LOVE WILL GUIDE US
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 12: FROM ANGER TO KINDNESS
BY REV. ALICE ANACHEKA-NASEMANN AND CATHY CARTWRIGHT
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/8/2014 2:29:09 AM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
When my anger’s over
may the world be young again
as after rain –
the cool clean promise
and the dance
of branches glistening green — Raymond John Baughan, in Day of Promise: Collected Meditations, Kathleen Montgomery, ed. (Skinner House, 2001); used with permission
This session looks to the third Source of Unitarian Universalism, "Wisdom from the world's religions which inspire us in our ethical and spiritual life." In the story, the Buddha responds to someone's anger in an unconventional way that teaches a lesson of love. Children learn to rely on love and faith to move themselves, and thereby others, from anger to love.
Anger is a normal, healthy feeling—our body's way of alerting us to problems. Anger can give us the energy we need to right wrongs. However, at times it can be misdirected or expressed in hurtful ways. Rather than tell children they should not feel angry, we want to help them harness their anger—to use it constructively, not destructively.
In Activity 4, children create calming beads they can use to cool their anger. Alternate Activity 3, Yoga — Salutation to the Sun, offers a movement option to nurture anger self-awareness and management.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Opening | 7 |
Activity 1: Anger Energy | 10 |
Activity 2: Mirror Talking | 10 |
Activity 3: Story — Anger, A Buddhist Story | 10 |
Activity 4: Calming Beads | 15 |
Faith In Action: Body of Anger | 30 |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Sharing Joys and Concerns | 7 |
Alternate Activity 2: UU Source Constellation — World Religions | 10 |
Alternate Activity 3: Yoga — Salutation to the Sun | 15 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Take a few quiet minutes to consider anger. Issues around anger are a challenge for most adults, yet anger is important to pay attention to. Anger is a healthy feeling. Sometimes it is appropriate, or necessary to right a wrong; when injustice makes us angry, that anger can help us act. Sometimes, however, anger can get the better of us. Some people are quick to get angry when they are driving and running late and someone in front of them is driving slowly, some get angry when someone is hurtful. Even when we know holding on to anger can become destructive, it can be hard to move ourselves from anger to love, positive action, and forgiveness.
Reflect: Which is easier to maintain, forgiveness or anger? What does "exuding a feeling of loving kindness" mean? Do you know someone who does this? How easy is it for you to forgive?
Take a calming breath and release any negative tension in your body as a result of any negative emotions that have arisen. Bring calming and positive energy into the group.
SESSION PLAN
OPENING (7 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the children in a circle. Distribute Handout 1, Ten Million Stars, or point out the words printed on newsprint. Light the chalice and invite the group to read the words together responsively.
Indicate the Night Sky display. If the group includes children who have heard the Opening before, you might invite them to explain the Night Sky, the Big Dipper, the North Star in their own words.
Or, say in your own words:
When people first began to ponder the night sky, they wondered, "What are stars and why are they there? Why do they move?" "Where did I come from? How did life begin? Why am I here?" Although the sky did not give the answers, people used the stars as symbols for their beliefs about the important questions in their lives.
When people looked at their night sky, they saw patterns and pictures in the way the stars were arranged. Thousands of years ago, the Greeks and Romans, the Chinese and Arabs, Native Americans, and other peoples all around the world named these constellations for gods they worshipped, animals they relied on, and everyday scenes from their lives.
Indicate the Big Dipper. Invite the children to discover the pattern of a dipping spoon. Say:
We call this constellation the Big Dipper. If we lived in Southern France, we would call it a Saucepan. Do you see the saucepan?
Ask the children what other pictures they see. Encourage them to imagine the constellation upside down. Tell them:
To the Skidi Pawnee Indians, this constellation looked like a sick man being carried on a stretcher.
To the ancient Maya, it was a mythological parrot named Seven Macaw.
To the Hindu, it looked like Seven Wise Men.
To the early Egyptians, it was the thigh and leg of a bull.
To the ancient Chinese, it was the chariot of the Emperor of Heaven.
The Micmac Indians saw a bear instead of the scoop, and hunters tracking the bear instead of the handle.
Now say:
People discovered how to use the stars to guide them when travelling. Knowing the constellations in the night sky helped them find the direction they wanted to go.
