By Kaoping News Group, Formosa

The children’s house was previously under the charge of five or six dharma guards who worked in shifts during group meditation. Since early this year, it has been reorganized to meet the needs of children of different age groups. Initiates, including those with young children, volunteer their services at the house, and artistically talented practitioners serve as teachers. With additional help from the dharma guards, the children’s house has been transformed from a tumultuous place into a paradise for youngsters.

The house is divided into a library, a homework area, and separate areas for TV viewing, recreation, and baby-sitting. These divisions meet the diverse needs of initiates and non-initiates. Children can choose to do their homework, read, paint, listen to stories, or play games. While all these activities are primarily designed to cultivate a habit of independent learning, discipline, good manners and proper interaction with others, various chores are also allotted to the children, thus teaching them to preserve their environment. Parents have noticed satisfactory improvement in their children, who now clean, sweep and tidy up their homes, in drastic contrast with the past when they barely knew how to use a broom or a mop. After group meditation, half-initiates receive a ten-minute instruction in Master’s teachings, listening to adult disciples recounting stories by Master and explaining Her teachings. Occasionally, the adults also share their stories about spiritual practice. Non-initiates also join in these activities, learning more about the benefits of spiritual practice. This may lead them to the spiritual path later in their lives.

Many diverse interests are met and the rich potential of the children is stimulated by a series of instructional, lively and widely varying programs, scheduled for different seasons of the year. Participation has been high in these group activities which include Tang poetry recital, English lessons, painting, pottery, dancing, calligraphy, and Chinese macrame making. Every group meditation session provides a wonderful, happy evening for the children.

Master’s loving grace has blessed the initiates who run the house, offering them inspiration and enabling them to work together in providing young initiates and non-initiates alike with a varied learning program that will enrich their childhood while leading them down the path of knowledge accumulation and of spiritual practice. The Laiyi Center plans to sponsor more parent-child activities in the future in order to strengthen parent-child relationships among initiates. All fellow initiates who are interested in finding their original, untainted selves are welcome to join in this work. Together, we can weave Master’s love into the carefree childhood days of the little Buddhas.