This morning our visiting monks from Plum Village held a puja for school parents, children and staff. They began by introducing each other and explained a little about their backgrounds:
Brother Stream (aka Br Phap Luu) flows through life “like a river”. He is from the US and ordained as a Buddhist monk in 2003. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in English Literature in 1997. The other monks said he was very wise and sometimes teaches them Sanskrit. Brother Stream does a lot of work for Plum Village’s Wake Up Schools initiative.
Brother Reason (aka Br Phap Ly) is from France. The monks said that because ‘PhapY’ is pronounced ‘Fapplee’, he is also known as Brother ‘Happily’ because his name sounds a bit like that word!
Brother Ben (aka Br Phap Lai) is from Yorkshire in England and the monks said he is very good at connecting with children and helping them to understand the teachings of the Buddha in lots of fun ways. He has been a member of the core group steering the Wake Up Schools initiative since its inception, helping organise and run many of the educators retreats in Plum Village in the last few years.
We all sang songs together and Brother Ben spoke about the ‘four gratitudes’ and how gratitude helps us to feel happy; we talked about why we are grateful for parents, teachers, friends and all beings on Mother Earth. Then Brother Stream invited the bell and we used the sound to stop, and to “come back to ourselves” for a few moments of calm and reflection.
Later this morning our visitors will share a pebble meditation with the children and this afternoon they will offer a workshop for teachers and staff.