In the 19th century, people who were kept as slaves in the Southern states gave the Big Dipper a new name: the Drinking Gourd. This constellation became a symbol of freedom. Slaves who escaped knew they could travel at night, following the Drinking Gourd, to get to the Northern states where they would be free.
Say, while pointing to the North Star:
This one star does not move much in the Night Sky. The earth rotates and orbits around the sun, but this star, the North Star, is located directly above the North Pole, so it seems to always stay in the same place in the sky. Travelers without a map, a compass, or a GPS can use the North Star to know where they are and where they are going.
For Unitarian Universalists, love is like the North Star.
Now indicate the poster you have made of the seven Sources. Say, in your own words:
We let love and our Sources guide us, like stars in the night sky guide travelers. We use the wisdom of many Sources to help us answer the big questions about what we believe, just like ancient peoples used the stars.
Explain, or remind the children, that a "source" has to do with origin, or beginning. When we talk about the sources of our beliefs, this means we are talking about where our beliefs begin and how we get ideas. Say, in your own words:
Today we are talking about the third Source, "the ethical and spiritual wisdom of world religions." We will hear a story from the Buddhist religion that can teach us something about love and anger.
Distribute (or indicate, if posted) the "Love Will Guide Us" lyrics. Sing "Love Will Guide Us" together.
Collect handouts/newsprint for use in future sessions.
Including All Participants
For participants who are not fluent readers, take the time to teach the opening words and song aurally, so children can come to know them from memory.
Use an LED chalice to avoid fire hazard and to include participants who are sensitive to smoke or scents.
ACTIVITY 1: ANGER ENERGY (10 MINUTES)
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants will act out expressions of anger. Invite participants to mingle in the open space and show anger to at least three other people, without touching anyone else and without making noise with their mouths. Tell them they may make faces, stomp their feet, and even exaggerate their movements. Model what being angry can look like.
Give the participants a few minutes to do this. Then ask everyone to stop and sit. Briefly ask the children how it felt to see all these angry faces, and how it felt to make themselves look angry. Then, begin a discussion about why we get angry sometimes. Ask the group to call out some reasons they get angry. Ask some of these questions:
Affirm that when things are unfair, or hurtful, or wrong, it is appropriate to feel angry. Say, in your own words:
Our anger is a normal feeling. But, it becomes destructive when we hold onto it too long. It is important to understand why we are angry and then work through it so it does not stay with us for a long time.
ACTIVITY 2: MIRROR TALKING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity develops empathy, self-awareness, and trust, tools that can help children dissipate anger they may feel toward someone else.
Form pairs of participants and arrange them so they face a partner. Tell them they will take turns to mirror each other’s hand and arm movements as closely as possible. Explain that the idea is not to stump the other person, or to go so fast their partner cannot follow. The goal is to mirror each other as much as possible.
Have one person be the leader and the other the mirror for a couple of minutes. Then switch.
Optional: Use music to evoke different moods for the hand movements. Include music that evokes anger or music that sounds sad. If you use thematic music, be sure to talk afterward about the emotions the children were expressing.
Follow up with questions:
Including All Participants
If any child will be unable to see the hand movements, have pairs place their hands palm to palm and mirror with their eyes closed.
ACTIVITY 3: STORY — ANGER, A BUDDHIST STORY (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the children in a circle in the storytelling area and show them the story basket. Say something like, "Let's see what's in our story basket this week."
Tell the group the items in the story basket will be placed on this table after the children have passed them around the circle. Take the story-related items from the basket, one at a time, and pass them around. Objects that are fragile, or which should not be passed around for any reason, can be held up for all to see and then placed directly on the table.
Name each object and ask a wondering question about each one, e.g., "Has anyone seen a Buddha before? What do you know about Buddha, or the Buddhist religion?" If you have brought a map or globe, ask/affirm that Buddhism originated in India and is practiced widely in many countries in Asia.
As items come back to you, display them on the table. Then say, in your own words:
Today we are exploring the wisdom in religions of the world. This is the third UU Source. Unitarian Universalists believe all faiths and beliefs have something important to share. Today we will hear a story from Buddhism, a very old religion, over 2,500 years old.
