development monks

isn't that a cool title? the development monk project is one of PADETC's work and it builds on the concept of monks giving back to society through developmental work. monks have long been a source of education in the Buddhist countries and increasingly they have, in some countries, been getting involved in development work like HIV/AIDS education. Today, i met a monk, who heads the Development Monk project and he spoke of how they teach dharma to primary school kids. It was very interesting when I visited the Thong Kang primary school last week and saw a young monk conducting lessons. One of the first thing he asked them to do was to meditate for 10 minutes and the entire class simply fell silent and began to focus on their breathing. This was a class of 9 year olds, mind you. Would the spoiled first world kids do the same? I wonder.... i don't want to generalise so i leave it to you - who come from different country- to judge for yourself. At least the kids from my country would find it hard to sit still and meditate.

I'm all for creative learning in children and having fun and play and some level of noise in school. i find that all very exciting, and in fact, that's what PADETC's Quality School project espouses - where children learn through activities and young volunteers assist teachers to teach in a child-friendly and centred way. The monks also contribute by adding in the aspect of moral studies which we used to have in secondary school (but i'm not sure if schools still hv them now?) and i was very impressed to see how the children learnt the concept of discipline at the age of 9. there is a time and place for all things, and learning the value of silence is something that children of the first world probably do not really appreciate.

Silence can truly be golden.

Have you noticed how many children cannot tolerate silence? I once brought a group of 14 year olds to stay in a Cambodian village where there were no electricity and the night was pitch black and everything was quiet. I think it very nearly freaked them out.

A segue: a bell at the Simpanthong (Copper Brick) temple in Vientiane - it's made out of an exploded shell that was strewn all over Lao during the Vietnam War by American fighter jets. Nice twist to a sad sad past..Here, a "tung" or flag that's used to symbolise a dead person's spirit moving upwards towards heaven or towards the highest level. Bits of sticky rice offering are placed right at the top of the flag post.


I think that religion can be used in a positive way for the moral education of young children. sorry, i am not a liberal being a Catholic myself, i truly believe in the value of religion. I just think that too many people shun religion simply cos they don't understand its purpose well enough or maybe they were forcefed with it before. Also, being religious can be rather "uncool" in some societies these days right? But when westerners turn buddhist and become yoga teachers, suddenly it is quite hip. i don't understand. I just know that religion can serve as a good way to guide a young person's growth if mentored properly. What's wrong with having moral values? Again, in this 'liberal' world we live in, sometimes i feel that the M word has become a dirty word. it's almost wrong to have values. people are so afraid to dare to say 'this is wrong' anymore. It's not the same as being judgemental, but having a strong sense of what's right and what's wrong e.g. robbing someone is wrong! and killing another person is wrong!

Anyways, i digress... yeah, i had a good time interviewing four monks while trying to sit with my legs demurely tucked to the side. Of course, i made the mistake firstly of wearing a low slung jeans (yeah very nearly butt crack!!!) that are UBER not suitable for sitting on a straw mat in a temple, secondly, of having legs of unsuitable size (read: rather thick) and there fore i had to switch sides ever so often while talking to the monks. Luckily no one sat behind me to see the sight... But i loved the little kittens that came to sit in my lap while i was scribbling away. :-)