Life of Buddha: Buddha as Teacher, Awakened One

Dharma School 9/28/08, a set on Flickr.

I keep the first lesson simple when there are many kids returning who know each other. I need to allow for time for them to catch up, reforge their bonds. I concentrate on reviewing what we do in Dharma School, paying more detailed attention to altar and meditation instruction.

Looking at the Buddha as our Teacher and the Awakened One fits right in with this introduction, and with introducing the year's subject.

There are several picture books I use for this year's lessons. For this introduction about the Buddha teaching, I used just one page from The Prince Who Ran Away: The Story Of Gautama Buddha by Anne Rockwell.

I allowed more time for the activity of painting pictures of the Buddha using paint pens.