Our Spring 2010 term  has concluded in coordination with the ASD school schedule.  Please stay tuned for the schedule for the next school year. 

For information, please contact Heisen (Tim Jester):    tjester AT  acsalaska DOT com  (AT & DOT are symbols)

Dedicated parents and other AZC members have formed a Dharma School for 3-7 year olds. If you have children and are interested in this kind of exploration of compassion and awareness, please contact us for more information.

Dharma School Report: May 2009

Tim Jester and Annette Marley

The AZC dharma school has been meeting since September 2008. A vibrant group of anywhere from eight to thirteen children and parents have gathered for this monthly Saturday morning event at Uto-an. We (Tim and Annette) coordinate and facilitate the dharma school with several committed parents volunteering regularly to bring snacks, assist with carrying out the activities, and cleaning up.  Although we aim the curriculum for ages 4-6, the children attending range from two to seven years of age; albeit a wide range developmentally, it has worked very well with parental involvement.

The sessions begin outside in the back yard of Uto-an where children play freely for a while until we all gather together for a good morning circle and a short time for quiet observation of the environment around us.

We then enter Uto-an, always a bit of a chaotic process involving disrobing the various layers of outdoor gear. Children talk more quietly upon entering and help put their shoes neatly in the closet before they enter the main area with a bow and wait for all their friends at the children’s altar. With some instruction, each child then takes a turn placing an offering to the Buddha on the altar, bowing before and after doing so. The offerings have included such items as favorite books, leaves, crayon drawings, and marbles.

After the offering, we sit on zafus in a circle and sing several songs together with me (Tim) playing the guitar. I (Annette) then lead the group in some simple yoga stretches, sometimes incorporating a theme from the day’s main lesson or activity; for example, when we were working with seeds, we did yoga poses resembling growing seeds. Following yoga, we then settle down, with the children reminding each other the basics of sitting meditation (zazen): sitting upright, legs crossed, hands resting in our laps, and eyes softly focused in front of us. Then we all practice quiet sitting meditation for a minute or so. Although there is some rustling, and the two-year-olds might be playing with a parent in the kitchen during this zazen session, the children are earnest in their endeavor to sit still—often in parents’ laps—and are focused on silently counting their breaths.

The children then partake in the dharma lesson, which might be a story read from a book or told to them, discovering seeds in a bag, or dramatizing the Buddha’s enlightenment. We have generally focused on generosity as a theme throughout the year.

By now, the children are hungry, so they gather around two low tables in the dining area, say a blessing, and then eat a healthy snack and drink fruit tea from an elephant teapot. Once the dishes are cleared away, we commence with some sort of craft. Over the last year, the children have made such things as clay Buddhas, orange and clove pomanders, a spring scene of wheat grass and a branch as a tree, and beeswax candles to name a few.

In April, for Buddha’s birthday the children made tissue paper flowers to decorate a special altar with a small Buddha statue in the middle of a dish of sweet tea. Each child then took a turn bathing the baby Buddha by dipping a ladle into the tea and pouring it over him. We ended the session by talking about how special it is to be born a human being and conveyed the Buddhist image of the turtle who surfaces every hundred years from the depth of the ocean and by chance pokes up his head through a ring floating on the surface. As the children left to go outside each one swam like a turtle and surfaced through a small hula-hoop.

We conclude the morning session by returning outside to form a circle, join hands, and recite our final verse:

Goodbye, goodbye to each of you;

May you be happy and everyone too.

————————————-