Remove the sound instrument from the story basket. Tell the children that every time you tell a story, you will first use the instrument to help them get their ears, their minds, and their bodies ready to listen. Invite them to sit comfortably and close their eyes (if they are comfortable doing so). You may tell them that closing their eyes can help them focus just on listening. If someone is unable to close their eyes or sit still, invite them to hold one of the story basket items or an item from the fidget basket. In a calm voice, say:
As you breathe in, feel your body opening up with air. As you breathe out, feel yourself relaxing.
Repeat this once or twice and then say:
When I hit the chime (turn the rain stick over), listen as carefully as you can. See how long you can hear its sound. When you can no longer hear it, open your eyes and you will know it is time for the story to begin.
Sound the instrument. When the sound has gone, tell the story "Give Yourself." Read or tell the story slowly, like a meditation. Use the instrument again to indicate that the story is over.
Then, ask:
Including All Participants
Make sure everyone has an opportunity to experience the items in the story basket, whether by sight or touch.
You may wish to make fidget objects available to children who find it difficult to sit still while listening to a story or can focus better with sensory stimulation. Remind children where the fidget basket is before you begin the "centering" part of this activity. (For a full description and guidance, see Session 1, Leader Resource 4.)
Consider using rug squares in the storytelling area. Place them in a semi-circle with the rule "one person per square." This can be very helpful for controlling active bodies.
ACTIVITY 4: CALMING BEADS (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The children create a strand of beads they can use to calm themselves when they feel angry and learn a tactile counting practice to use with it.
Affirm that is okay to get angry sometimes. However, when we stay angry we hurt ourselves. This activity is about making something we can hold onto instead of holding onto our anger.
Invite each child to choose a large bead. Distribute the lengths of cord. Point out the smaller beads on the work tables.
Explain, demonstrating as needed::
1. String one end of the cord through the starter bead.
2. Then string at least ten smaller beads on the cord, while keeping hold of the end.
3. Pull the cord through the starter bead again. Keep the cord loose enough so the beads can move back and forth, then knot the cord.
4. If the starter bead has a hole too large for the knot, tie another small bead on the end: String both ends of the cord through the smaller bead and tie a knot. You can add even more beads to this "tail."
When everyone is done, call children into a circle and invite them to admire one another's work. Show participants how to take the Calming Beads into their hands, looped over their fingers, and can finger along, bead-to-bead. Ask the children to sit quietly, closing their eyes if they wish, while you repeat these centering words:
As you breathe in, feel your body opening up with air. As you breathe out, feel yourself relaxing.
Breathe in and out as each bead passes through your finger.
Repeat the centering words a few times. Then say, in your own words:
Just like you can put yourself to sleep at night, you can also calm yourself when you are angry. These beads are a great way to help you. Keep them in your pocket or around your wrist to use whenever you need.
Invite participants to continue holding the beads and using them to count quietly. Ask the group:
Variation
Have children make extra sets of Calming Beads to include in the Fidget Objects basket.
Including All Participants
This activity requires manual dexterity and in some cases, patience. Large beads are much easier to string.
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Our Unitarian Universalist beliefs come from the ethical and spiritual wisdom of the world's religions.
Description of Activity
Gather the children at work tables. Invite them each to decorate a Source Star to take home and share with their family. You might suggest they draw something they learned about or from Buddhism today. As children work, attach one star that says "We learn from World Religions" to the Night Sky.
When children are done, gather them in a circle. Say, in your own words:
Today we learned some ways to manage anger that came from Buddhism. Buddha was the founder of one of the world's great religions. Unitarian Universalists believe Buddha's teachings can guide us to love and help us cope with anger.
If you wish to sing "Our Sources," distribute Session 1, Handout 3 or indicate the newsprint where you have posted the lyrics. Teach/lead the song, with a musical volunteer if you have invited someone to help. You might play the music clip of "Our Sources" for the children to sing along.
Distribute Taking It Home and thank participants.
Save the Night Sky display and the handouts/newsprint to use next time.
Including All Participants
At this age, children have a wide range of reading ability. Do not put individual children on the spot to read aloud.
FAITH IN ACTION: BODY OF ANGER (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants discover how their bodies react when we become angry. When we can recognize signs of anger in our bodies, we can better understand ourselves.
