Saturday, September 13, 2008

Story - A Sack Of Potatoes

This is a story I love so much which I read in Dr. Ong's clinic one day. Dr. Ong was kind enough to email me the soft copy. We told the children this story during one of the sessions in Sunday Dhamma School.


One of my teachers had each one of us bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes. For every person we refused to forgive for whatever they did, we were told to choose a potato, write on it the name and date, and put it in the plastic bag.



We were then told to carry this bag with us everywhere for two weeks, putting it beside our bed at night, on the car seat when driving, next to our desk at work, etc.



The hassle of lugging this around with us made it clear what a weight we were carrying spiritually and emotionally, and how we had to pay attention to it all the time to not forget it and leave it in embarrassing places.



Naturally, the condition of the potatoes deteriorated. This was a great metaphor for the price we pay for nursing our grudges. Too often we think of forgiveness as a gift to the other person while it clearly is for ourselves!



So the next time you decide you can't forgive someone, ask yourself, Isn't your bag heavy enough?

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Holidays

It's holidays and it means a break for all facilitators, co-facilitators, principal and children of Sunday Dhamma School. Everyone did a great job on Wesak day and everyone deserves a rest.


I was exhausted after Wesak Day, really exhausted! After a rest, I'll be back to post about our Wesak Day celebration. It was FANTASTIC!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Wesak Day Celebration

Phew, at last the recording is completed! The puppet show will be carried out as planned and I think the children are doing a fantastic job on this. Let's hope they would be able to give their very best on Wesak Day.


Program for Wesak in Sungai Long Buddhist Society:


Wesak eve (18 May 2008)
8.00 pm Puja & Dhamma Talk by Ven Dhammasara
on "The meaning of Wesak"
9.30 pm QnA
10.00pm Rejoice & Dismiss


Wesak day (19 May 2008)
8.30 am Registration & Selling
9.00 am Puja & Opening speech by Dr. Ong (President)
9.15 am Puppet show, Ehipasiko, Happy Wesak by SDS children
9.40 am Multimedia 1
9.45 am Choir singing "小草" and "Breathing in, Breathing out"
9.50 am Multimedia 2
10.00am Speech by Dr. Ong "The meaning of Ratana Sutta &
Metta Sutta"
10.30am The arrival of Ven. Dhammaluca
10.35am Puja, Chanting "Ratana Sutta" and "Metta Sutta" lead by
Ven. Dhammaluca
11.00am Blessing by Ven.
11.10am Dhamma Talk "Who am I?" by Ven. Dhammaluca
11.30am Dana & Lunch together (Vegetarian only)
12.00noon QnA
12.30pm Clean up & rearrange the centre
1.30 pm Dismiss


We would be joining Nalanda Buddhist Society in the evening.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Game on Buddhist Flag

Last Sunday, we thought the children the symbols of Buddhism. To further enhance their understanding about the Buddhist flag and to let them remember the color of the Buddhist flag, we thought of a game to bring out the effect.

The game goes like this:

* Children are divided into 2 groups.

* Each group would be given color papers (color of the Buddhist flag).

* Each group would have short of one or two colors.

* Children are given 5-10 minutes to complete the flag, sticking each color paper together with tape.


When time is up, we would ask to see the result but none of the group would be able to present a complete Buddhist flag.


Then, we would tell them that the Buddhist flag cannot be built due to the shortage of color. Each group is like each person. Each has his or her own specialty and strong point as well as weakness. So, if the two groups could combine, they would easily build a beautiful flag. This also means that we (Buddhists / siblings/ friends) need to be united and help each other so that things get done.

Suggestion: We could combine the older children with the younger children for this game. Older children will be in two groups and the younger children will be in the other two groups. The scenario now is that the older children feel they are superior and do not wish to mix around with the younger children. From this activity, we could actually tell them that none if more superior to the other and that they should always help each other.

Quiz on Life Story of the Buddha

The children of Sunday Dhamma School have heard the life story of the Buddha several times and to repeat the story once again would make the children bored. So, how do we solve this problem since the syllabus of this term is Wesak and we want to tell this story again?


We came out with a suggestion to replace the story telling with a quiz on life story of the Buddha. The questions are basically set in sequence with the story, that is from the birth of Prince Siddhartha to the growing up of the prince, to the four sights, to when Siddhartha left the palace until he attain enlightenment and become the Buddha.


No story telling will be done this Sunday, but throwing of questions to the children. Our purpose is to make the session livelier and to test how much the children have absorb and could remember.

This is how we will have the quiz:

* Children are divided into 3 groups.

* Each group will be given several pieces of paper.

* Each member in the group would take turns writing the answer on the paper.

* Each group will be given 30 seconds to answer each question.

* When time is up, each group’s representative would show their answer and the right answer will be given 1 point.

* By the end of the quiz, the points will be totaled up and the group with the highest score will get 3 extra stars whereas the second group will get 2 extra stars and the last group will get 1 star each.

* For those who did not participate, no extra star will be given. Here, we are encouraging everybody to participate.


What do you think?

Saturday, April 12, 2008

"Journey"

“Journey”, a new Buddhist album has been launched and is now selling at RM21.

The album consists of 3 discs.

Disc 1 consists of 10 songs (9 english and 1 pali).

Disc 2 is the rendition of the Mangala Sutta in Pali with English translation accompanied by the soothing sounds of the Sitar.

Disc 3 is a DVD music video of a song in tribute of the late Venerable Dr.K.Sri Dhammananda Nayaka Maha Thera.


