Bodhisattvas: Kanzeon

I recall the kids getting very involved with this lesson.  First I had the kids help me define compassion.  At this age they already have ideas about what it is.  Here are images of Kanzeon I shared with them. As I read through the book Zen Ties, I had the kids help me find the moments where someone was showing compassion to someone else.  Among the songs we sang was the Metta Round.  "Even as a mother protects with her life Her child, her only child So with a boundless heart Should one cherish all living beings." I should point out that I don't actually attempt to sing this as a round, but only as a simple song.

A few years back, I got a bunch of refrigerator magnets at SCRAP. I printed up some stickers to color, and used up the last of these magnets for this project. 

Bodhisattvas: Segaki and Kanzeon

I missed this class due to my 20 year college class reunion.  I lined up someone to substitute for me, a teacher and Dharma School parent, and my as yet unofficial assistant, Chris, who is also a Dharma School parent.  I asked they teach a lesson about Segaki...one they would both be familiar with.

Karen used a simple line art drawing of a creature with distended belly, skinny neck, and wide mouth.  Gollum sort of comes to mind.  She had the kids fill him up with various beans, grains, and pastas.  With glue, they created Gaki pasta mosaics.

Chris also told a story about Kanzeon, the one in which her head splits into 11 pieces.