Have the volunteer put on the old clothes. Introduce your volunteer to the group. Say, in your own words:
Our bodies can tell us when we are angry. For each person the signs are different. Each person has to find out what their own signs are, so they will realize when they are getting angry. The important thing to controlling anger is recognizing that you are becoming angry so you can act responsibly instead of lashing out and saying or doing something that is hurtful.
Ask the group to think of ways their bodies react when they feel angry; encourage the children to speak and adults to listen. As participants name different signs of anger, use the volunteer (dressed in old clothes) as a living "visual" and write or draw each example on their body using either markers or face paint. For example "rapid breathing" could be written on the chest to represent lungs; "red face" on a cheek.
Follow up with questions such as:
Thank the volunteer and invite them to remove the signs of anger by stepping out of the old clothes. Distribute the handout to adults. Invite families to review it at home.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Take a few minutes to evaluate the session with your co-leader immediately afterward, while it is fresh. Share your thoughts with any other team leaders and your religious educator. You might find it helpful to consider these questions:
TAKING IT HOME
When my anger's over
may the world be young again
as after rain —
the cool clean promise
and the dance
of branches glistening green — Raymond John Baughan, in Day of Promise: Collected Meditations, Kathleen Montgomery, ed. (Skinner House, 2001); used with permission
IN TODAY'S SESSION... the children learned from our third Unitarian Universalist Source, "the ethical and spiritual wisdom of the world's religions," using a Buddhist story to consider anger, with love. The children used non-verbal communication to express anger and empathy. They made Calming Beads and learned how to use them.
We affirmed that anger is a normal, healthy feeling. While not particularly pleasant, it is our body's way of alerting us to problems. Anger can give us the energy we need to right wrongs. Nevertheless, as you know, it can get too big. Raging out of control, anger can be expressed in hurtful ways and hurts the person holding it. Children learned to recognize their anger, reduce its hold on them, and harness it constructively.
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about... how we respond with love to our own anger, and to others who are angry. Ask your child(ren) about:
EXTEND THE TOPIC. Try...
Family Adventure. Today children explored what happens to us when we get angry. We also need to know how to control our anger. On the Tapestry of Faith website, find a handout, Three Choices to Reduce Anger. Developed for this session's Faith in Action activity, the handout describes three strategies children (and adults) can use to slow down the body's reaction to anger. Try the strategies together and talk about when and how you can use them.
Family Discovery. Explore these online resources:
A Missouri Families (at www.missourifamilies.org/) article, "Helping Children Deal With Anger At Friends (at missourifamilies.org/FEATURES/divorcearticles/divorcefeature4.htm)."
Great information on the KidsHealth website (at www.kidshealth.org) about all kinds of issues related to being and feeling healthy.
The website of Seattle-based Committee for Children (at www.cfchildren.org/) offers information, curricula, and videos on violence prevention, impulse control, and conflict resolution for use in K-8 classrooms, and links to fiction for children, arranged by age and grade, on topics including impulse control, anger buttons, identifying feelings, problem solving, and keeping out of a fight.
Parents Anonymous (at www.parentsanonymous.org/) is a well-established family strengthening program designed to help all parents find ways to manage their own anger and create a safe nurturing home environment for their kids. Parents Anonymous groups meet in communities throughout the United States. Anyone in a parenting role can join at any time and can attend for as long as they wish.
Books with stories and guidance about anger management include: Kindness: A Treasury of Buddhist Wisdom for Children and Parents (at www.uuabookstore.org/) by Sarah Conover (Eastern Washington University Press, 2001), What to Do When Your Temper Flares: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Problems With Anger by Dawn Huebner (Magination Press, 2008), A Volcano in My Tummy: Helping Children to Handle Anger by Elaine Whitehouse and Warwick Pudney (New Society Publishers, 1996), and How to Take the Grrr Out of Anger by Elizabeth Verdick and Marjorie Lisoviskis (Free Spirit Publishing, 2003).
