Shared by Susan
Good morning, everyone. I’m Susan and I am a teacher and my students are second graders. There are certainly rewarding experiences about teaching but there are also frustrations. Today I am sharing about frustrations. Sometimes my students have frustrations and sometimes I do. I have been thinking about how I sometimes think for too long about those frustrations and hold onto them. I have also been thinking about how to help my students to let those frustrations go.
I remembered a children’s book that I received years ago called Zen Shorts. It is written by Jon J Muth. In the book, a giant panda named Stillwater, befriends three children. The youngest, Karl, was frustrated with his older brother. Stillwater tries to help Karl and tells him a story entitled A Heavy Load.
Excerpt from the book, Zen Shorts by Jon J Muth
| Two traveling monks reach a town where there was a young woman waiting to step out of her sedan chair. The rains had made deep puddles and she couldn’t step across without spoiling her silken robes. She stood there, looking very cross and impatient. She was scolding her attendants. They had nowhere to place the packages they held for her, so they couldn’t help her across the puddle. The younger monk noticed the woman, said nothing, and walked by. The older monk quickly picked her up and put her on his back, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other side. She didn’t thank the older monk, she just shoved him out of the way and departed. As they continued on their way, the young monk was brooding and preoccupied. After several hours, unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. “That woman back there was very selfish and rude, but you picked her up on your back and carried her! Then she didn’t even thank you!” “I set the woman down hours ago,” the older monk replied. “Why are you still carrying her?” |
Hakone Zendo 