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葉蓮花 文 (女 莊惠貽)
我的孩子能在般若觀音聖寺幼學苑就讀，可以說是一種很奇妙的緣。她今年六歲，原本已在一間幼兒所就讀，我也從來沒有轉校的念頭，更何況她是一個內向又害羞的小女孩，轉校不免會引起她對陌生環境產生恐懼。
在預付明年學費後，我先生工作有了一些改變，而她原來的級任老師也剛巧離校，轉校是勢在必行。
其實我一直都不斷的尋覓著兒童讀經班，但往往時間和地點總讓人感覺天不作美，無法如願，所以能送孩子來這裡讀書對我來說可是天大的好消息。
在法師、老師和愛心阿姨細心又耐性指導下，這孩子漸漸開朗，不再對陌生環境有所恐懼，也不再緊跟著媽媽，對食物也不挑剔了。
她每天帶著輕輕鬆鬆的心情上學。回家來就把《弟子規》、《心經》、《大悲咒》、《常禮舉要》、《上供課誦》……朗朗上口。我和她姐姐也被她的朗讀聲吸引著忍不住也一起合誦起來。為了好讓她姐姐也能有這種福氣，我雖是家庭主婦，也在家裡辦起讀經班，招收鄰家小孩一起來讀經。「不求理解，祗求熟讀」讀經讓我們母女三人感情增進。讀經除了讓她們多認識字詞，注音符號和提高記憶力以外，陪讀的媽媽中文程度也跟著提升。孩子在品德上也有改善，待人處事也溫和柔順多了。
我想是孩子前生修的福，今生如願在般若觀音聖寺幼學苑法喜充滿地完成幼學。阿彌陀佛！
按：她女兒向來很挑食，但現在吃什麼青菜都很開心。她家雖然不是全素，在家長們的鼓勵下，現在已經儘量吃齋了。
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By Yap Lian Far ( Mother of Chung Hui-Yi)
It is truly wonderful that my child can study at the Young Learners’ Meadow. She is six. Originally she was in another kindergarten, and I never thought of transferring her to a new school. Moreover, she was shy and would have been afraid in a new environment. But after her tuition was paid in advance for the next year, my husband’s job changed, and then her core teacher left the school, which made transferring necessary.
Actually, I had been searching for a children’s classics reading class but my wish had not been fulfilled; so it is really superb that I can bring my child to study here.
Under the care and patience of the Dharma Masters, teachers and a voluntary loving aunt, my child has opened up gradually and no longer is scared, clings to her mother, or is picky about food.
Every day she is happy to go to school. After school, she always chants the
Standards for Students, the Heart Sutra, the Great Compassion Mantra, the book of
Common Essential Manners and the Meal Offering. Her sister and I can’t help but join in her resonant chanting. In order to create blessings for her sister, even though I’m a housewife, I have started a Classics Reading Class at home and take in neighborhood children. “Children need not understand the texts, but only recite them well.” Reading classics has drawn the three of us closer. Not only have they improved their vocabulary, pronunciation and memory, but I, reading along with them, have also improved my Chinese. Their characters have improved, and now they are gentler and more compliant in dealing with people and affairs.
I think it must be my child’s blessings from a past life that allow her to study at the Young Learners’ Meadow in Prajna Guanyin Sagely Monastery and finish kindergarten. Amitofo!
Her daughter used to be a very picky eater. Now, she polishes off all her
vegetables with a smile. Although not fully vegetarian, the family tries to stick to
a vegetarian diet now, after much encouragement from other parents.
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逆水行舟，自化化他
--對紫雲洞幼學苑的一些感想
林雲龍 文
(作者是四歲林子晴的父親，她的母親是幼學苑的老師)
看著自己的孩子從嬰兒日漸長大，不免「一則以喜，一則以憂」。喜的是孩子可以逐漸茁壯成人；憂的是我們做父母的是否能給孩子最適當的學習環境，讓他們順利地成長，做一個身心健全的人。
父母疼孩子的錢最好賺，經濟能力許可，我們都會送孩子上幼兒園。一接觸，才知道五花八門，有蒙特梭利式、全介制、安親班、貴族式幼稚園等等。深入了解，原來是預先訓練孩子成為一個「優良」的競爭者，爭功、爭名、爭利、爭祿。
機緣巧合，紫雲洞開辦幼兒苑，佛學思想加上讀經班的格式，孩子入學後，學了一些東西，四歲會雙盤趺坐，背熟了《心經》、《大悲咒》、《弟子規》、《大學》、《中庸》也差不多全背熟了，還上台當眾朗誦，做老爸的只能說：「羨慕死了！」這些古文是我進了大學中文系，廿歲才學的東西，孩子才四歲就學會了這些「德智體群美」、入世又出世的學問，看來孩子的福氣善根實在不小。
不過，話說回來，紫雲洞幼兒的教育環境是「無菌」環境，孩子一旦到外面，還是要面對「爭、貪、求、自私、自利、打妄語」的大洪水，如何讓孩子己達達人，自化化他，逆水行舟，那需要大家一起來努力了！ |
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Striving Against the Current —
Transformations of Self and Others
By Lim Wan Loong
(father of four-year-old Lim Zi Qing, whose mother is Teacher Chan)
Seeing my own child growing up from babyhood, I had this feeling: “In one way, this is a cause for joy, but in another, a matter for worry.” The joy is for her growing up; but I worry about whether I can provide the most appropriate environment for her education so that she may successfully become a whole and healthy person.
It is said that parents find it easiest to earn money to spend on their children. If our financial situation allowed it, we would all send our children to kindergarten. Once you start to search, you realize that there are all kinds: Montessori, Overall’s systems, after-school programs, elite kindergartens…. After a deeper investigation, I realized that actually they aim to prepare the children to be very “outstanding” competitors —fighting for merit, reputation, benefits and wealth.
Coincidentally, Prajna Guanyin Sagely Monastery established the Younger Learners’ Meadow, offering a program of both Buddhist Studies and Chinese Classics. After attending the school, my child has learned something —to sit in full lotus posture, to memorize the
Heart Sutra, Great Compassion Mantra, Standards for Students, The Great Learning and the
Doctrine of the Mean. She even recited the texts on stage. Her father could only exclaim: “How envious I am!” I studied the Chinese Classics after I was admitted to the Chinese Department of a university at the age of 20. While only 4, she has received a worldly and world-transcending education that covers the moral, intellectual, athletic, social, and aesthetic aspects. I realize my child’s blessings are many!
Moreoever, the educational environment at Prajna Guanyin Monastery is “uncontaminated.” Once they go back to the outside world, the children will face the flood of fighting, greed, seeking, selfishness, self-benefiting and lying. How can the children understand themselves and others, transform themselves and others? To strive against the tide requires our combined efforts! |