A Family Ritual. Buddhist practice includes meditation. Try meditation as a family, perhaps guiding simple stretching or movements followed by a few minutes of silence. You will find that this serves your children well prior to devoted time to concentration, for example, homework.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: SHARING JOYS AND CONCERNS (7 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity invites participants to experience a ritual enacted in many Unitarian Universalist congregations. Sharing joys and concerns can deepen a group's sense of community. It gives participants a chance to share a portion of their lives in a unique way, encourages listening to others and, in many cases, makes a link with the adult worship experience.
Introduce the concept of sharing joys and concerns by saying something like:
As a community of caring people who are kind to each other, we want to know what has made you very happy or what has made you sad. You are invited to put a flame on one of these felt candles, place it on this felt board, and then share your joy or concern. Everyone in the room is asked to listen with respect. You do not have to say anything at all, if you do not want to.
Invite the children to come forward one at a time. As children share, listen without comment.
Variation
Instead of sharing their joys and concerns, invite children to light a candle and, if they wish, answer a question. A question to fit this session might be "When did you feel angry, and how did it feel?"
Including All Participants
If any children are reluctant to stand to address the group, allow them to speak joys and concerns from where they sit or invite them to light a candle silently.
This sharing circle can be a vital part of congregational ministry. Many congregations have in place a safe congregation policy in the event a participant reveals they are being hurt by someone. Alert your religious educator, minister, or Board president to any troubling issue that arises in this sharing.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: UU SOURCE CONSTELLATION — WORLD RELIGIONS (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Use this activity with your Opening to add additional Source constellations to your Night Sky.
Tell the children:
Our Sources are the way we are guided as Unitarian Universalists to help us live our faith.
Ask the children if they remember (or know) what a "source" is. Allow a moment for responses. Then, explain that the definition of source you are looking for has to do with origin, or beginning.
Distribute the UU Source Constellation handout. Say, in your own words:
Today we are talking about our third Source, wisdom of the world's religions. Unitarian Universalists learn from Buddhism and other religions of the world—Hinduism, Jainism, Islam, and many more—that have messages about love. To help us learn from world religions, we have a constellation named in honor of this UU Source. Some stars can be connected to look like a spiral. Can you find it in our Night Sky?
Give children time to look for the spiral. As children find it, let them show you by tracing with a finger on their own handouts.
Distribute gold and silver stars. Have children stick gold stars on the outlined stars and silver stars on the solid stars on their handouts. Then, invite them to pencil the spiral by connecting the gold stars. Tell them they may take home their own World Religions constellations.
Light the chalice.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: YOGA — SALUTATION TO THE SUN (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite the children to arrange themselves in the open floor space so they can lie down and spread their arms and legs without touching anyone else (on yoga mats, if you have them).
Lead the children slowly through the 12 postures of a sun salutation. Then, repeat the series of postures, aiming to complete the cycle smoothly in a single graceful, flow. Encourage children to pay attention to their breathing as they do the postures; guide them to inhale when the body is stretching or extending, and exhale when the body folds or contracts.
The 12 Positions
Follow up with questions, such as:
Including All Participants
Yoga practice is about how the practitioner feels, not how the pose appears. Encourage participants with any level of ability/disability to try the poses to the degree they are capable and their bodies feel comfortable. Children who need to stay seated can stretch their bodies to approximate the poses and focus on inhaling/exhaling.
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 12:
STORY: ANGER — A BUDDHIST STORY
From Kindness: A Treasury of Buddhist Wisdom for Children and Parents (Condra Enterprises, 2005), collected and adapted by Sarah Conover. Used with permission.
One day, the Buddha and a large following of monks and nuns were passing through a village. The Buddha chose a large shade tree to sit beneath so the group could rest awhile out of the heat. He often chose times like these to teach, and so he began to speak. Soon, villagers heard about the visiting teacher and many gathered around to hear him.
One surly young man stood to the side, watching, as the crowd grew larger and larger. To him, it seemed that there were too many people traveling from the city to his village, and each had something to sell or teach. Impatient with the bulging crowd of monks and villagers, he shouted at the Buddha, "Go away! You just want to take advantage of us! You teachers come here to say a few pretty words and then ask for food and money!"
But the Buddha was unruffled by these insults. He remained calm, exuding a feeling of loving-kindness. He politely requested that the man come forward. Then he asked, "Young sir, if you purchased a lovely gift for someone, but that person did not accept the gift, to whom does the gift then belong?"
