students to harness their meditative concentration and connect with the teachings of The Buddha. The students are becoming increasingly confident, and are chanting the lyrics more clearly, with more accurate timing. Both Emmeline and Carter volunteered to chant the lyrics by themselves for the class and did so with commendable skill and precision. 

Students then split into their separate classes. Both classes started their lessons with selected students sharing their good deeds from the week prior. It was a wholesome experience for the students to share their good deeds and relate them back to the three goodness’s and four giving’s. We applaud these students for speaking in front of others and cultivating their confidence. We also acknowledge their classmates for listening and supporting them wholeheartedly. 

The junior students listened to two different stories the remainder of their lesson time. Props were used to engage the students with the story and to support their comprehension of the moral lessons within the stories. After this, they completed a fun worksheet focusing on what they had learnt from the stories. Students searched for keywords in a word search exercise, completed matching activities and revealed Buddhist imagery through the completion of connect the dots activities. 

The intermediate students spent the remainder of their lesson time learning about how statues of The Buddha depict not only his physical form, but also his teachings. Students were taught that statues allow us to see The Buddha in various poses and postures. These poses and postures represent ways in which we should act. We should walk like the wind, stand like a pine, sit like a bell and sleep like a bow. The intermediate students reflected on ways they could align the ways they stand, walk, sit and lie down to be more like that of The Buddha. They then solidified their new learning by completing a follow up worksheet focused on this topic. 

The students of this term’s Dharma class are working diligently and progressively learning The Dharma. They have been practising Three Goodness and Four Givings learned from the class by applying them in daily life.