Dharma from children
Shak
Veteran
Today my oldest son was participating in a cardboard boat race at school today with his eight grade class mates. It was quite an eye opener to see them becoming young adults working together towards a common goal. It put me in mind of a conversation we had in the car when he was about four years old, listening to news radio. 2006, the war in Iraq etc...
"Hey Dadddy"
"Yes Tom"
"Did you know the Earth is a big rock flying through space? And we're on it."
'Yup'
'OK, I didn't think grown ups knew that"
it was the most profound thing I had heard at that at that point in my life and I didn't really realize it at the time. It made me question everything I believed in. I always thought Christianity was IT. I was on the board of Trustees at our church. In one fell swoop all of that was gone. I took up a meditation practice and started to figure out who I really was. Well, not really, but I think I'm on the right path. I really never considered any of this before today. Has any one had a teachable moment like this from their children?
Comments
That is a darling, heart-touching little vignette. (Thanks for sharing.)
My daughter was born around the time "An Inconvenient Truth" came out.
I swear her first word(s) she spoke was "Al Gore".
No idea what it means but we did laugh!
My daughter is my own personal Dharma teacher. When she was a toddler, she taught me patience, when she was 4-12 she taught me what a Boddhisattva is. Now she's almost 15, she teaches me on a daily basis what karma means
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Children are the best teachers.
I wrote a long note once on FB about the things I've learned from my kids. I learn more from them than anyone. I also learn a lot from other people's kids. They are quite amazing beings with insights for a while that are not impacted by the rest of the world we have to live in. If you let their spirits soar and shine, you can learn from them forever, rather than trying to break them to conform to your whims.
I was reading "How things Exist - Teachings on Emptiness" by Lama Zopa Rinpoche this morning and my six year old daughter came in. She asked me what I was reading and I told her (including a short explanation on emptiness).
Her eyes lit up and she said "I know what emptiness is daddy!" and proceeds to pull her pillow out of its pillow case. She then points into the pillow case and says "That's empty!"