The odd question took the young man by surprise. "I guess the gift would still be mine because I was the one who bought it."
"Exactly so," replied the Buddha. "Now, you have just cursed me and been angry with me. But if I do not accept your curses, if I do not get insulted and angry in return, these curses will fall back upon you—the same as the gift returning to its owner."
The young man clasped his hands together and slowly bowed to the Buddha. It was an acknowledgement that a valuable lesson had been learned. And so the Buddha concluded for all to hear, "As a mirror reflects an object, as a still lake reflects the sky: take care that what you speak or act is for good. For goodness will always cast back goodness and harm will always cast back harm."
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 12:
HANDOUT 1: THREE CHOICES TO REDUCE ANGER
It is not enough to know what happens to us when we get angry. We also need to know how to control our anger.
Here are three choices for reducing the feelings of anger. Learn them together, and use them help one another manage anger. All are intended to slow down your body's reaction to anger:
Choice 1: Stretch
Stretch your arms way up over your head. Reach with your fingertips for the ceiling, as high as you go. Breathe in (1-2-3) and out (1-2-3-4).
Put your hands on your shoulders with your elbows pointed out. Breathe in as you twist slowly to one side. Breathe out as you twist to the other side. Twist back and forth, gently stretching your body with each twist. Keep breathing (in 1-2-3 ... out 1-2-3-4).
Clasp your hands behind your back. Bend forward while you bring your arms up, behind you, stretching gently to raise your arms toward the ceiling. Breathe in (1-2-3) and out (1-2-3-4) twice.
Straighten up and drop your hands to your sides. Roll your head gently to one side, then the other, back and forth. Keep breathing.
Choice 2: Squeezing
Grab a pillow, and suck in a big lungful of air through your nose.
While you're breathing in, squeeze the pillow as tightly as you can. Even if it's a small pillow, scrunch up your face, and stiffen the muscles in your legs. Keep your while body in that giant squeeze while you count 1-2-3 in your head.
Next, loosen your grip on the pillow and relax everything while you breathe out, counting 1-2-3-4.
While you're relaxed, take a slow, deep breath in (counting 1-2-3) and out (counting 1-2-3-4).
Then breathe in and squeeze again.
Go through this pattern five times: breathe in, squeeze and hold, release and breathe out, breathe in and out one time with squeezing, then start again.
Choice 3: Tapping
Cross your arm to make an X across your chest.
Tap your right shoulder with your left hand, then your left shoulder with your right hand. As you tap, count in your head. Tap once for each number you say to yourself.
Breathe slowly, but don't count your breaths. Count your taps instead.
Keep going—right, left, right, left, right, left—tapping back and forth, over and over again, until you get to 100.
Keep your arms crossed and take two extra breaths, slow and relaxing, in and out through your nose. In 1-2-3 ... out 1-2-3-4 ... pause. In 1-2-3 ... out 1-2-3-4 ... pause.
Then start tapping again until you get to 100.
FIND OUT MORE
Yoga
The sun salutation directions (at www.yogasite.com/sunsalute.htm) in Alternate Activity 3 were adapted from the Yoga Site online resource center (at www.yogasite.com/).
UU Buddhism Resources
On online search will lead to many resources for exploring Buddhism from a Unitarian Universalist perspective. The website of the Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship (at www25.uua.org/uubf) offers links to Unitarian Universalist sermons with Buddhist themes (at www25.uua.org/uubf/sermons.htm).
The UUA Bookstore (at www.uuabookstore.org/) offers many titles, including the collection which provided this session's story, "Anger," Kindness: A Treasury of Buddhist Wisdom for Children and Parents, collected and adapted bySarahConover, illustrated by ValerieWahl(Eastern Washington University Press, 2001).
In This Very Moment: A Simple Guide to Zen Buddhism by James Ishmael Ford (Skinner Press) provides "...history, philosophy and practice of Zen for beginners...stories from Zen masters, helpful discussion of the different schools of Buddhist thought, instruction for sitting shikantaza (sitting Zen)..."
Opening the Lotus: A Woman's Guide to Buddhism by Sandy Boucher (Beacon Press) describes fundamental teachings of Buddha, the differences among (Buddhism's) various schools and the components of Buddhist practice."