Stories for teaching children
3 Buddhist wisdom stories for teaching children from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- “How many of you have ever eaten rice pudding?”Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Unexpectedly facing 60 Year 1 and 2 children, Ajahn Brahm asks who doesn't like rice pudding; a few hands go up, then, looking around, all of them. Then he asks how many have…
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some years ago i went to rolly stone primary school and they invited me to give a talk to some of these students there and i didn't realize who i was talking to and they were year grade ones and grade twos how can you teach buddhism to grade ones and grade twos you know can you actually tell that story about the most beautiful sound in the world to them or talk about the four noble truths the great great ones and great twos and i had no preparation but what i did there when i went into the room i had to think on my feet very quickly actually i wasn't standing so i thought on my aoi arse i was sitting down and i just asked them so how many of you like i don't know how many of you yet don't like rice pudding you know what rice pudding is you don't have to know but anyway how many of you don't like rice pudding and you know what grade ones and grade twos are like these little people we know two or three people put their hand up they did not like rice pudding all the other kids the boys and girls they were looking around they saw these three or four people had their hands up so they put their hands up as well and after two or three minutes the whole about 60 kids had their hands up they agreed in grade one grade two rollerstone primary school they didn't like rice pudding okay put your hands down now how many of you have ever eaten white sporty and two kids pull their hand up and everyone else laughed you taught dhamma to grade ones and grade twos they got it straight away and so did their parents and the teachers as well
- 'Miss, can we have quiet time now?'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A deputy principal who learned meditation with Ajahn Brahm teaches her Year 6 class 'quiet time' every morning, from five minutes at the start of the year to fifteen or twenty by…
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one of the uh the people who learned meditation with me uh she was a a deputy principal of one of the schools primary schools she's retired about 10 years ago now so it shows you how old the story is but she would uh be teaching meditation in her class of kids and there were year sixes grade sixes and know grade sixes you know they're starting to you know get close to puberty and starting to be a bit Troublesome but she started teaching the meditation from the very beginning of the year now she called it quiet time rather than meditation cuz now meditation is uh looked upon as being Buddhist and for a good reason cuz basically Buddhism invented meditation now we started it off so it has that Association even though that you know anyone can meditate you don't have to be a budhist to meditate and you even some people say that when they sit down meditating at home they the dogs meditate too which is one of the other nice areas they they sit quietly next to you and I'm sure that people who meditate next to their dogs their dogs bark less and they're much quieter maybe that could be could be a study on how to quiet down dogs but the uh she was teaching quiet time starting off with 5 minutes at the beginning of the year and finishing off with 15 or 20 minutes as a group activity which started every morning of the school year and she told actually it wasn't her but it was her principal because I remember going to the school once and obviously having some tea with the principal and he was he was not a Buddhist but he was praising sort of this lady and how that her meditation introduced in this year 60s the changes which he saw happen which was not just the children's intellectual ability increased because their attention was strengthened and but also and their academic uh results increased and he could see this having been a principal looking at it from objective position but also he found out some other things which were happening that the social interaction of the children in that class improve they are more sensitive more compassionate and less aggressive towards each other which was an important part of what happens when you do become more attentive more sensitive just the the mindfulness develops the compassion and the understanding and I remember her giving an example of what happened and many many times she said that sometimes in the class of kids in our modern schools sometimes there'll be some sort of argument or some sort of altercation and usually whether that would be a fight or a big argument now that one of the kids in the class would put up their hand and say Miss can we have quiet time now and when they had quiet time just for 5 minutes just doing a simple relaxation watching the breath calming the Mind down afterwards the altercation finished and there was no sort of big argument or big problem not only that that people were sensitive to each other because of their digital development of meditation year sixes they could actually tell when somebody was in a bad mood or someone was sick or someone was unhappy and because of that they had this beautiful little mini Society in their classroom which had been enhanced by doing a tiny bit of meditation every day
- The rabbit who jumped into the potStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Traditional Buddhist children's tale of the rabbit in the moon: otter, jackal/hyena and rabbit keep precepts and give dāna when Sakka disguised as a monk tests them. The rabbit,…
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There were these three friends. Was it the rabbit, the otter, and the the jackal? And they were the best of friends. And when it came to the moon days, they would always keep special rules at the moon days. In Buddhism, we usually do eight precepts instead of five precepts. So, they decided on that day they would keep the five precepts. I don't know why they're talking about five precepts because they'd never drink alcohol anyway. But anyway, they do five precepts and they would try and do charity. Anytime they can do some charity or give some donna, they would. And so what happened that this this god came down. No, one of these many gods in Buddhism. This was supposed to be Saka came down to test them out. And he took the form of a Buddhist monk, Asadu, with an arms ball. And as soon as they saw him, they said, "We got to keep our promise. We got to give him something." So the otter, well, what can I give him? He said, "Well, look, I can't get any fish cuz I'm keeping precepts today." But this otter had actually buried some fish for later on. So he took out that fish he'd buried and he offered it to the monk and the monk gave him a little blessing. And then it was the job of the the hyena. what can I get? What can I get for this for this monk? And he couldn't steal anything that was breaking the precepts. So what he did, he knew where there's many people and many people were not very careful and they left things out and so nice food. And so he went there and he said, "Does this belong to anybody? Does this belong to anybody?" When nobody responded, he took that and gave that to the monk. And the monk gave him a blessing. And then there was a job of the rabbit and the rabbit started getting some grass for the monk. But they said, "Hey, but monks don't eat grass. What can I get for this monk? He has to keep his precepts." [snorts] So the rabbit got some wood and made a little fire. And cuz a rabbit knew, oh no, he got also a pot and put some water in it and started boiling the water. And the rabbit said, I know that monks don't eat grass, but sometimes they eat rabbit stew. So the rabbit to keep his precepts and his and his vow, he was about to sacrifice himself to keep his precepts and his promise. But before before he jumped in the pot, he shook his body the first time. If there any fleas or any other parasites in my body, get out now, cuz I cannot kill you. When I jump in the pot, you will die as well. That's not fair. And he shook his body a second time. And he shook his body the third time and said, "Any bugs, any lice or anything in my fur? Get out now. This is your last chance." And he was sincere. So many of those bugs, they just jumped out and just went away. And then to keep his promise, he jumped in the pot of boiling water. But but it looked like it was boiling. It should have been boiling. But that monk was really is like one of the heavenly beings, the davas in disguise. Made it so that the water never even scolded that little rabbit. It was like cool, beautiful water. And so the rabbit climbed out and the monk revealed himself. I'm not a monk. I was one of these davas just testing you three and you all did so well. But the rabbit the rabbit was prepared to give his life to keep his promises. [snorts] So I'm going to make a sign so that everybody will remember you. And so this God, this heavenly being made an image of the rabbit in the moon. So that every full moon people can see the rabbit who would always keep his promises