Now, who are the singers? Presenting the singers for this album:

M.V. Nathan

Datuk Dr.Victor Wee

Oh Kim Leng

Simon & Cedric Tan (MOD)

Raymond Yeo

D2Y (Dhammaduta Youth)

Khoo Nee Wern (Igemz)

Wee Jee Leng

Dharmic Dew

All proceeds will go to participating centers.
For further information on the album, kindly visit Sukhi Hotu Sdn Bhd.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Busy Term For SDS

This term would be a busy term for us. The theme for this term is Wesak. Wesak, which falls on the 19th of May would be celebrated everywhere and here in Sungai Long Buddhist Society, we would have a Wesak Day celebration, details yet to discuss.

What we know is that Sunday Dhamma School children will be taking active roles in the preparation of Wesak Day celebration. The younger ones will put up a show while the teenagers would help out like adults.

So, the syllabus for this term includes:

The significance of offerings

Symbols of Buddhism

Life Story of the Buddha

While sharing dhamma on the above topics, we are actually preparing them for Wesak Day. Last Sunday, we showed them how offering is done and have the older kids to actually offer flowers, incense, light, water and fruits to the triple gem, after which we showed them a slide on the significance of offerings.

This Sunday would be a day we tell the children about each symbol and at the same time let the children do some crafts. The smaller children would be doing glitters mandala which would be used as decorations on Wesak Day whereas the older ones would make candle holders which would be sold on Wesak Day.

As for the show, how about a puppet show on life story of the Buddha by the little ones and a song by the older kids?

Well, a big event it will be and it will definitely take up a lot of our time and effort. We hope everyone learn something through this.

If you have any suggestion, please feel free to drop me a line here.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Compilation of Ajahn Brahm's Video

When I received an email from a friend of mine, telling me that there is a compilation of Ajahn Brahm's video, I was very delighted. I clicked on the link and what I found was too good to be true. There are actually many videos on talks not only by Ajahn Brahm, but many other speakers. Let's see how we can utilize this for our Sunday Dhamma School. Hopefully many can benefit from these videos.

Here's the site I was talking about.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Dhamma Talk by Venerable Thubten Chodron

What do you think of attending dhamma talks? Well, I personally think that it is a great way to learn dhamma from a different perspective. Different speakers deliver in different way and each one of them makes you think of dhamma differently.

Here's a few dhamma talks by Venerable Thubten Chodron:

# Wisdom and compassion: how to practise in our lives
# Living a balanced life & making wise choices




Here are the details:

Friday April 11, 2008: Bandar Utama Buddhist Society, 8.30 pm

Saturday April 12, 2008: Buddhist Gem Fellowship, 8.30 pm

Sunday April 13, 2008: Shah Alam Buddhist Society, Bukit Rimau, 9.00 am


Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Annual Fellowship - Kukup (2007)

Here are some photos taken during the annual fellowship organized by Sungai Long Buddhist Society. It was held last year and attended by the members and their families. Do you think annual fellowship is a good way to strengthen the relationship between members?





Monday, March 10, 2008

Best Of You Teenager Workshop 2007

Here are some photos taken during the Best Of You Teenager Workshop 2007 at Sungai Long Buddhist Society.



Friday, February 29, 2008

Let's Rap

The Four Noble Truth was the syllabus for the first semester in Sunday Dhamma School (SDS). Our greatest challenge is to deliver the same information that many children have known in a different way. So, we used lots of stories and activities to bring out The Four Noble Truth.

One of the activities we did was to show the children two containers. One contained carrot slices and the other contained chocolates. First, I asked the children: “Who wants to eat carrots?” Only one or two raised their hands. Then I asked: “Who wants to eat chocolate?” Everybody raised their hands. Next, I asked them whether I could give the carrots to Aunty (my assistant) and everybody said yes and when I asked whether I could give the chocolates to Uncle (another assistant of mine), everybody shouted NO! Then came my question of why. “Why did you say yes happily when I wanted to give the carrots to Aunty and why did you shouted NO so loudly when I wanted to give the chocolates to Uncle?” I then asked them to write down their feelings for both cases.

I told them: “When you don’t like something and you lose that thing, you don’t feel anything but when you lose something that you like very much, you feel hurt, sad, unhappy and angry. When you are unhappy, you are suffering and you suffer because you are attached to it. Attach to something means you are glued to something. So, when you don’t get it, you feel unhappy. Buddha taught us a way to be happy and that is to walk the middle path. Not too much work and not to much play and everything we do, we should not be too extreme.”

There were other things being discussed (lesson plan discussed with other facilitators) but those were the usual stuffs and I won’t discuss it here.

To end the lesson, I taught them a rhyme so that if they failed to absorb what had been taught, they could still bring home this rhyme. To make it easier for them to remember, we actually rap (singing in a talking way) it.

It’s ok to have wants

But don’t attach to the wants

Your mind is powerful

You can control how you feel

You can control how you act

So choose to be happy

And stop being angry

So everybody let’s join in

Let’s walk the middle path

(**Thanks to Nancy for the idea on rap**)

I told them that they should try to practice it in their daily lives. I introduced this rhyme to my own children and when my children wanted something very badly and cried when I said no, I would bring out the rhyme. I could see some improvements. Hopefully, they can really learn to let go.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Finally, I Have Started!

It took me quite some time to create this blog. I have been thinking of starting a blog about Buddhism awhile ago and finally, this blog is born! Currently I am facilitating in Sunday Dhamma School and I am involved in Buddhist activities. So, I thought I would create this blog to post about my experience in sharing dhamma with the children of Sunday Dhamma School as well as issues to discuss. This blog will also include some announcements of Buddhist activities. Please feel free to give me your suggestions and views. Thank you.